Anyone decided to do reconstruction after deciding not to

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scaredashell07
scaredashell07 Member Posts: 272
edited November 2016 in Living Without Reconstruction After a Mastectomy

I am not getting reconstruction but may decide to if I can't deal with the emotional effects of having one less breast. I am 44 and I don't know how I'll feel until after the treatment. I don't want to think about recon until after I'm recovering from surgery and treatment meds. Is there an option of reconstruction after being "flat"

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  • ravzari
    ravzari Member Posts: 277
    edited November 2016

    I haven't, as I'm perfectly happy living without breasts and don't miss one single thing about having them, but my PS did make it very clear to me that, even if you don't have extra skin left behind, it's very possible to do reconstruction months or even several years down the line if I change my mind.

    A lot of women elect to not reconstruct right away as they want to get through their treatment without the extra healing time that gets added to it with immediate reconstruction, so it's certainly not a strange thing to do.
    If you KNOW you want to eventually reconstruct, make sure you make that clear to your PS so they can decide with you whether you want to have extra skin left behind to make reconstruction easier later on.

    If you're not sure about reconstruction, and you don't specify that you DON'T want extra skin left behind, many plastic surgeons will leave it 'just in case' you decide to reconstruct so be sure to have that conversation so you're not surprised by either lack of extra skin or by extra skin.

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  • debiann
    debiann Member Posts: 1,200
    edited November 2016

    That's what I wanted to do, uni mx and then see how i felt about recon later. My PS said that was possible, but I'd get a better cosmetic result from an immediate recon, so that's what I did, with a double mx and DIEP.

    But it is possible to go flat and then reconstruct later if you choose. You should let them know now, however, and they will leave extra skin.

    Good luck to you.

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  • stephincanada
    stephincanada Member Posts: 228
    edited November 2016

    I just went to a symposium for breast reconstruction where they had a "show and tell" lounge; brave women took off their tops to show current patients their reconstruction. I met a woman who had recon 20+ years after having a mastectomy. It looked great. She had had radiation, and I think part of the reason it looked so good is that the radiation burns/scars had lots of time to heal.


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