Breast Reconstruction
What is Breast Reconstruction Surgery?
If your breast cancer treatment involves partial or total removal of one or both breasts, reconstructive surgery can help restore their look and shape. Breast reconstruction can also help boost your confidence and return a sense of normalcy after treatment.
Types of Breast Reconstruction
Several types of reconstruction surgery are available to rebuild breasts and breast structures following mastectomy or lumpectomy. Your Mercy doctor will help you find out what’s right for you. There are two main types of breast reconstruction surgery.
The two main types of breast reconstruction surgery include:
- Implants or prosthetics – Breasts can be rebuilt using silicone or saline implants which are inserted underneath the skin or chest muscle following a mastectomy.
- Autologous tissue reconstruction (or flap surgery) – Breasts can also be rebuilt using autologous tissue, tissue from other parts of your body.
Implants and autologous tissue may be used together in breast reconstruction. In the final stage, a nipple and areola can be recreated if they weren’t preserved during the mastectomy.
Reconstructive surgery may be done at the time of your mastectomy or lumpectomy, which is known as immediate reconstruction. Or, you might need to wait until your other cancer treatments are finished, which is known as delayed reconstruction.
What to Consider with Breast Reconstruction
You and your Mercy doctor should discuss all breast reconstruction options. Factors that may affect the type of reconstructive surgery you receive include:
- Breast size and shape
- Availability of autologous tissue (your own tissue)
- Location and size of the tumor in the breast
- Age and health condition
- History of past surgeries
- Surgical risk factors like smoking and obesity
Breast Reconstruction Options
If you’re thinking about breast reconstruction, it’s important to learn about the options and techniques available. Knowing your options can help you decide if breast reconstruction is right for you — in recovery and beyond.
Breast Reconstruction with Implants
Implants are devices filled with silicone or saline that help restore shape to your breasts after mastectomy. This type of breast reconstruction requires two or more surgeries and several visits after your initial surgery to prepare your body for the implants.
Surgery & Recovery
In the first stage of breast reconstruction with implants, a balloon-like tissue expander is placed under your skin or muscle. After you’re fully healed from this procedure, your Mercy surgeon injects saline into the tissue expander every week to stretch the skin or muscle.
In the second stage, the tissue expander is removed and replaced with a permanent breast implant.
Autologous Breast Reconstruction
In autologous (or flap) reconstruction, a tissue flap containing skin, fat, blood vessels and sometimes muscle is taken from another part of your body and used to rebuild the breast.
If you’re having flap reconstruction on only one of your breasts, your Mercy doctor may recommend genetic screening for breast cancer to find out if you’re at high risk of developing cancer in the opposite breast. If another breast reconstruction is needed later, surgical options are more limited because tissue can only be taken from the abdomen once.
Surgery & Recovery
Flaps used for breast reconstruction often come from your abdomen or back, but they can also be taken from your thighs or buttocks. Depending on their source, they’re either pedicle or free flaps.
