Mastectomy, Expander and Lift?

MinAZ

I am a 10 year survivor and things have changed, mostly for the better. I could not have the expander inserted until six months after the mastectomy, but I know doing both in the same surgery is very common. I'm in a hospital volunteer program and talk to a lot of breast cancer patients. I was surprised when I met a woman the other day who had the mastectomy and expander and also a lift on the other breast all during the same surgery.

I thought it was unusual to do the lift before the expansion and exchange had been done. Am I so out of touch - is this now common practice?

Artista928

Don't know if it's commonplace to include the lift of the other same time of mx and te placement but I wouldn't mess with the other breast until placement of the perm implant. Even then it can take 6 mo or more for the perm implant to fully settle to see what to do about the other side, if anything. My right perm implant is noticeably uneven with the left one that was overly radiated. I'm 6 mo out from implant sx and noticed the left has come down a little more than before so it's settled. Once I'm done with my current issue, I'm going to get the right side lifted/fixed to match the left.