Breast reconstruction following mastectomy

Breast reconstruction is performed by tissue expanders and breast implants. The best implant placement approach depends on each particular situation and should be discussed with your surgeon. In many cases the surgeon removes both breast tissue and overlying skin leaving a flat chest as a result. In order to expand the remaining breast tissue to get the desired shape for the implant placement, a silicon expander is inserted beneath the skin and inflated with injections of a saline (salt-water) solution. Expanders are essentially temporary implants that act as spacers. This expansion process can require several weeks, or months depending on the amount of expansion required by the patient to reach their optimal breast size.

Pic.1

After the breast area is sufficiently stretched over these few weeks or months, the expander is removed and replaced with a permanent implant (pic 2)

Pic.2

This new technique employs a technology that combines a permanent breast implant and an expander in one unit. It’s important to consider (remember) that cancerous breast tissue (mastectomy) is removed using the sparing surgery technique.