Can a radiated breast be reconstructed?
I've heard from traditional plastic surgeons that a radiated breast is difficult to reconstruct. How does your procedure differ?
Answer
It is true that radiation makes the reconstruction much more difficult. Implants do not do well inside radiated tissue and even flap surgery is more prone to complications. However, fat grafting can reverse that damaging effect of radiation. But this is still not a panacea. It takes a few successive fat-grafting sessions to bring back the tissues to their non-radiated state. Our method of fat grafting, together with the use of the external vacuum expander EVE, has proven to be uniquely successful in reconstructing radiated mastectomy and lumpectomy defects. The results are as close to perfect as possible. But you should be warned that the reconstruction would require a succession of grafting procedures, rarely less than 5 sessions over the course of one year.
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