Radiation with expanders in place

I had radiation after expanders and there were a few problems. I had chemo and then a bi-lateral mastectomy with expanders. My onc did not want more than 10 weeks between mastectomy and radiation. That, of course, meant that I had to be fully expanded and have the exchange surgery in ten short weeks! I had bi-weekly expansions and had some pain but nothing that I could not handle.

I think if my plastic surgeon had it to do over again he would have expanded the radiated breast a wee bit more. It became quite dry from the radiation and moved up a bit and shrank. We waited a year and he did some revisions and I am very happy now.

There is a lot of information on the web regarding radiation after expanders.

I hope it goes well for you.

Sharon

I had a bi-lateral with tissue expanders, then chemo and then radiation due to one positive node and close margins.  I have not had any problems.  I had all my fills before radiation but had to be deflated to half so that my rads oncologist could do proper mapping to ensure the proper areas were radiated.  A few months after rads they starting filling me up again and six months after rads I  had my implant exchange surgery.  That was over a year ago and so far so good.  I decided not to get nipples and my plastic surgeon agreed because we don' t want to mess up a good thing.  My recommendation is to make sure your plastic surgeon and radiation oncologist work together and that they are both experienced with implants and radiation to ensure the best result possible.

I had an expander, then radiation. Ended up getting expander removed.  Radiation either burnt, or did something to the expander, that was causing me so much discomfort.  Have not had the surgery(because from what I hear), I would have to do the trans flam.  Cannot do expander again