Many patients with breast cancer either choose or have cancers that are amenable to successful treatment with lumpectomy and radiation. This tends to be performed in an outpatient setting. Patients are instructed to wear a sports bra for 6 weeks after surgery. A high protein diet is important to facilitate healing after IORT or to get the wounds healed in…
Patients will frequently ask if it is possible to undergo mastectomy reconstruction if they have had previous lumpectomy and whole breast radiation. There are different options for patients who undergo previous radiation therapy. If there is ample tissue present on the abdominal wall, the lower abdomen can serve as the donor site for tissue to be transferred to reconstruct the…
Abdominal wall reconstruction and hernia repair are common procedures. Patients who have hernias from prior procedures or from genetic defects in the abdominal wall typically have high satisfaction rates with their reconstruction. Not only can the abdominal wall reconstruction improve pain associated with a hernia, it also improved the abdominal contour. After the intestines are returned to the abdominal wall,…
Rhinoplasty is a common procedure to soften up the features of the face. Quite frequently these small changes to the face can have a great impact. One of the more common reasons that patients request a rhinoplasty procedure is to remove the dorsal hump from the nose. Removing this dorsal hump and slightly improving the contour of the nasal tip…
Breast cancer can be treated with lumpectomy or mastectomy, depending upon the size of the cancer, location, size of the breast, and genetic positivity for cancer syndromes. Oncoplastic reconstruction of lumpectomy defects involves reconstructing the patients breast with their own breast tissue. Typically the breasts are made smaller and placed into a better position. This improved position often facilitates radiation…
In patients who have undergone radiation therapy, breast reconstruction with mammary prosthesis may be challenging. Often implants may become repeatedly infected or possibly extrude from the body. When repeated infections occur or if implants extrude from the body, these patients are often not candidates for implant based breast reconstruction. The most common donor site used for breast reconstruction is the…
Rhinoplasty is a commonly performed procedure. There are many reasons why a patient would want to undergo a rhinoplasty operation. One of the more common reasons is to soften the appearance of the nose. Often several small changes can add up and lead to a significant change. Small changes to the profile or nasal tip can make the overall appearance…
There are two broad categories of breast reconstruction for mastectomy. There is expander-implant reconstruction and autologous flap reconstruction. Tissue expander and implant reconstruction is often selected in patients who have not undergone radiation therapy. At the time of mastectomy, a tissue expander is placed at the location of the mastectomy pocket and often in conjunction with an acellular dermal matrix…
Patients often undergo unilateral mastectomy. In these patients, depending upon the status of the contralateral breast, the contralateral breast is often best matched with a reconstruction using the patients own body tissues. Depending on previous surgery and on previous radiation, a small portion of the abdominal skin may be transferred to the mastectomy site, not only to monitor the blood…
DIEP Flap Breast reconstruction is a unique opportunity for the breast cancer patient to loose weight. Prior to flap reconstruction, we instruct our patients to consume 80-100 grams of protein per day. There are a significant number of incisions that require healing with DIEP flap breast reconstruction and typically the metabolic rate increases after DIEP flap breast reconstruction as the…
Gluteal fat transfer can be very rewarding for the patient. Patients who have a high satisfaction rate have lower lumbar lipodystrophy as well as a lordotic spine posture. Patients wear a compression garment, abdominal binder, and/or faha beneath the compression garment. The more compliant patients are with the compression garments, the better results they acheive. Patients are allowed to sit…
Gluteal fat transfer is a common procedure. In gluteal fat transfer, liposuction is performed in one or several areas of the body and the harvested fat is transferred to the gluteal region. Satisfaction rate is high with the gluteal fat transfer procedure. The patients with the highest satisfaction rates are those patients who have lipodystrophy in their lower back with…
