Breast Reconstruction Surgery | Conditions & Treatments

What is Breast Reconstruction?

Breast reconstruction is surgery to create a new breast shape in place of a breast that has been removed (mastectomy). It can be done with implants or with tissue from another part of your body. Sometimes both are used to rebuild a breast shape. The breast mound created comes as close as possible to the shape and look of a natural breast.

Surgery may be done to reconstruct either one breast (unilateral) or both breasts (bilateral). The goal of the unilateral reconstruction is to create a breast mound that matches the other breast. If both breasts have been removed, the goal of the surgery is to create both breast mounds about the size of your natural breasts.

UR Medicine's Approach

Breast reconstruction surgery can make a big difference to help you feel like yourself again. UR Medicine Plastic Surgery becomes your partner in assisting you to take this step safely, with a solution that will be best for you and your body based on your medical and treatment history.

Reconstruction Procedures

In some cases, we can proceed with breast reconstruction at the same time as your cancer surgery. In others, we will need to wait until you have healed to perform breast reconstruction surgery.

Some procedures use implants, a silicone shell filled with either a saline (salt water) solution or a silicone gel. Others use a flap of tissue from another part of the body, such as the abdomen or the back. This flap may be used alone or with an implant.

No procedure is necessarily better than another, but some procedures may not be medically appropriate for every kind of mastectomy. In your meeting with your cancer surgeon and breast reconstruction surgeon, we will review the methods that are right for the kind of mastectomy you will receive.

Breast Implants and Tissue Expanders
Flap Reconstruction Procedures
Transverse Rectus Abdominus Myocutaneous (TRAM) Flap
Latissimus Dorsi Flap
Deep Inferior Epigastric Perforator (DIEP) Flap
Superficial Inferior Epigastric Artery (SIEA) Flap
Other flap procedures

What Sets Us Apart?

Our patients are treated in a multidisciplinary approach by our team of experts to create an individualized treatment plan that's best for you. When a mastectomy is required for your continued health, our highly specialized breast reconstruction team will meet with you well before your surgery to discuss your options for:

Immediate reconstruction. This is reconstruction surgery done at the same time as the mastectomy.
Delayed reconstruction. This is a surgery done after you recover from the mastectomy. If radiation therapy is part of your treatment plan, you may be advised to wait until after the radiation is finished.