38 Years Old, Unilateral Skin/nipple Sparing Mastectomy with Reconstruction. Wexford, PA

After finding a lump in my left breast, I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma at the age of 38. I decided to have a unilateral mastectomy and I knew without hesitation that I wanted to have reconstruction. My oncologist asked if I had any plastic surgeons in mind and since I did not, she recommended Dr. Clavijo. I met with him to discuss my options. My oncologist had told me I was a candidate for a skin/nipple sparing mastectomy, and Dr. Clavijo felt that would yield the best cosmetic result. He explained that it would take two surgeries. During the first surgery he would insert a tissue expander which would then be filled over the next several weeks, and the second surgery would be to take out the expander and replace it with an implant. I decided to also do an augmentation of my healthy breast during the second surgery.
About 10 days after my first surgery, all signs pointed to me having nipple necrosis. Dr. Clavijo had me meet him at the hospital and we agreed that the nipple needed to be removed. However during the surgery he discovered that the nipple was getting enough blood supply and he was able to save it.
I went every week for 6 weeks to have the expander filled. A few months later I had the surgery to swap out the expander and get implants in both breasts, and have had no complications. I couldn’t be happier with the results. Both my mastectomy and augmentation incisions were inframammary, so they aren’t that noticeable. When I found out I had cancer, I never thought my breasts would look this great afterwards! I can’t recommend Dr. Clavijo enough. He is an extremely talented surgeon and treats his patients like family.