Overview

Breast reconstruction may be a surgery that restores shape to your breast after mastectomy — surgery that removes your breast to treat or prevent carcinoma.

One sort of breast reconstruction uses breast implants — silicone devices crammed with silicone gel or salt water (saline) — to reshape your breasts. Breast reconstruction with breast implants may be a complex procedure performed by a cosmetic surgeon.

The breast reconstruction process can start at the time of your mastectomy (immediate reconstruction), or it are often done later (delayed reconstruction). The breast reconstruction process usually requires two or more operations. You can also expect to many appointments over two to 3 months after your initial surgery so as to expand and stretch the skin on your chest in preparation for the implant.

Breast reconstruction won't re-create the precise look and feel of your natural breast. However, the contour of your new breast may restore a silhouette almost like what you had before mastectomy.

Risks

Breast reconstruction with a implant carries the likelihood of complications, including:

Ø     Breasts that don't match each other in size or appearance (asymmetry)

Ø     Breast pain

Ø     Implant rupture or deflation

Ø     Poor healing of incisions

Ø     Increased risk of future breast surgery to replace or remove the breast implant

Ø     Changes in breast sensation

Ø     Infection

Ø     Bleeding

Ø      Scar tissue that forms and compresses the implant and breast tissue into a hard, unnatural shape (capsular contracture)

Ø     Risks associated with anesthesia

Ø     Very low, but increased risk of a rare immune system cancer called anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) that's associated with textured breast implants, though more research is needed to understand the relationship between ALCL and breast implants

How you prepare

Before a mastectomy, your doctor may recommend that you simply meet with a cosmetic surgeon . Consult a cosmetic surgeon who's board certified and experienced in breast reconstruction following mastectomy. Ideally, your breast surgeon and therefore the cosmetic surgeon should work together to develop the simplest surgery and breast reconstruction strategy in your situation.

Your plastic surgeon will describe your surgical options and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of implant-based reconstruction, and may show you photos of women who have had different types of breast reconstruction. Your somatotype , health status and cancer treatment factor into which sort of reconstruction will provide the simplest result. The cosmetic surgeon provides information on the anesthesia, the situation of the operation and what quite follow-up procedures could also be necessary.

Your cosmetic surgeon may discuss the pros and cons of surgery on your opposite breast, albeit it's healthy, in order that it more closely matches the form and size of your reconstructed breast. Surgery to get rid of your healthy breast (contralateral prophylactic mastectomy) can double the danger of surgical complications, like bleeding and infection. Also, there could also be less satisfaction with cosmetic outcomes after surgery.

Before your surgery, follow your doctor's specific instructions on preparing for the procedure. This may include guidelines

Results

Keep your expectations realistic when anticipating the outcome of your surgery. Breast reconstruction surgery offers many benefits, but it won't cause you to look or feel exactly such as you did before your mastectomy.
What breast reconstruction can do:

Ø  Give you a breast contour

Ø  Provide improved symmetry to your breasts so that they look similar under clothing or a bathing suit

Ø  Help you avoid the need for a form (external prosthesis) inside your bra

What breast reconstruction may do:

Ø  Improve your self-esteem and body image

Ø  Partially erase the physical reminders of your disease

Ø  Require additional surgery to correct reconstructive problems

What breast reconstruction won't do:

Ø  Make you look exactly the same as before

Ø  Give your reconstructed breast the same sensations as your normal breast

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