Home|Blog | Complete Your Breast Cancer Recovery With Breast Reconstruction
Complete Your Breast Cancer Recovery With Breast Reconstruction
When breast cancer treatment requires surgery to remove one or both of your breasts, you may feel as though you will never be quite whole again. Breast reconstruction can help you complete your cancer recovery by recreating your feminine breasts and making them feel more normal again. It can also provide you with more self-confidence and positivity than the alternative, and allow you to better move forward on your life’s journey as a healthy, strong survivor.
Breast Reconstruction Benefits
Breast reconstruction can restore a more natural-looking bust line for cancer patients whose treatment has required the removal of breast tissue through either a mastectomy or double mastectomy. Without her feminine breasts, a cancer survivor often feels empty and deficient, less attractive and more self-conscious about her appearance. Breast reconstruction physically recreates the shape of the removed breast(s) in order to restore a more feminine figure.
While a reconstructed breast will not be a perfect replacement for the original, surgery can provide high-quality results that will recreate a reasonable appearance and allow the patient to interact with the world around her more comfortably. Reconstructive surgery can also help to neutralize the negative effects of a mastectomy and allow a woman to experience emotional healing and closure, and to maintain a healthy level of self-esteem in the face of all that she has gone through.
Your Options With Breast Reconstruction
Breast reconstruction can be accomplished in several different ways depending on a multitude of factors. In terms of timing the procedure, patients have the option of immediate versus delayed breast reconstruction. Depending on cancer treatment, current health, the patient’s preferences and other issues, the reconstructive procedure can be performed either concurrently with the mastectomy or at a later date (even years later).
For the surgical technique, there are breast implant-based options and approaches using one’s own tissue such as from the abdomen, back, or buttocks so as to recreate breast volume and shape. A tissue expander may need to be used to stretch the breast skin for a woman who is deficient in skin quantity either as a result of the mastectomy or related to the ultimate reconstructive size desired. Additionally, the nipple-areola complex can be reconstructed through various means to more fully simulate the original breast appearance. Fat grafting can further provide for a more desirable and natural result, allowing for refinement in contour and the ability to obtain more symmetry.
For women who had only one breast removed, it may be appropriate to have surgery on the unaffected breast to achieve more pleasing symmetry. A breast lift, implant, or reduction can be performed on the unaffected breast to produce the best overall results after breast reconstruction.
Through this process of reconstructing the breasts, women who have breast cancer can complete their recovery, restore their feminine appearance, and experience much-needed healing and closure. For more information on breast reconstruction or to schedule your consultation with Dr. Turkeltaub, you can either contact us online or call our office at (480) 451-3000.