Reconstruction questions

Hoping the biopsies come back benign. Did your dr talk with you about other types of recon besides implants especially since you're on the young side of the fence?

I had BMX with DTI - silicone. The cancer was only in one breast and actually gone after chemo. I opted to remove the other one because some areas had shown on MRI before treatment and one remained afterwards. It was not concerning enough to biopsy, but I didn't want to rescan in 6 months and follow. I was also concerned about symmetry and figured I didn't want to have to do extra surgeries for matching purposes.

My feeling is that with some cancers and some boobs - lumpectomy is a great choice. For others, not so much. My lump was at 12 o'clock on a smallish breast, found by me 4 months after clear mammo, and triple positive. BMX, while not perfect, was the right choice for me.

Feel free to ask any questions!

Do you mean the anatomical or shaped implants? That's what I have. There is still a "step off" because no matter how tapered they are at the top - it still isn't flawless. Fat grafting would help with that.

Fat grafting will take care of the "skinny bones" and one can be thin and still have plenty of "donor fat."

In my case, I had dense breasts and a tiny speck of DCIS in one of them. I'd had call backs with previous mammograms, and I hated the stress. By doing a BMX I am forever free of any mammos, and for that, it is a HUGE relief.  I also avoided radiation, which for me was a big plus as well. 

During pathology, my cancer free breast was noted to have dilated ducts and lots of fibrous tissue. It wasn't completely normal and my "gut" tells me that it was "only a matter of time" before it would have issues as well. 

Good luck with your decision. 

I had NSBMX about two months ago. I am 42 as well, and on the thin side (BMI ~20). I posted pictures of my outcome over on the pictures forum, but in a nutshell my prophylactic side is a little messed up and will need a revision, but my PS says that will be an easy surgery with minimal recovery. The asymmetry isn't noticeable in clothes, and my husband doesn't think it's worth fixing but I they're not his tits so I'm fixing them anyway. I went for bilateral instead of uni because I wanted to keep them matched and not have to worry about one sagging while the other stays perky as I age. My implants are pre-pec and the edges look odd so I will probably have fat grafting sometime after the revision surgery (which will be at least six months after I finish rads, which starts next week). Lumpectomy wasn't ever an option for me, but I wanted them lobbed off regardless as they obviously couldn't be trusted.

I had a similar situation at first. I had known cancer on the left side and needed a mastectomy for that as radiation was contraindicated for me. I wanted to keep the right side because I knew I would miss having sensation. I ended up having cancer on both sides so both had to go. I looked into my options but DIEP was out because I didn't have enough fat for it. I ended up with standard round very high profile silicone implants, nipple reconstruction and tattooing, and fat grafting, and am very happy with the results.

If I hadn't had cancer in both breasts, though, I would have kept the healthy side. I DO miss sensation, quite a bit.

Dovely the 'superficial 'part of this - feeling okay when you look in the mirror is important. I remember while making these decisions feeling uncomfortable about it....like I was being too vain - but this is hard enough without at least coming out of it feeling reasonably okay about our bodies if we can. So give yourself permission to figure out what works for you aesthetically. Its part of the process., advocating for yourself on all fronts.

hi. Did anyone have radiation on their tissue expanders and what were the results