surgery on mastectomy scar

Hi Tovahsmom - I don't have experience with atypical vascular lesions, but I do have experience with radiation. I had 8 weeks of radiation therapy after my DCIS diagnosis in 2008. In July 2021, I was diagnosed with IDC in the same breast as before. What I have learned in the treatment discussion this time, is that there is a higher rate of necrosis (the tissue does not survive the transfer and dies) in breast skin that has been radiated. In your case, it has been radiated two times and now that tissue will have a much more difficult time remaining healthy, with good circulation, good blood flow etc. Once a breast is radiated, plastic surgeons don't want to use it again for reconstruction. Now, one of the options is to use flap surgery or DIEP, taking tissue from your stomach or back to graft over the breast for reconstruction. So it isn't the mastectomy that is causing the problem with the healing of the wound, but the radiated tissues that are no longer healthy and run the risk of infection or dying off. In discussing my upcoming mastectomy, I wanted to keep as much of my nipple and skin as I could in reconstruction, but was advised more than once, not to even consider it due to the radiation.

I hope this information is of help to you. I wish you all the best and hope you are in a better situation having all the facts on your diagnosis by now.