Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Different Breast Reconstruction Types

By Claire Curtis


There are more than 200,000 cases of breast cancer each year in the United States alone. Most of these women have never thought they would have to remove either a portion or the entirety of the breast. This may seem overwhelming, but you should know that you do have options when you have a mastectomy. The breast can be reconstructed and the surgery won't be noticeable after the procedure is complete.

One type of breast reconstruction that you might consider is having breast implants put in immediately after a mastectomy. If you go with this option, the breast implant is lodged behind the chest's pectoral muscle. Your surgeon will probably use a permanent implant, which would depend on the breast skin quality following the mastectomy and how large the implant is going to be. Once you're on your way to full recovery, which might be after a month or two after the surgery, your doctor may suggest a secondary procedure to adjust the contour of your breast shape. This additional procedure is simply done to adjust breast symmetry and can be performed on an outpatient basis.

You can also choose to have your reconstruction done using the staged approach. This can start as soon as the mastectomy is completed, or they can delay the procedure if you need a chance to consider your options. With this approach, they will install a device to expand the tissue between the chest wall and pectoral muscle. This will act as a space saver/maker where a permanent implant can eventually be placed. After some time has passed, the process will begin where a doctor will inject saline into the expansion device to expand the area. This is done using a needle and a fill-port in the device. This procedure can take several months, and the patient will have the expansion exchanged with a permanent implant at the end.

The TRAM flap procedure is the last type of breast reconstruction. In this procedure, tissue is excised from the stomach and transferred to the chest to be used as breast tissue. If you choose this method instead of implants, your breasts will feel more natural to you because it's made out of your own tissue and will have more symmetry. However, this form of breast reconstruction in Dallas does have its disadvantages. It leaves a scar that runs along your stomach from your left hip to your right. This procedure might also leave you feeling weak around the abdomen and you may experience some bulging or a hernia.

No matter what breast reconstruction you choose in the end, you have to make sure you get a clear comparison among all three methods by speaking with a qualified breast cancer surgeon in Dallas so that you will be comfortable with your final decision on how to go about your breast cancer surgery.




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