Before and after delayed left DIEP flap breast reconstruction and right breast reduction and lift in a 58 year old woman. She had recently completed chemotherapy and radiation to her left chest wall after a left non-skin sparing mastectomy for breast cancer. She had an oversized, heavy and pendulous right breast and had always wanted a breast reduction.
Her lower abdominal skin and fat was transplanted microsurgically to create a breast on the left side. Much of the contracted, damaged radiated skin on the left chest was removed and replaced by healthy DIEP flap tissue. A right breast reduction was performed at the same time.
She later had left nipple and areola reconstruction by the “nipple sharing” technique, taking a portion of the right nipple and moving it to the left DIEP flap as a free graft. Medical tattoo created a left areola.
Follow up photos are shown a year and a half after her DIEP flap and breast reduction. She still has some residual left upper chest puckering from the radiated skin. This will continue to relax over time.
She is a good candidate for free fat grafting to help to fill this radiated area in and smooth it out, and to benefit other fat “donor sites” such as her outer thighs!
*All photos are actual patient photographs and are for illustrative purposes only. Individual results may vary.
