Breast Reconstruction

I just read about a recent development in Oregon, where the legislature at the end of May, voted to have insurance companies cover reconstruction of partial mastectomy patients, or patients having lumpectomies. Previously, only full or total mastectomies were covered in the state. This is a significant occurrence, as patients elsewhere may also may be […]

We saw a patient this past week who had had bilateral breast reconstruction using abdominal tissue…. only at two different settings with mastectomies at different times… on one side a tissue expander was placed and the skin expanded over time following a mastectomy. At a later time, the other mastectomy was performed with immediate reconstruction

This past week there was a special event at the medical center honoring cancer patients and their caregivers. One of our breast reconstruction patients made a generous donation to the medical center on my behalf. A very thoughtful, generous, and nice token of appreciation, and there are many folks at the hospital to also thank

I had a patient recently who was a 2-3 cup a day coffee consumer who asked about caffeine intake after surgery… indeed, there may be a situation where your plastic and reconstructive surgeon asks patients to decrease or even temporarily discontinue caffeine intake for a period of time after surgery to optimize wound healing… just

I would like to thank a patient of mine who I saw this week who had undergone bilateral mastectomy with implant based reconstruction, and, at this point, bilateral nipple reconstruction… on course for her nipple-areolar tattooing. Her comment was that breast reconstruction, including the nipple-areola reconstruction, was more than simply just that…. it really completed

The BC3 conference is going on in washington DC currently and there is an interesting section on partial breast reconstruction. This field was first popularized in Europe, and is currently increasing in frequency at centers in the US… Essentially, the technique revolves around reconstruction of a lumpectomy defect by a plastic and reconstructive surgeon following

I recently read an article by the Independent (from the United Kingdom) relaying that at the Royal Marsden, 43 per cent of patients undergo reconstruction after a mastectomy – more than double the national UK average, according to last year’s figures. It seems that although the number of patients who have had a mastectomy who

A very recent report released this week stated that 43% of women diagnosed with breast cancer are not told about breast-reconstruction options from a survey by the nonprofit Cancer Support Community. Also, nearly 88% of women who had discussed options with a surgeon were pleased with their subsequent decisions. These are the very numbers, that

There are many factors that go into the decision regarding the timing of breast reconstruction. Sometimes women prefer to proceed with a mastectomy and other needed cancer treatment, leaving the question of possible reconstruction for later. Sometimes there are clear medical reasons why a delay is preferable, and sometimes women strongly prefer a single major

This past sunday our nurse Maria walked and raised funds for Breast cancer research along with several breast reconstruction patients from our practice. Hopefully it wasn’t too windy out during the day, but I hear that the walk was truly inspirational with many others whose lives have been affected by breast cancer also out for