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Tissue expanders are usually placed to assist with the breast reconstruction process. Tissue expanders are gradually filled until you are happy with the volume and size, and they are replaced with a permanent implant of your choice. With that being said, you can have the tissue expander removed at anytime. Make sure you consult with a plastic surgeon who is board certified and discuss all of your options. Best of luck to you!
From your question it is unclear what problems you are having, but an expander is ideally left in place until the desired volume is reached. That said, for a change of heart or healing complications an expander can be removed at any time. Please check back with your plastic surgeon. If you have concerns, a second opinion with an experienced board eligible or board certified plastic surgeon is your best next step. Good luck.
Hi and thank you for the question. You can choose to have your expanders removed at any time if you decide that you no longer want to have implant based breast reconstruction. If you like the initial volume your surgeon put in the expanders at the time of surgery and you just don't feel like you need to do any further fillings then you can have your expanders removed and have similar sized implants placed. It might help to clarify your goals so we can better answer your question. Best of luck to you. Dr West
Hello and thanks for posting your question.I'm not sure the origin of your question, but briefly:Tissue expanders are typically placed at the time of mastectomy to "begin" the process of breast reconstruction. They hold space and can be expanded to increase space needed for replacement with more permanent breast implants. The tissue expanders typically remain in place for 2-3 months after they have been filled to the goal volume and are then removed and replaced with silicone implants of a similar size.I would highly recommend discussing your specific questions with your plastic surgeon and wish you the best of luck.
YesExpanders are filled to a certain volume at the time of surgery.It may not be necessary to fill them ant further before replacement with the final implant
An expander can be removed at any time for a number of reasons. It does not have to be filled. More details as to why would be helpful.
Fat grafting is a good option to add natural volume over an implant. Generally an increase in a full cup size cannot be achieved with a single session. Best options would be to consider planning for more than one session of fat grafting or combine fat grafting with an increase in implants size...
From your description and photos it appears you can most likely have a significant improvement with revision reconstructions and upsizing your implants. This is fairly straight forward surgery. Consult with your plastic surgeon or another board certified plastic surgeon with experience in all ...
It really depends upon the condition of the skin at the surgery site (for example, how much skin is left and how much scarring there is). Asking for a second opinion is reasonable.Kenneth Hughes, MD, Board Certified Plastic SurgeonLos Angeles, CA
You overall have nice results. This is a difficult reconstruction but you have healed well. To improve on these results, you may consider an exchange of implants to larger highly cohesive gel implant if you do not have these already, with fat grafting to the skin flaps. If possible, pl...
Trust your plastic surgeon. No implant based breast reconstruction can achieve a DDD size. Your reduction toward a "C" may end up a "C", or a "D". Cup size is variable and inexact. Currently the largest implants are around 800 cc's and your final cup size with 700 or 800 cc's is unlikely to be t...
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