Doctor Neil TANNA Best Plastic Surgeon EVER! - New York, NY

Have you started reconstruction?

The final result is the picture with the white bra and the bandage

You look great! Thank you so much for posting. I had a double march 3. They put the expanders in at that time and added 150cc saline. I was a bit freaked when I saw how bumpy they looked. Especially by and under my arm pits. Last week they put 20cc in. I hope I can handle more at tomorrows appt but I'm not going to push myself because there's still pressure on a rib. I also had a collasped lung so I'd rather take it slow than try to grow them too fast.

Thanks again so much. Your photos really gave me hope. Take real good care of yourself. Sending you love and hugs from Hawaii.

It can also be a huge disappointment and lifelong pain. Granted, breast reconstruction after mastectomy has come a long way since 1989 when I had mine. Just last Sunday, on the tv show Sunday Morning on CBS was a story called Going Flat. I urge everyone who thinks breast are necessary to feel and be feminine. I see that on Realself 97% say that breast reconstruction is worth it. I find that incredulous since I know so many women with bad outcomes.

I was 42 years old, married with three children and a husband who only cared that I survive and live a full and normal life. We had no idea when I agreed to reconstruction what the ramifications would be.

Let me be clear, Every surgery and decision was made in a major teaching hospital in Washington DC with a major cancer center.

My general surgeon was going to perform the mastectomy sent me to the head of reconstruction and plastic surgery at this hospital. They made it sound like you will come in with two breast and leave with two breasts and be none the worse for it. I never had another opinion. I did not know anyone who had breast cancer yet, except for an elderly aunt who had passed away. I only knew what I was being told at the time. I was not using the internet in 1989 and did not go for more consultations. The doctor who did the biopsy recommended mastectomy and my husband wanted me in a hospital with a prestigious repution. So, I left the surgeon who made the diagnosis and went to Georgetown Hospital.

The week I spent in the hospital was indescribably physically painful. I was totally unprepared for the excruciating pain. My pain was not managed well and to this day, in March 2017, I have pain. I found out recently that being diagnosed prementrual, not having good pain management from the moment you wake up from the general anesthesia can create life long pain. One out of 3 women who have mastectomies will suffer from this pain. If you think about having a mastectomy and immediately having the muscle pulled away from the chest wall to insert an implant, it sounds pretty gruesome. And although expanders were the norm for implant reconstruction, this plastic surgeon with the prestigious title, did not use one with me.

As in MOST cases with a unilateral mastectomy (and even with bilateral mastectomy) my breasts did not match at all. My remaining breast was small and had a fold, as any 40 year old woman who has had three babies will have, and the implant was much larger and higher on my chest, almost to my clavicle. It did not have the contour of a breast, it looked like a bowling ball.

I was told that because of my age, even though my cancer was contained and had not spread to my lymph nodes, chemotherapy was recommended. The doctor at the Lombardi Cancer Center at the same hospital recommend an aggressive form of chemo, which was not the standard of care chemo in 1989 but is today. My husband checked with several major cancer centers in the country . They all told him that it was not what they were using for non-invasive breast cancer but that if the oncologist who suggested it, who was a researcher (and had pioneered the ability to know the estrogen/progesterone receptors associated with many breast cancers) had recommended it, they suggested I do what he says.

I had no idea that I would need chemo when there was no lymph node involvement. But I did, and all the doctors consulted agreed. They all said that whether or not I used that particular drug or the drugs that were being used as the standard of care at the time, I needed chemotherapy.

Two years later I found a wonderful plastic surgeon who revised the botched up reconstruction with a much smaller implant, releasing some of the muscle, and proper placement, creating a fold. He was wonderful. My pain was reduced by 60%, which is significant...but still pain is pain. Eight years later, the implant broke spontaneously wand at that point I chose to have it removed instead of replaced.

I am very grateful that I am among the survivors. Since that time, I know many women who have died from breast cancer.

I urge all women to make decisions carefully, get as many opinions as possible, and do what is best for them.

Some very young women, women much younger than I was, women in their 20's and 30's, have chosen to go without reconstruction. One of the woman that I met and became close friends with through my oncologist, (I used the protocol that was recommended but did not have my treatments at Georgetown) who believed in buddying women up that were ahead of them in their treatment, was 10 years younger than me. We are still friends today. She had a double mastectomy, chemo, had her ovaries removed, and when all treatment was completed she married her boyfriend who stuck with her through it all. My husband and I attended their wedding. There was not a dry eye at the ceremony, as this was a true love story.

I urge anyone reading my post to think of all the pros and cons of the various methods of breast reconstruction and think about having it when you are healed not immediately. Many are too stunned by the diagnosis to make good decisions. With skin or without sparing mastectomy, reconstruction will always be an option. Maybe allowing yourself to heal physically and emotionally should come before reconstruction for some women.

All the best!

Your photos are so encouraging. I can't thank you enough for sharing.

You look great!

you are absolutely gorgeous, inside and out

That is so great, thank you for sharing your experience! Would you be comfortable sharing photos of your results wearing a sports bra or however you feel comfortable?

What prompted you to choose the gummies?

Would like to know how many cc and were they tear drop gummiebears r the round silicone cohesive theylook beautiful I had doubt masectomy from cancer expanded to 700 cc I want round silicone surgeon wants teardrop and Ive heard they r bad to rotate and o want round as to have clevage I was a d cup before surgery I can't find anybody with pictures of the teardrop r comment about them r round my surgeon is not helpful she is rude and said she has never had anyone question her judgement about brand r implant cc my final surgery is April but she won't tell me anything except I must. It trust her judgement I'm a bundle of nerves any help
Wpiuld. E appreciated thank u Linda

Looks great. So happy for you!

I also used Dr. Tanna for my double masectomy. I agree with you 100%. Truly an amazing doctor who is exceptional and outstanding as a plastic surgeon! One of a kind! Good luck to you. Happy for you that everything is completed!

I want round high profile if. They will give me enough projection my surgeon wants to
Put in teardrops which I don't fell like I will like I want cleavage and round I'm 5ft 2 125 lbs I was 34 d I want to be at least a d r DD I'm ready to change surgeons unless the tear drops will give me what I want I don't think to be hard I've had 4 surgeries in 2 mo I don't won't to have to worry about them rotating my surgery is April 12 butI'm thinking about canceling here is my pic I'm 700 cc