For some women, their
breast cancer treatment involves removing a whole breast—either one or both.
Some also pre-emptively remove them to reduce the risk of cancer. This removal
of breasts is called a mastectomy, double mastectomy if both are removed. Once the cancer is out the women may consider
breast reconstruction to restore the shape and size. Breast reconstruction is a major milestone in
the fight to be cancer-free. It prevents women from having an ugly constant
reminder of the profoundness of cancer and provides a way to move on with life
without feeling impaired being without breasts.
When you decide to
have a mastectomy, you will have one of these techniques to choose from. Let’s
explore them below.
Breast reconstruction using
implants
Using breast implants,
surgeons can restore the shape and volume of breasts. Mostly done as a cosmetic procedure, surgeons
can use either silicone or saline breast implants to creates breasts that are a
near-perfect replica of the removed.
Unlike natural breasts, reconstructed breasts will hold shape for longer
for example if you age or lose weight, it will impact the natural breast more than
it can the implanted one because of less breast tissue. This may cause the need for a corrective
rebalancing surgery later in their lifetime.
Reconstruction using implants is advisable for women with firm and small
breasts because there is less need for tissue from other parts of the body.
You can expect
scarring from an implant reconstruction to vary with the area and type of
incision. Often the scars are horizontal
on the breast but some implantations can happen through the darker part of the
breast—the areola to hide it. You can ask the surgeon to play with the position
and length to make it as invisible as possible.
Breast reconstruction
using your own tissue
Surgeons will mostly
use flaps of your tissues, some skin, fat, and muscles to fashion a new breast
after a mastectomy. Mostly, these flaps are taken from the abdomen, thigh, or
even buttocks. There may be a slight
mismatch of complexion if the skin used comes from another body part but that
is a small hiccup to getting breasts again. Reconstruction using flaps works
well for women with medium to large size breasts and it can be done immediately
after the surgery or delayed until all treatment is completed i.e. radiotherapy
and chemotherapy. While the surgery may
be a comprehensive one, breast reconstructed from your own tissues may be a better
match than implants over the long term. They will react like normal breasts to
things like weight gain or aging and end up looking natural.
Breast reconstruction
using your breast
If flaps will mean
that your breasts may have a different complexion then a reconstruction using
your own breast will solve this problem. Sometimes some breast reconstructions
can conserve the breast if instead of deleting the breast, the cancerous cells
were hollowed out and a small layer of normal breast tissue was left all around
it. This is the best way to remove cancer and still retain the symmetry and the
shape of the breast. The resulting hollow
can usually be filled by moving the remaining breast tissue around but this
usually leads to a breast reduction and you will likely go for another
reduction procedure to match the symmetry. Alternatively, the lost tissue can
be replaced with tissue from another body apart. Commonly the tissues come from
the back—a tissue flap called latissimus dorsi flap. Because no foreign skin or
and the tissue measured breasts reconstructed by using your breasts feel more
natural than the rest.
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