Reconstruction Surgery with Breast Implants

There are many medical reasons behind a reconstruction surgery. Women who have had breast complications, such as cancer or cysts, can now choose to have a reconstruction surgery done with breast implants. This type of procedure often helps the women recover from serious body changes and helps to boost their self esteem as well.

During a reconstruction surgery a plastic surgeon has many tools available to them for creating breasts in their patients. One tool is a called a tissue expander. This allows the surgeon to create room inside of the breast tissue for the breast implant to be placed. The expander is similar to that of a balloon. Saline is injected into it after the expander has been placed under the chest muscles. Saline is then injected into this device, once a week, until the surgeon believes there is room enough to accommodate a breast implant. This is a somewhat lengthy procedure and can last up to eight weeks from start to finish. In the end the patient is usually very pleased with the results.

Another option that many plastic surgeons choose for reconstruction purposes are adjustable breast implants. These implants can be placed and the volume, or size, of the implant can be adjusted over a period of time. This option can take the place of the lengthy time of using tissue expanders. It also allows the patient and surgeon to agree upon which size of breasts are better suited for the patients body type.

Using breast implants for a reconstruction or a breast enlargement surgery does not let the patient escape the complications that breast implants do have over time. All breast implants can have one thing or another go wrong through the years of wearing them. They can leak, rupture or they can gain a rippling or wrinkling effect to the outer shell. Capsular contracture can also happen to many breast implant wearers. Scar tissue forms around the implant when this happens and it hardens. This hardening of the tissue often squeezes the breast implant and causes it to look deformed. A surgeon will need to do another surgery to correct this problem. A cosmetic surgeon can also provide other breast surgery procedures such as inverted nipple correction, areola reduction or even nipple reconstruction surgery although in many cases these can be tattooed on.