Breast Reconstruction, Tucson, Az*

This lady is a 58 year old woman who was scheduled for a bilateral mastectomy for a right breast cancer, and she came to Rao Plastic Surgery in Tucson, Arizona to discuss her options for breast reconstruction. In our initial consultation we discussed her oncologist did not recommend postoperative chemotherapy or radiation. I felt she was a good candidate for immediate reconstruction and our discussion centered around an implant based reconstruction. She was a B cup and wanted to be a full B or small C cup at the end of reconstruction. I explained that her reconstruction would be staged. In the first stage we would place tissue expanders behind the muscle and use Alloderm to provide complete coverage of the expander. The patient underwent bilateral mastectomies, and in the same setting had tissue expanders placed. After her surgery she spent the night in the hospital and was discharged home. After two weeks from her surgery her drains were removed and her expansion was started. We expanded her breasts slowly injecting 100 cc every week until we reached 350 cc. She was then happy with the size of her breasts. Then she underwent an outpatient surgery in which the expanders were removed and replaced with 350 cc silicone breast implants. She tolerated the procedure well and was discharged home the same day. She is now four months out from her breast reconstruction. She is very happy with her results and is considering tattooing to recreate her nipple areola complex in the future.