Restorative Techniques

Recovery After Breast Reconstruction Surgery

It’s helpful and reassuring to have some idea in advance about what your recovery from surgery will be like. Although of course no two people experience precisely the same path to full recovery, this overview will suggest what you can expect, and will help you to plan for your recovery.

Recovering After a Perforator Flap/Stage I Breast Reconstruction

During your hospital stay

Right after surgery…
You will be brought to the recovery room, where your nurse will make sure you’re comfortable and will check on you and your newly reconstructed breasts. If you like, you can have your family or others visit with you in the recovery room.

A few hours later…
You’ll go to a comfortable private room where you will have personal nursing care for the first 24 hours of your recovery. You can have someone stay overnight with you in your hospital room if you like; a fold-out bed for a guest will be available right in your room. Your nurse, who has been specifically trained to monitor the progress of your reconstructed breast, will attend to your needs and assure your comfort. Most patients spend about four nights recuperating in the hospital before going home.

After you leave the hospital

Follow up…
Your first follow-up office visit will be scheduled to take place within about one week from the time you leave the hospital. During the following few weeks, as needed, you will have periodic follow-up visits.

The first few weeks at home…
It is common to feel tired and fatigued more easily than you usually do in the first few weeks following surgery. You will likely want to rest and sleep more than you are accustomed to. Most women feel their usual level of energy restored sometime between 3 and 6 weeks after surgery. For first few weeks after surgery, you cannot engage in vigorous or strenuous activity, but you can take walks and engage in other non-strenuous activity. You will be able to shower (you will take a shower even before you leave the hospital), but you will not be able to swim or sit in a bath until all of your incisions are fully healed, at about 4 weeks after surgery. Most patients are able to return to light aerobic activity about 4 weeks after surgery, and most are allowed to resume unrestricted physical activity 6 to 8 weeks after surgery. Dr. Greenspun will advise you, based upon how you are recovering, when it is safe to resume various activities.

Returning to work…
is at a different pace for each individual. Since there is variability in how quickly different people recover from surgery, it is not easy to predict exactly how soon you will be able to return to work, and different occupations make different physical demands. In general, we recommend that you plan to take 3-4 weeks off from work. Some women are able to return to work even sooner, but some, particularly those who have physically demanding jobs, may take longer.

Recovering after Stage II Breast Reconstruction

Refinement of your reconstructed breasts and donor site, reconstruction of nipples, and, if only one breast was reconstructed, any procedure done to the opposite breast–– for example, a lift or reduction to improve symmetry–– is done on an outpatient basis. You will go home the same day as the procedure, and most women can return to work after only a few days; for women whose work requires strenuous physical activity though, a bit more time will be needed. Most women are able to return to unrestricted physical activity between 2 and 4 weeks after Stage II surgery; Dr. Greenspun will advise you, based upon how you are recovering, when it is safe to resume various activities.