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*Treatment results may vary
Wound dehissance and infection, implant removal
In August, my incision on the radiated side had opened, been resutured twice, and opened again. my Dr. Became worried the implant would get infected. I was sick, feeling like I had the flu. He said because the surface of the implant is textured, bacteria will stick to it. He removed the right implant, and there was no obvious signs of infection. 3 days later, my left breast became swollen and hot. I was admitted into the hospital, explanted and started on Iv antibiotics. Shortly afterwards, the wound reopened on the right side and was resutured twice more. it was finally decided to let it heal as an open wound. By November, the wound was bigger than ever and the surgeon recommended a lattismus flap, both sides to try to create better symmetry. Unfortunately for me, there were no surgical suites open until Jan of 2017. On Jan 10, 2017 I had a bilateral lat flap with tissue expanders.
Implant exchange surgery
In July 2016, I had my exchange surgery, having decided on shaped gummy bear implants with extra full projection. The surgery went fine, except I woke up with a different size than what I had expected. 620cc on left and 555 on right, because there wasn't enough coverage on radiated side. I hated the way it looked, and was in tears in my surgeons office because it was totally obvious. He wanted me to wait before we decided how to fix it, but the issue became irrelevant because I wound up being explanted in September
In October 2015, I underwent a bilateral...
In October 2015, I underwent a bilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction using tissue expanders. I chose implant based reconstruction because I didn't have enough abdominal fat for DEIP and didn't want to sacrifice my lat muscles for a flap.
I talked to several plastic surgeons until I finally found one that really listened to what my goals were and understood how traumatizing the idea of no breasts was for me.
The expansion process was a piece of cake, I started with fills of 60cc and then moved to almost double the amount so I could start radiation. No pain at all from the expansions and my surgeon did an amazing job placing the expanders. The worst part was the drains. I woke up with 200 cc in the expanders and My total expansion volume was 540 cc.
I wanted more expansion for larger implants, but my skin flap was very thin from the mastectomy, so we stopped there.
I actually really liked the way my expanders looked once they settled, which took almost 5 months. Even though my surgeon said I could exchange at 6 months, I kept them over the summer.
It's crazy, but I received a ton of compliments on them from total strangers! Random women would even ask to feel them, at which point I would have to explain I had cancer and they weren't regular implants.
In July of 2016, I exchanged them for anatomical gummy bears and things went downhill from there. I will do another review about it soon, as I'm still trying to be reconstructed.
I talked to several plastic surgeons until I finally found one that really listened to what my goals were and understood how traumatizing the idea of no breasts was for me.
The expansion process was a piece of cake, I started with fills of 60cc and then moved to almost double the amount so I could start radiation. No pain at all from the expansions and my surgeon did an amazing job placing the expanders. The worst part was the drains. I woke up with 200 cc in the expanders and My total expansion volume was 540 cc.
I wanted more expansion for larger implants, but my skin flap was very thin from the mastectomy, so we stopped there.
I actually really liked the way my expanders looked once they settled, which took almost 5 months. Even though my surgeon said I could exchange at 6 months, I kept them over the summer.
It's crazy, but I received a ton of compliments on them from total strangers! Random women would even ask to feel them, at which point I would have to explain I had cancer and they weren't regular implants.
In July of 2016, I exchanged them for anatomical gummy bears and things went downhill from there. I will do another review about it soon, as I'm still trying to be reconstructed.