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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...
Hi Janice, Following a mastectomy with removal of the breast tissue and all those lymph nodes from under your armpit, it is not uncommon to suffer changes in sensation due to some very small nerves that travel in the area being traumatised when the breast and lymph nodes are...
It will be difficult to revise, but possible. With the radiation effect, implant based reconstructions typically have complications. You could get a better result if you would consider a latissimus flap to help with blood supply to the area in addition to the implant. Shaped implants or even...
Certainly you can ask for a second opinion at any time. However, keep in mind that breast reconstruction is not the same as breast augmentation. The physician may be concerned that the skin is getting too thin and may not be able to provide an adequate reconstruction.
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...
Each patient is different, but a 700 cc implant is pretty large and very likely going to put you into a cup larger than a "C" although implant volumes do not match up to cup size.
