Women who battle breast cancer may be devastated when the disease causes loss of one or both breasts. Board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Mohit Sood performs breast reconstruction surgery. He creates natural-looking results to help cancer survivors regain confidence and move forward with their lives.
What Is Breast Reconstruction Surgery?
This surgery involves rebuilding one or both breasts to restore their appearance after a mastectomy due to cancer. It’s performed by using muscle or fat tissue from elsewhere in the body or by inserting an implant. The added material increases fullness, and Dr. Sood uses his skill and experience to give each woman her most attractive results. If necessary, he may reduce one breast in size to create a more proportionate match to the other one. He bases his choice of method on the specifics of the mastectomy and each woman’s anatomy.
Benefits of Breast Reconstruction Surgery
The loss of a breast is often a severe blow to a woman, affecting her self-esteem and causing self-consciousness. Breast reconstruction helps alleviate the emotional trauma of breast cancer by giving a woman her former appearance back to some extent. For most women, restoration of breast size and shape reduces concerns about undressing. It also makes buying bras and clothing easier and more comfortable. In some cases, breast reconstruction surgery is covered under insurance.
How Is Breast Reconstruction Performed?
There is more than one reconstruction method available. In each case, the patient requires anesthesia in the form of IV sedation that produces a light sleep or general anesthesia that allows her to be fully asleep. Once she’s asleep, Dr. Sood will perform one or more of the following procedures:
- Make a TRAM (Transverse Rectus Abdominus Myocutaneous) flap by taking skin, muscle and fat from your abdomen to build a new breast.
- Transfer tissue from the abdominal or buttock area by means of a DIEP, Deep Inferior Epigastric Perforator, or SGAP, Superior Gluteal Artery Perforator, flap. With these two techniques, only skin and fat are removed.
- Put a tissue expander beneath the skin for stretching the area and making room to insert a breast implant. The expander stays in position for four to six months to create room. This helps create space for the necessary fullness for attractive results.
Adding breast implants at a later date is an option regardless of the initial technique. Breast reconstruction surgery generally requires multiple stages. It’s completed with the reconstruction and optimum placement of the nipples and areolae.
