Breast Reconstruction Before & After Photos

Breast Reconstruction Before & After Case 1

Breast Reconstruction Before and After Photo. Surgery performed in Dallas, TX at Law Plastic Surgery.

Breast reconstruction is a journey we’re honored to help patients undertake. Often this includes: tissue expander placement at time of mastectomy, expansion over weeks to months, and then exchange for implants or reconstruction with someone’s own tissue.

The tissue may come from the back or the belly. In this case, abdominal tissue was removed – similar to what is removed in a tummy tuck – and transplanted to the breasts. Secondary procedures include scar revision, fat grafting, and nipple reconstruction.

Breast Reconstruction Before & After Case 2

Breast Reconstruction Before and After Photo. Surgery performed in Dallas, TX at Law Plastic Surgery.

Breast cancer affects 1 in 8 women in the USA, and over 100,000 women undergo mastectomy each year.

Reconstruction after mastectomy is chosen by ~30-40% of women.

This is often performed at the same time as mastectomy, though in some cases is performed many years later like for this wonderful woman.

Sometimes there are concerns about taking time off from work or caring for a family, affecting the cancer treatment, about insurance coverage, or implant-related concerns.

This patient was tired of using a prosthetic breast, feeling forever tethered to wearing it in order to wear clothes comfortably, and to feel reasonably symmetric.

Here, we were able to use her own tissue from her abdomen to reconstruct her breasts on both sides (after mastectomy).

Other options for reconstruction include using an implant, or a combination of an implant and one’s own tissue.

The scars will continue to fade, and she has the option of further symmetry procedures like fat grafting, and for nipple/areolar reconstruction and tattooing.

Breast Reconstruction Before & After Case 3

Breast Reconstruction Before and After Photo. Surgery performed in Dallas, TX at Law Plastic Surgery.

This lovely woman had breast reconstruction a decade prior with implants.
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She had always been unhappy with how close together the implants were in the middle. More recently, she had started having pain where the capsule around the implants had tightened up.
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This is an early result after restoring depth to her cleavage, and replacing her old implants with the newest generation of gummy bear implants.
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The scars are on track to fade with a finer line than before after removing her old scar. She is happy with her pain gone and with more confidence in and out of her clothes.

Breast Reconstruction Before & After Case 4

Breast Reconstruction Before and After Photo. Surgery performed in Dallas, TX at Law Plastic Surgery.

Drains!

-Annoying
-Necessary
-Painful

This wonderful patient came to me all the way from El Paso after she had a bad experience with drains after her initial mastectomy.

Word reached her from previous patients that drains – at least in our hands – are treated carefully and gently, and usually pain-free.

Breast Reconstruction Before & After Case 5

Breast Reconstruction Before and After Photo. Surgery performed in Dallas, TX at Law Plastic Surgery.

Breast reconstruction is a core part of plastic surgery that I enjoy more than I expected. Here, a previous partial mastectomy and radiation scar left a deep depression and significant asymmetry in shape and volume.

Revision of the scar with lift and repair of the underlying breast on the right, was matched with a mastopexy (breast lift on the left) to give improved symmetry and comfort, both when trying to buy bras and other clothes, and also out of clothes.

Fat grafting is a nice adjunct for balancing volume. The silver lining in the breast cancer journey is this chance to liposuction fat from stubborn area (like the trunk or thighs) and reposition it to the breasts.

Fat grafting is useful for patients who prefer not to have breast implants. It is also useful for patients with implants, who have thin skin envelopes and would like more camouflage/coverage of the implants.

She is seen here at 1 month post-op, with her scars fading well.