Before and after bilateral mastectomies and DIEP flap breast reconstructions in a 64 year old woman with recurrent breast cancer. A BRCA gene test revealed she was positive for this gene, which explained why she already had developed three breast cancers in her lifetime treated with several lumpectomies, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Her new breast cancer was triple negative. Bilateral mastectomies were planned together with removal of her ovaries and uterus. Thankfully, she had enough lower abdominal tissue to reconstruct two breasts; she did not want foreign bodies (breast implants) in her body. Bilateral DIEP flaps were the perfect option for her.
A combined surgery with her Breast Surgeon, a Gynecological Oncologist and two Microsurgeons, Dr. Karen Horton and Dr. Rudy Buntic, took 9 hours and accomplished double mastectomies, a hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomies, bilateral DIEP flap breast reconstructions, bilateral breast lifts and bilateral nipple and areola reconstruction using free “auto-grafts” from her own nipples and areolas.
After surgery, she spent almost a week in the very hospital where Reconstructive Microsurgery was born over 50 years ago, in San Francisco. Follow up photos are shown a year after surgery. She is cancer-free and is very happy with her results. She has minor abdominal standing cones at the ends of her abdominal incisions called "dog ears” that are easy to trim under local anesthesia in the office.
*All photos are actual patient photographs and are for illustrative purposes only. Individual results may vary.
