Breast Reconstruction

Breast Reconstruction Using Your Own Tissue

Natural-tissue breast reconstruction methods use excess tissue from a woman’s own body to replace breast tissue removed by mastectomy. It is very important to keep in mind that:

• When tissue comes from your own body, it cannot be rejected by your immune system
• Because the warm living tissue used in breast reconstruction is itself not breast tissue, your newly reconstructed breast can never develop breast cancer.

One of the most important factors that differentiate flaps from one another is whether or not muscle is removed from a flap’s donor site.

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Perforator Flaps

Perforator flaps are sophisticated methods of natural-tissue reconstruction which leave muscle intact at a donor site while still providing the necessary blood supply to the tissue used for the reconstruction of a breast removed by mastectomy. The most commonly used perforator flap for breast reconstruction is the DIEP flap.

Because no muscle is removed, perforator flaps offer distinct advantages over muscle-containing flaps such as the TRAM flap:

• Less pain at the donor site
• Strength is preserved at the flap’s donor site
• Minimal risk of developing a hernia or bulge
• More rapid overall recovery.


» Learn more about these sophisticated methods of reconstruction

Musculocutaneous Flaps

Although muscle is not needed to reconstruct a breast, some methods of natural-tissue breast reconstruction do remove muscle from their donor sites in order to carry the blood vessels that will nourish the tissue of the reconstruction. The removal of muscle from the donor site is the principal drawback to these types of flaps, collectively known as musculocutaneous flaps.

The disadvantages of removing muscle from a flap’s donor site are clear; they include:

• Permanent weakness
• Significant risk of developing a hernia or bulge of the abdomen
• More postoperative pain than following perforator flap breast reconstruction
• Longer recovery after surgery than for procedures that do not sacrifice muscle.

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Mastectomy Reconstruction in Connecticut and New York

Our practice specializes in the most sophisticated techniques of natural-tissue breast reconstruction--microsurgical perforator flap surgery. Perforator flaps such as the DIEP flap and the SGAP flap take advantage of microsurgical techniques to reconstruct breasts, that closely resemble breasts removed by mastectomy, from healthy, warm living tissue. Perforator flap breast reconstruction procedures such as the DIEP flap replace tissue removed at mastectomy with natural tissue from your own body. These procedures reconstruct a breast without the significant disadvantages of synthetic implants or the sacrifice of important functional muscles.

Natural-Tissue Reconstructive Methods

Breast reconstruction with natural tissue almost always produces more durable and natural looking results, although recovery may be longer than after reconstruction with breast implants.

How muscle is handled during surgery is the biggest factor differentiating natural-tissue reconstruction procedures from one another, aside from the location from which tissue is borrowed. Having a breast reconstructed with a perforator flap means enjoying all of the benefits of natural-tissue reconstruction, without sacrificing muscle.

Our practice specializes in perforator flap breast reconstruction in New York City and Greenwich, Connecticut.