A breast cancer survivor says she was subjected to a humiliating public patdown at New York's Kennedy Airport even though she offered to produce documentation about her medical implants.

The Transportation Security Administration has apologized to Lori Dorn, saying it "missed the mark" in treating all passengers with"the dignity and respect they deserve." Twitter

Business consultant Lori Dorn, 44, says on her blog that the patdown conducted last week in front of other passengers humiliated her.

The New York City woman was heading to San Francisco last week when a full-body scanner detected tissue expanders, implanted to stretch her skin before she can undergo breast reconstruction surgery.

Dorn underwent a bilateral mastectomy in April as well as chemotherapy treatment that ended in September. She says she still has painful areas on her chest.

She says the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) refused to let her retrieve medical documentation from her wallet and told her she must submit to a physical exam.

Dorn posted on her Twitter page Monday that an official at the airport called her to apologize.

TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein says Dorn's medical documentation would not have spared her a patdown but adds it could have been done privately.

"Private screenings can be requested by any passenger for any reason and in situations such as this one, our officers should offer it," the TSA says in an online statement.

In her blog, Dorn does not say whether she asked for the patdown to be conducted in private. The New York Times quoted her as saying the TSA workers never offered that as an option.

Dorn says she decided to comply with the public patdown when she noticed that all of her belongings, including her computer, were out of her line of sight.