Feeling Great Again with Breast Reconstruction

Breast reconstruction is when we recreate a breast mound after somebody has had a mastectomy, or a partial mastectomy, when a piece or a whole part of the breast has been removed for breast cancer or another disease. The majority of women in the United States who had breast reconstruction after a mastectomy have breast implants for reconstruction. The alternative is to use your own tissue. These two operations are very different, but they both work very well, and ultimately it's up to the patient to decide which one is better for her. We bring the patient in, and we go over their medical history, and we go over the reasons why they are having breast surgery. We try to determine what the best option for them is in terms of breast reconstruction. It usually consists of about an hour consultation here in the office where we talk about their options. I usually show pictures of what they can expect from different types of breast reconstruction. The pictures usually tell a large part of the story, and really clarify what is available to them, and what they can expect. Most people when they are first faced with this, don't really understand that we can really recreate a breast mound and make you look good, at least as good as you did before surgery. In my practice, my goal is to make you look even better after surgery. In the United States, one in eight women get diagnosed with breast cancer over the course of their life. Unfortunately, only 20 percent of women have breast reconstruction. In my practice, that is more like 90 to 100 percent. The reason is usually because the woman hasn't been told about their option for breast reconstruction, or they haven't found a plastic surgeon that can do breast reconstruction at the time of their mastectomy. The healing time for breast reconstruction really depends on what type of breast reconstruction they're going to have. In general, it's about three to six weeks of time that they need off from work. By that time, most people can go back to work and do their routine activities, but they're still going to be healing, but they go through at least three months until they feel completely normal.