Breast Reconstruction: Q&A
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Fat Transfer to Even out Breasts After Lumpectomy?
I am a 40-year-old woman with a lean athletic build. I went through a lumpectomy in 2005 due to a tiny, grade 3 cancer found. I had chemo and radio and now I'm considering fat transfer to even up my breasts (one is now an A cup where it was previously a B cup). I have yearly MRI scans and am healthy and well, but worry that my body (legs, butt) will become scared and lumpy from this procedure. I am of Caribbean origin. Any advice?
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4 Doctor Answers |
Asked by
Gi
in London
+2
Breast reconstruction
There are many options for breast reconstruction including tissue exapnders and implants, latissimus flaps with implants, fat grafting for small contour problems, TRAM flaps, DIEP flaps, SGAP, and IGAP flaps to name a few. You require an exam first to figrue out what is best for you..
+2
Fat grafting, breast contoring, lumpectomy, breast augmentation
Dear Gi
Micro Fat Transfer to the breasts has become more common in the Cosmetic Surgery practice. I have been doing this for 7 years. The grafted fat helps with the contour and can reverse the changes due to irradiation injury. i have seen complete clinical reversal of the radiation damage and this has been reported by many surgeons with large volumes of clinical experience- Riggotti, Coleman
The area from where the fat is harvested should have a pleasing contour- no resultant deformity!...
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+2
Fat transfer after lumpectomy
I strongly recommend that you find somebody who is VERY well experienced in fat grafting, because individual surgeon expertise has a lot to do with results.
I have done a lot of fat grafting in my time, but like Dr. Placik, I was very hesitant to try it on breast tissue, much less irradiate ttissue. This changed when a landmark article by a group in Italy was published in the American Journal of Plastic Surgery in 2007. Several patients with varying degrees of radiation damage were...
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Use of fat grafting to the breast following radiation may not be advisable.
Your concerns are valid and the risks of lipoinjection (fat grafting via injection) are related to the donor site and/or the recipient site.
Irregualrities at the donor site can occur. Radiation may also increase the risks of failure of the fat to survive and "take". Furthermore, although it was controversial in the past, fat injection to the breasts has only recently been discussed as an option. Most likely, your history of radiation puts you at a higher risk of complications....
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