Reconstruction after Radiation

Kati218 · February 2018

Is there anyone who had a lumpectomy with radiation and then ended up having to have a mastectomy?

I'm wondering how reconstruction went after having radiation

Marchz · February 2018

I’ll be curious for this response. I had an awful wound develop half way during Radiation and am left with a deformed breast. The breast hurts and is half the size of the other breast. It also has a large divet from the wound healing and the nipple was pulled way to the side. I’m afraid of a PS since it’s been radiated but any doctor that sees it recommends seeing a PS.

buttonsmachine · February 2018

Hi Kati218, I had a lumpectomy, radiation, recurrence, mastectomy, and then started implant reconstruction with a tissue expander. After radiation your infection risk is higher, especially when reconstructing with implants, and using some of your own tissue lowers your infection risk. Often surgeons will want to use your latissimus dorsi muscle for implant reconstruction following radiation. I had larger breasts, and so they were able to use the extra skin from the mastectomy (it was a skin sparing mastectomy via a wise pattern with tissue advancement) instead of my latissimus. Not all surgeons will do that surgery though, and not everyone is a candidate for it. For me it has worked so far, but I'm only in the tissue expander phase so I can't speak for the long-term.

Lula73 · February 2018

I had max lifetime rads to my entire chest for a different cancer, later developed BC and had BMX with DIEP flap recon. DIEP is a natural tissue recon and I had 0 issues despite the rads. Feel free to ask questions!

Reconstruction after Radiation

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