Before and after right nipple reconstruction in a 64 year old breast cancer survivor. Like many women who are not satisfied with their reconstruction results, she never bothered to complete nipple reconstruction.
In actuality, reconstructing a nipple and areola is the best way to put the “icing on the cake”, the “cherry on the cupcake”, as many of our patients have put it. Several women have expressed “I didn’t know how much I missed my nipple until I had it back again!” (a new one).
This patient had a deflated saline implant that was replaced with a smooth round silicone gel implant to match her other natural breast. A piece of the left nipple was transplanted as a free graft to the right, and tattoo was done on both sides for symmetry of color, hue and intensity of the areola pigment.
As opposed to the local flap technique, free nipple grafts or “nipple sharing” do not shrink the same way as a local flap reconstruction. The donor nipple ends up being 50% smaller and retains it sensation. The new nipple does not have the same sensation as the other side since it is a graft, but healing is around 99% successful, even after radiation!
Follow up photos are shown one month after surgery. The nipple graft is not expected to shrink. Nipple tissue is very specialized; if there is donor nipple tissue available on one side, this is always a preferred technique as it is very difficult to exactly match nipple tissue with skin flaps.
*All photos are actual patient photographs and are for illustrative purposes only. Individual results may vary.
