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Breast reconstruction can be an emotionally rewarding and physically gratifying experience for women who have lost their breast due to cancer or any other disease. The development of new technologies and a variety of choices in implants and reconstructive surgeries have encouraged the majority of women who undergo mastectomy to choose breast reconstruction.
Reconstruction can be performed on a breast that has been partially or completely removed. Women have the choice of using implants or their own tissue, when available, for reconstruction. Your surgeon will discuss your concerns and the various options for reconstruction to help you decide which is best for you.Breast reconstruction can be an emotionally rewarding and physically gratifying experience for women who have lost their breast due to cancer or any other disease. The development of new technologies and a variety of choices in implants and reconstructive surgeries have encouraged the majority of women who undergo mastectomy to choose breast reconstruction.
Reconstruction can be performed on a breast that has been partially or completely removed. Women have the choice of using implants or their own tissue, when available, for reconstruction. Your surgeon will discuss your concerns and the various options for reconstruction to help you decide which is best for you.
The Procedure
The reconstruction is done in multiple stages and can create breasts that look and feel very much like the natural breast; however, the reconstructed breast will never look or feel exactly like the breast that was removed. The reconstructive options include creating a breast mound by either:
Using your own muscle, fat and skin to create the breast mound. When the donor site is the abdomen, the procedure is called a TRAM Flap. You will have a scar on the abdomen (much like a tummy tuck) as well as on your breast
Or
Using tissue expanders to stretch healthy skin and muscle to provide coverage for an implant
Or
You may need additional skin and muscle coverage; in this case a Latissimus Flap may be used in conjunction with the tissue expander. Later, the expander is removed and replaced with a permanent implant of either silicone or saline
The nipple and areola are created using a graft or a local flap. Then color is restored to the nipple and areola with micropigmentation (a tattooing technique).
Knowing the reconstructive options that are available after mastectomy gives our patients a reassuring and positive outlook for the future. The reconstructive stages are done with specific time intervals, which differ for each patient depending on your individual situation.
If you need additional surgery in the non-affected breast to provide symmetry, this will be done with one of the above stages.
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