Breast reconstruction refers to all surgical techniques that aimed at restoring the body integrity of a patient following a total or partial amputation of her breast(s). It usually integrates into a malignant tumor (cancer) care of the breast but can also concern the management of congenital or acquired malformations of the breast.
Breast reconstruction after breast cancer:
Breast reconstruction takes full part of the treatment of breast cancer and although it is not mandatory (some patients prefer to stay with a flat thorax without reconstruction) all the clinical studies on this subject have revealed a major benefit on the quality of the patients’ life having had an ablation of the breast and that whatever the technique of reconstruction is chosen.
The breast reconstruction is suggested in 2 situations
Either the context of immediate breast reconstruction. The breast is immediately reconstructed during mastectomy
Or as part of secondary breast reconstruction from 6 to 12 months after mastectomy.
Overall, immediate breast reconstruction is reserved for cases where postoperative radiotherapy is not contemplated. This concerns cases such as small invasive tumors when the patient does not want to keep her breast, diffuse in situ carcinomas, prophylactic mastectomies in case of BRCA mutations and recurrences after lumpectomy + radiotherapy (conservative treatment).
There are 2 main types of breast reconstruction after cancer:
We prefer the use of autologous breast reconstruction because it gives better results in terms of quality of life and does not require another interventions in the long term.
Therfore, our therapeutic decision tree is the following:
If you have a slight overweight and your belly has excess skin and fat, we offer a DIEP flap because it is the technique that gives the best results in breast reconstruction.
If you do not have excess belly, several solutions are possible and depend on your morphology and your personal choices:
The benefits and risks of these different interventions will be explained to you during the consultation so that you can choose the reconstruction breast procedure that will suit you best.
Once the shape and volume of the breast is re-established, the last surgical time will be the reconstruction of the areola and nipple.
Plastic surgery can treat breast malformations whether if they are congenital (present since birth or appearing during development) or acquired (mainly related to breast infection or its surgical sequelae). Again, autologous techniques have taken a major place, in particular the injection of purified fat or Lipofilling. It is indeed possible to treat the following conditions:
Reconstruction of the areola and nipple :
Reconstruction of the areola and nipple is the final stage of total breast repair after mastectomy. We use an original technique that avoids taking a skin graft at the thigh’s root.
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