Before and after right unilateral nipple-sparing mastectomy and implant reconstruction in a 55-year-old woman with breast cancer. She felt strongly that she did not want an implant on her left breast, and she wished to maintain a normal and natural appearance to her right reconstructed breast – not to look “fake”.
In breast reconstruction, the aesthetic goals are very similar to cosmetic breast surgery – symmetry of the breasts and staying true to our patients’ goals for surgery. For this patient’s situation, it was reasonable to do a right-side only mastectomy and replacement of the breast tissue with a smooth round permanent postoperatively adjustable implant that was filled all the way at the time of surgery.
She resumed exercise at month after surgery and took two months off work to fully recover from her breast cancer surgery. Since we do not put implants under the muscle, physical recovery is much easier than after placement of tissue expanders or submuscular implants. However, downtime after Plastic Surgery includes the mental and emotional aspects of recovery as well. We recommend our patients take the time they need to heal mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually after breast cancer.
Follow up photos are shown 5 weeks after surgery. Her right breast still has postoperative swelling that usually takes three months at least to resolve. She is very pleased with her decision to only have surgery on one breast and is looking forward to a family vacation before she returns to work.
*All photos are actual patient photographs and are for illustrative purposes only. Individual results may vary.
