To reconstruct the breast mound after mastectomy, medical doctors select both implant reconstruction or tissue (flap) reconstruction. Which of those surgical procedures you and your physician select will rely in your physique sort, breast dimension, and preferences.
implant reconstruction
Implant reconstruction can be executed similtaneously a mastectomy (referred to as direct-to-implant), however this will not be the best methodology. “The revision fee (extra surgical procedure later) with direct-to-implant is greater than with two-stage surgical procedure,” Butler says. That is as a result of the pores and skin over the breast will be confused or broken throughout a mastectomy. “Then putting a big implant in that pores and skin pocket places extra stress on the pores and skin and may result in issues similar to implant extrusion (when the implant breaks by means of the pores and skin) and an infection.”
As an alternative, this process is normally executed in levels. First, the surgeon locations a tissue expander beneath the pores and skin in the course of the mastectomy. “We then inflate the tissue expander in the identical approach you’ll inflate a balloon within the workplace each few weeks till the suitable dimension is reached. As soon as the affected person reaches the suitable dimension, we take the affected person again for a minor outpatient process, the place we take away the tissue expander and place the implant,” says Lyle Leipziger, M.D., chief plastic surgeon at North Shore College Hospital and Lengthy Island Jewish Medical Middle in New York.
flap reconstruction
One of many advantages of flap reconstruction is that it makes use of your personal tissue as an alternative of a overseas implant. “A second, smaller surgical procedure is normally required to regulate the tissue and reshape the breast,” Dr. Colwell says.
Nipple and areola reconstruction
Typically, a mastectomy permits the surgeon to protect the pores and skin of the breast and take away solely the underlying tissue. “In lots of circumstances, it’s also potential to protect the nipple of the breast with a nipple-sparing mastectomy,” Colwell says.
