Breast Reconstruction and surgeons

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I had a right breast mx in 2015. I am now considering reconstructive surgery. Any words of wisdom, experiences and recommended surgeons or where to look appreciated. Xxx

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Hello Melanie

I had a delayed LD flap with implants three years after my mx.  I had looked into it, and decided this was my best option, and when I saw the plastic surgeon for the first time he told me it was my only option, so that worked out well!  

 

We can’t recommend individual surgeons on this forum, but I would say make sure you get a plastic surgeon not a breast surgeon.  

Think about what might work for you.  I am slim, so have no fat to use for a recon, hence needing implants (I had two, with a smaller one in my good side for symmetry)

Also, I knew I didn’t want a long scar across my tummy.  I have suffered with lower back problems over the years and didn’t want to do anything that might aggravate this.  Conversely I have a neighbour who has had shoulder problems, so she knew she didn’t want an LD flap but was quite happy with the tummy scar.  Horses for courses.

I had read of LD flap patients who complained about ongoing tightness around the chest - I asked my PS about that and he said he included an extra step in the operation to avoid this (don’t remember any more details now).  This was back in 2010 so things may have moved on since then

The nipple recon and tattooing makes a huge difference to the appearance - make sure you get this.  I had a nipple share, where they took about 1/3 of my remaining nipple and used it to make the new one.  I had this as I was concerned that my nipple was large, and it would be obvious through clothes that there was a nipple on one side and not the other (the other way of doing the recon tends to go flat).  Having a nipple share addressed this on two fronts - firstly by reducing the size of my remaining nipple, and secondly by giving me a recon that would not go completely flat.  There was no pain or loss of sensation from the good nipple - they take a core out of the centre, and don’t touch round the outside.

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