Trifecta of breast reconstruction

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PetRescue
PetRescue Member Posts: 15
edited February 2018 in Breast Reconstruction

Does anyone out there have any experience with having a DIEP flap, implants AND fat grafting as methods to reconstruct your breast(s)??? I cannot find any information whatsoever. I had a DIEP flap and in a couple of weeks will have fat grafting and implants. Please let me know if you have any of these in common with me.

Thank you :)

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  • CarolinaMommy
    CarolinaMommy Member Posts: 18
    edited September 2017

    ? I've never heard of using implants with diep. I had diep and fat grafting (oh sore bruises that take forever to go away!), but cannot speak for the implants... I'm a little confused by the combo, as the whole thing with diep is to move living tissue into breast mounds, then the fat can survive there. An implant wouldn't disrupt this...symbiosis? I'm curious, hope you find someone w better answers and good luck

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  • besa
    besa Member Posts: 1,088
    edited September 2017

    There are some microvascular ps who can add a small implant, over the muscle, to increase the volume of a flap reconstruction. The NOLA docs can do this. They often add some lipoed fat to their microvascular reconstructions during their stage two surgeries. (I have had lipoed fat added to my DIEP and sGAP reconstructions - but I do not have implants.) That is less common. If you are going to NOLA for reconstruction you can just ask to speak to one of their former patients who had all three things done.

    Also there is a facebook group for women who have had or are having reconstruction at NOLA. Though implant with DIEP is not done that often there are probably women in that group who have had all three things done.

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  • MaggieL
    MaggieL Member Posts: 3
    edited September 2017

    Hi! I am in the same exact boat as you! It has been next to impossible to find other women who have had DIEP, fat grafting and implants. I actually just completed DIEP and am exactly one week out. I am 5'4 and weigh about 119. My left breast suffered significant damage from the rads and then my right breast eventually became quite irritated from the expander. The goal with DIEP was to remove any foreign objects from my body (TE) and begin to let my skin heal. In several months we will pursue fat grafting and implants. I am so happy that my PS is able to do this and I bet you are too. It's so uncommon. I have connected with 2 women who have gone through it and are VERY HAPPY with the results.

    I think you are further ahead than me with this but I'm happy to chat if you want to! :)

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  • IronMom3
    IronMom3 Member Posts: 26
    edited October 2017

    I will be going this route as well. I am on the small side, and diep is my only option. My PS offered fat grafting and a small implant to make a fuller breast mound if I wish, after the initial diep is healed

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  • PetRescue
    PetRescue Member Posts: 15
    edited February 2018

    i’m very happy with the results of my mastectomies and diep flap (March 2017) and my fat grafting and implants (Oct 2017). my diep flap scar is not the greatest sight to behold but i’m grateful to be alive. my foobs look great, i wanted a bigger implant but my cavity wasn’t big enough. i’m very happy with them though, very perky. my hair is now a pixie length. i haven’t had a period since march 2017, so now i think it’s on to dealing w chemical menopause. ugh. i am nearing my one year anniversary of my mastectomies and you know, sometimes, i’m still in shock that i had breast cancer! breast cancer is a beast! but i survived, and will continue to do so. hope that you both are doing well. stay strong. thank you for giving me a little piece of our story :)
















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  • PetRescue
    PetRescue Member Posts: 15
    edited February 2018

    i live in lafayette, louisiana, (not in new orleans, la) and my surgeon did the implant surgery at a local hospital. i had my double mastectomies and diep flap in march 2017. the diep flap created my two breast mounds. it was a 12-hr surgery! one ps cut the flap and the second ps attached this flap to the arteries etc in my chest. amazing! i’m so blessed. then i had my fat grafting and implants done at the same time in october 2017. my ps put small implants in and grafted fat from my lower back and love handles to fill in the areas that were sunken in (by my breast one and underarms) from the mastectomies. my foobs look real! i’m so lucky to be alive and even tho i can’t feel them i have great boobs lolol



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