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Will I Be Able to Maintain Breast Size After Masectomy and Reconstruction?

asked 1 year ago by venus14 in LA
Latest answer by Paul S. Gill, MD
Question viewed 291 times
Tags: age 25-34, mastectomy

Hello, I'm 31 years old and just found out I have stage 1 breast cancer and positive for BRCA1. the recommendations now are to remove both breasts. I know my health is the most important thing but I'm pretty devastated about the face of loosing me breasts. I have large breast which I was always proud of. I'm 34D bra size and my question is, will it be possible with the reconstruction surgery to bring them back close to that size? I met with one plastic surgeon who said that would be a challenge.

4 answers to Will I Be Able to Maintain Breast Size After Masectomy and Reconstruction?

+1

Maintaining Breast Size During Reconstruction

If you are choosing to use your own tissue: -this depends on how much of your own tissue that can be spared to recreate a breast.   ' -If you have enough tissue in your abdomen to recreate the volume of your breast, that is your answer -if you do not have enough tissue in your abdomen, you may be a candidate for a stacked reconstruction, where 2 flaps (usually buttock and abominal) flaps are used to reconstruct each breast   If you are choosing to use an... more
Paul S. Gill, MD

Houston Plastic Surgeon
+1

Maintain breast size after mastectomy & reconstruction

I understand that it is devastating to find out that you not only have cancer, but that you will be loosing your breasts at a young age.  Having reconstruction after mastectomy can give you a relatively full breast, but the limit of the size will be the size limit of the implants, if you are going that route.  The largest implants available are 800cc, and in a reconstructed breast, this can be a C-D depending on your chest diameter and body.  The breasts that you will... more
Amy T. Bandy, DO

Newport Beach Plastic Surgeon
+1

Breast size after mastectomy

Boy this is a tough question to answer without examining you.  If you want autologous tissue reconstruction( using your own tissue) then you have to fatty tissue on your abdomen, hips or buttocks to transfer up to the chest. If you want implants, then the chest skin would have to be expanded to accomodate the larger implants. Hard to say without the exam.
Steven Wallach, MD

Manhattan Plastic Surgeon
+1

Post-mastectomy breast reconstruction

You are a situation of good news-bad news. You have been diagnosed with breast cancer but you caught it early. You have the BRCA gene but a bilateral reconstruction is easier to match than unilateral. Although you show no photos, it is not impossible to get close to your original size using tissue expanders. However, it might be advisable to down-size your thinking because of potential drawbacks with larger implants. However, you could possibly supplement your implant reconstruction with... more
Robin T.W. Yuan, MD

Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon

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