Before and after bilateral nipple-sparing mastectomy and immediate prepectoral implant reconstruction in a 35-year-old woman with invasive breast cancer. Following neoadjuvant chemotherapy, she elected to have a double mastectomy. She had very little body fat, so was a candidate for implant-based breast reconstruction.
A combined oncologic and reconstructive procedure was planned as an outpatient procedure. Her breast tissue was removed through incisions hidden in the fold under her breast, a lymph node biopsy was performed on the right, and her chemo port was taken out. At the same surgery, smooth round permanent and postoperatively adjustable saline implants were placed on top of the muscle, in the space where the breast tissue was, and were inflated fuller than her preoperative breast size while she was asleep.
After surgery, she elected to have one more inflation to achieve a fuller, yet natural look at three weeks postop. Follow up photos are shown 1 month after surgery, with circle bandages over the implant ports for comfort. She is ready to resume exercise and fully return to work, travel and get back to her life!
She is grateful that her implants were not put under the muscle, as she is an avid exerciser. What she feared most was not being able to use her chest muscles normally and being told to “just be happy in clothes,” as some of the women she met in a support group were told by their surgeons. We feel statements like this are unacceptable – breast reconstruction should have the same aesthetic goals as a cosmetic breast procedure!
She will schedule her implant port removal at three months and is considering switching to silicone gel implants for an even more natural look and feel.
*All photos are actual patient photographs and are for illustrative purposes only. Individual results may vary.
