Breast Reconstruction Procedures and Techniques

Breast Reconstruction - General Information

Whether you decide to have breast reconstruction depends on your own individual case, medical condition, general health, lifestyle, emotional state, and breast size and shape. You may consider consulting your family, friends, breast implant support groups, and breast cancer support groups to help you in making this decision. If you are considering breast reconstruction and do not have a plastic surgeon, use our doctor finder for the names of experienced, board certified plastic surgeons in your area. Your general surgeon, plastic surgeon, and oncologist should work together to plan your mastectomy and reconstruction procedure to give you the best possible result.

Your surgeon will decide whether your health and medical condition makes you an appropriate candidate for breast implant reconstruction. Women with larger breasts may require reconstruction with a combination of a tissue flap and an implant. Your surgeon may recommend breast implantation of the opposite, uninvolved breast in order to make them more alike (maximize symmetry) or he/she may suggest breast reduction (reduction mammoplasty) or a breast lift (mastopexy) to improve symmetry. Mastopexy involves removing a strip of skin from under the breast or around the nipple and using it to lift and tighten the skin over the breast. Reduction mammoplasty involves removal of breast tissue and skin. If it is important to you not to alter the unaffected breast, you should discuss this with your plastic surgeon, as it may affect the breast reconstruction methods considered for your case.

What Are the Choices in Breast Reconstructive Procedures?

The type of breast reconstruction procedure available to you depends on your medical situation, breast shape and size, general health, lifestyle, and goals. Women with small or medium sized breasts are the best candidates for breast reconstruction. Breast reconstruction can be accomplished by the use of a prosthesis (a breast implant, either silicone gel or saline-filled), your own tissues (a tissue flap), or a combination of the two.

A tissue flap is a section of skin, fat and/or muscle which is moved from your stomach, back or other area of your body, to the chest area, and shaped into a new breast. Whether or not you have breast reconstruction with or without breast implants, you will probably undergo additional surgeries to improve symmetry and appearance.

For example, because the nipple and areola are usually removed with the breast tissue in mastectomy, the nipple is usually reconstructed by using a skin graft from another area of the body or the opposite breast, in addition to tattooing the area. Nipple reconstruction is usually done as a separate outpatient procedure after the initial reconstruction surgery is complete.