Nipple sparing straight to implant reconstruction

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Leslie13
Leslie13 Member Posts: 202
edited January 2016 in Breast Reconstruction

I wanted to add this topic, as I had a successful surgery and would like to answer any questions for people considering this procedure.


I wanted to go straight to implant, as I have other chronic pain conditions and didn't feel I could handle expanders. I made sure my surgeons had performed many successful procedures before choosing them. I interviewed 5 Plastic Surgeons before finding the right one. Find a breast and plastics team who frequently work together really helps success.


The two main benefits were: 1) Only a month of excessive tightness. I had 475 cc's 410 gummies. Had I filled slowly, I think I'd have screamed to remove them by 300 cc if not sooner. Women who have expanders for months and go above 600 cc's are true warriors!

2) i didn't suffer the emotional loss. I'm still me. One breast is nearly perfect, and the nipple has feeling. It's not normal; my Dr. was very surprised. I had a small piece of tissue removed under the nipple of the other breast because it didn't establish a blood supply. It's not that obvious and I'll have reconstruction down the road.


I don't see a thread for this reconstruction, and it can be an excellent option for certain people.

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  • Mominator
    Mominator Member Posts: 1,575
    edited January 2016

    Leslie, Congratulations on finding a reconstruction option that worked for you. I'm happy to see that you were able to avoid TEs and exchange surgery.

    Although one-step reconstruction has benefits, I doubt that it would have been an option for me.

    I had very large, pendulous breasts before my nipple-sparing BMx. In additional to a lot of breast tissue (812 gm on the right, 666 gm on the left), a wide crescent of skin was removed from each breast. My TEs were filled to 420 during surgery, and that was enough volume for me. My PS did one fill of 60 after, as he always overfills to make sure the pocket is big enough.

    I had my exchange last week. Plastic Surgeon had to do a lot of pocket work on both breasts. Also, PS removed some fat tissue that was just under the skin on the lower halves of both my breasts. The fat was keeping the skin stiff and slowing down the healing. The fat was "not exactly necrotic" but it was "definitely not happy" where it was. I don't know how much total he removed, but it was a lot.

    Both breasts are really swollen, but are starting to shape up much better. I am happy with the results.

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