This week, James E. Craigie, MD, of The Center for Natural Breast Reconstruction answers your question.Question: I’ve just found out I have breast cancer and have to have a mastectomy. There is no one in my little city that does the DIEP surgery. Can you help me find somewhere to go so I can have my mastectomy and reconstruction at the same time?Answer: Thanks for your question. There are specialized types of breast reconstruction that may not always be available to patients in every city. It is very common for patients to travel out of state to our practice because of our specialized training and the procedures we perform. When someone has to have a mastectomy, it may be possible to start the reconstruction at the same time. The advantages are several and include fewer surgical procedures, saving your breast skin and nipple sparing mastectomy. We use a multi- disciplinary approach and work with expert breast surgeons who can evaluate our patients to ensure they are having the most up to date treatment and are ok to have the mastectomy and reconstruction together. If it is determined that radiation treatments are needed after mastectomy, then we might recommend reconstruction at a later time when the radiation is complete. At the appropriate time, it can still be possible to have natural breast reconstruction and the most up to date breast reconstruction procedures. Our practice is committed to taking care of women who must go through a mastectomy and who desire knowing all their possible options for breast reconstruction. We make ourselves available to patients with time sensitive needs and will do anything we can to help people who may need to travel out of town for specialized state of the art breast reconstruction.Have a question about breast reconstruction or post-surgical you'd like answered from our surgical team?Just ask!
