Fat grafting before Tissue Expander?

littleblueflowers

Hi ladies, I am in the process of learning about my recon options. I have had a bmx and radiation. One PS is suggesting fat grafting to my radiated side previous to placing a tissue expander in order to strengthen the skin. She says she has better luck with this. She recommends 2 rounds of liposuction and fat grafting, 3 months apart, then 3 months befor tissue expander placement under the pec muscle. Would any of you be willing to share your experiences with this? Thanks!

littleblueflowers

no one?

SpecialK

littleblue - I had fat grafting twice to my flat side after my implant was removed to improve skin integrity before trying the expander and implant again. I did not have rads, but this was done for the same reasons it is done for those who have. It made a huge difference and is the reason I was able to have successful expansion after repeated surgery for skin integrity issues due to necrosis on that side. I now have an expander in place and have 480ccs in it. I will exchange in May. Since the word "radiation" is missing from your thread title you may be missing some who might post with rads and FG experience. Type fat grafting and radiation into the search box and you will see some posts from members who have had FG and rads.

littleblueflowers

Thanks SpecialK! I appreciate the information. I'll try that search!

macb04

Hello,

I had fat grafting several times, unfortunately lost most of my fat due to 2 really bad infections and the PS was not that skilled withthe techniques, that said, I was also having poor skin integrity because of severe rad damage. My skin was thick and woody, like boot leather, also discolored too. I found out about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, that in combination with the A cup amount of fat I gotfrom fat grafting helped hugely in improving my skin. Now you almost can't tell I had rads damage, about 97% of normal I would guess per my current PS who put the TE in OVER my pectoral last year and then did an exchange same way to a 495cc high profile, Mentor Anatomic silicone implant.

Radiation definitely messes up your tissue perfusion, gave me radiation fibrosis which was this horrible "IRON BRA" feeling, Thank God that is mostly gone.. Fat grafting is known to help bring in new, healthy tissue, without the downtime of a DIEP, that helps yourbody rehab your skin/chest. PM me if you want more details.