Breast reduction surgeries are some of the more satisfying procedures for both the physician and the patient. Ideal candidates for breast reduction include those who experience pain in their neck, back, or shoulders from the weight of their breasts on their chest wall. These patients also have grooving in their trapezius muscles from their bra straps and hypertrophy of their trapezius…
Reconstruction following lumpectomy can be challenging and even more so in the setting of radiation therapy. Radiation and implant reconstructions can often cause capsular contracture. When one mammary prosthesis has capsular contracture and the other does not, obtaining symmetry can be quite challenging. In patients who have repeated capsular contracture, it is often best to remove the mammary prosthesis and…
Breast reconstruction following mastectomy is very common. Breast reconstruction often has a better result when the nipple areola complex is preserved. In patients who do not have a ptotic breast, the mastectomy can often be performed from an infra-mammary incision. At the time of the mastectomy, a tissue expander is placed. After the skin has healed the expander is removed…
Having great interest in Breast Reconstruction, Aesthetic Breast, and Revision Breast surgery has afforded me ample opportunity to study the manipulation of the infra-mammary fold and its relation to the perception of breast symmetry. Two determinants of breast symmetry in photographs or when the patient looks in the mirror is the position of the nipple areola complex (NAC) and the…
Breast reconstruction following mastectomy is a common procedure. When the breast is ptotic, I often find that patient will do better when the resulting skin pattern is in the form of a Wise pattern. The Wise pattern allows the removal of ptotic skin and creates a skin envelope for an aesthetically pleasing breast. Tissue expander placement beneath the muscle entirely…
DIEP flap breast reconstruction is commonly used to reconstruct the breasts following mastectomy. When performing DIEP flap breast reconstruction, the lower abdominal tissue is used to replace the breast tissue and/or skin that have been removed. In patients who have ptotic breasts, or breasts in which there is a long sternal notch to nipple distance then the mastectomy may be…
DIEP or deep inferior epigastric artery perforator flaps for breast reconstruction are commonly used in delayed breast reconstruction and following radiation therapy. Breast reconstruction with DIEP flaps typically require three stages of surgery to maximize the symmetry that is able to be obtained. In the first stage, the skin and fat from the lower abdomen is harvested and then transferred…
DIEP flap breast reconstruction is becoming more common. Patients who are seen in consultation for mastectomy often choose to undergo autologous breast reconstruction. Patients who wish to undergo autolgous reconstruction choose to use their own body tissue to reconstruct their breasts. When patients use their own body tissue for reconstruction, it obviates the need for breast implants. Patients may not…
Your Breast Reconstruction Options After Radiation The lower abdomen is traditionally used as the donor site for reconstruction following mastectomy when the remaining skin and subcutaneous tissue has been damaged by radiation. Not all patients respond to radiation in the same way. Some patients may receive lower doses of radiation and show significant signs of radiation damage and others may…
We are seeing more women in our office who are choosing to undergo breast reconstruction following mastectomy with their own body tissue. We are also noticing an increasing number of women, who, when appropriate candidates opt to spare their nipple areola complexes following mastectomy. When the skin and breast tissue are removed following mastectomy, the skin and fat from the…
