Breast Reconstruction
Many women lose their breasts due to breast cancer which is one of the most common type of cancer in the world. Breast Reconstruction is the recreation of breasts, the representation of womanhood, which are removed after surgical operations. Breast Reconstruction may be applied in order to visually recreate breasts so that the patients perception of a normal body and self-confidence may increase.
We can create natural-looking breasts through a mastectomy operation by applying patient’s own tissue and/or silicone prostheses. The time of Breast Reconstruction should be decided by the general surgeon who applied the patient’s breast cancer treatment, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist and plastic surgeon. Breast Reconstruction and mastectomy operations might be perfromed at the same time if applicable.
Radiotherapy plays an important role in selection of the method. Silicone prostheses cause some complications in the patients who has received or will receive radiotherapy. Therefore, we utilise the patient’s own tissues for them. If it is not certain whether the patient will receive radiotherapy before mastectomy, Breast Reconstruction may not be a convenient option to be combined with mastectomy. In this case, the patient should receive reconstruction treatment in the second operation or tissue expander should be placed and the patient should wait for the pathology results. Depending on the pathology results, Breast Reconstruction may be applied through silicone prostheses on the patients who has not received radiotherapy.
Breast Reconstruction does not increase the cancer risk or prevent cancer screening. It helps patients hold on to life and pursue a normal life and it prevents the patients from feeling incomplete.
After the operation through general anesthesia, you may return to your daily life within 1-3 weeks depending on the methods applied on breast reconstruction. The patients may need a second or third operation to ensure natural-looking symmetrical breasts. Additionally, breast reduction or mastopexy operations might be required on the healthy breasts.
