Immediate & Delayed Breast Reconstruction |
Dr. Xiaoti Xu, Plastic Surgeon at West Kendall Baptist Hospital, explains the difference between immediate and delayed breast reconstruction: “Immediate reconstruction is what happens when you have breast reconstruction during the time of mastectomy or lumpectomy; and delayed reconstruction is that when you’re getting your breast cancer surgery and it’s just the breast cancer surgeons involved and the plastic surgeon works with you and meets with you afterwards to give you different options of how do breast reconstruction”.
He also says the nice thing about immediate reconstruction is that after a mastectomy, a woman comes out and will have some form to make them feel a little bit better than having a completely flat chest with a large scar.
Transcript
And there are two ways of looking at it if you decide to do reconstructive surgery and doctor one is called immediate reconstruction and the other one I read here is delayed reconstruction can you inform us on both of those please sure generally speaking immediate reconstruction is what happens when you have breast reconstruction in one form another during the time of mastectomy or your lumpectomy and delayed reconstruction is that when you’re getting your breast cancer surgery whether or lumpectomy a mastectomy it’s just the breast cancer surgeons involved and the plastic surgeon work with you and meet with you afterwards to sort of give you different options of how do breast reconstruction typically speaking when you talk to most plastic surgeons immediate reconstruction is what we prefer and our choice our option in terms of what we want to give to the patients the nice thing about immediate reconstruction is that after a mastectomy a woman comes out and will have some sort of form they’ll have not the same as they did before surgery but they’ll at least have something that makes them feel a little bit better than losing a completely flat chest with a large scar but there’s nothing wrong in maybe waiting and then deciding okay I’m ready for it now it’s really again like you said at the beginning of personal choice exactly there is no wrong nothing wrong you can always say I wanted no reconstruction initially and then in the future change your mind say I want reconstruction now there’s obviously a little bit more difficult in terms of having surgery but at the same time there’s nothing wrong saying it and you can come back and choose reconstruction in the future