Breast cancer despite all modern screening methods is a condition that quite often leads to a mastectomy operation. Afterwards it is the job of the Plastic surgeon to rectify the aesthetic damage done to the breast and to seek to reacquire the harmony and balance in the female body.
The method used is that of the two stage reconstruction where a pocket is initially formed under the pectoralis major muscle to which a tissue expander is inserted. By filling it we gain progressively the much needed skin and subsequent tissue expansion that is required in order to finally be able to put in that same cavity a breast implant of the appropriate size and volume.
Sometimes the unoperated breast can also undergo some minor correction so that it will resemble more closely the one excised by the mastectomy.
Nowadays with Plastic surgery being able to offer such nice and lasting results there shouldn't be any woman to have to tolerate the results of a mastectomy and it should moreover be noted that in many countries mastectomy and reconstruction are done in the same surgery.
In the last phase of the operations the nipple areola complex is reconstructed so that the end result appears as close as possible to the initial breast.
The significance of breast reconstruction after a mastectomy lies not only in its physical form but also on the impact it has in the woman's self esteem and confidence. Post mastectomy breast reconstruction is one of the best things a woman can do to begin her life anew.
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