Before and after bilateral immediate breast implant reconstruction in a 37 year old woman with an unrelated skin condition. She was diagnosed at a young age with breast cancer. Her mother had passed away from breast cancer at age 39. Although she tested negative for the BRCA gene, she requested bilateral nipple sparing mastectomies and a prophylactic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (ovary and fallopian tube removal) together with implant based reconstructions.
Her aesthetic goal was to be reconstructed slightly larger than her natural breast size. Smooth round adjustable saline breast implants were placed on top of the muscle, in the prepectoral position. They will inflated nearly all the way during surgery.
One additional inflation at two weeks postoperatively completed the reconstruction. She loved to be able to control her implant volume and the final aesthetic outcome. This simple detail of her reconstruction surgery gave her “control in a very chaotic and upsetting time”.
Her implant ports were removed and the saline implants replaced with smooth round silicone high profile implants six months later as a short outpatient procedure. Follow up photos are shown at one year after her mastectomies. After one major surgery and one straightforward implant exchange surgery, she does not look or feel like a cancer patient!
*All photos are actual patient photographs and are for illustrative purposes only. Individual results may vary.
