Complicated breast reconstruction due to necrosis
I had double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction/tissue expanders placed on November 4, 2024. A week later had post surgery follow up with both surgeons. I had a hemotoma on right side that was drained in office 250/300cc’s. Surgeon said compression necrosis at IMF incision site. My plastic surgeon proceeded to remove the 450cc’s of air and replace with 450cc’s of saline to tissue expanders with necrotic wound still there. It proceeded to get worse and finally almost 4 wks to the day of surgery, he did a second surgery in his office( 45-60 minutes under local anestetic ). Necrosis went from partial thickness to full thickness necrosis. After cutting out necrotic skin, left over hemotoma and seroma, it was 9 cm’s IMF with 16-18 external stitches. Within a couple wks filled to final 650 cc’s in tissue expander. I had nipple sparing mastectomy. My nipples before and after surgery were almost symmetrical, off by half an inch. Now after necrosis, off two and a half inches. One nipple is high, the other low. Very lopsided. Getting ready for implant exchange. Surgeon says he can cut out skin on the other side to try to bring down nipple a little, but not much he can do. Basically I just have to live with it. I am so upset. I’ve gotten a couple second opinions and necrosis should have been taken care of immediately. Has anyone else had these kind of issues? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!
Comments
-
I've been sliced and diced and butchered. I had 8 surgeries from my 1st round of breast cancer to correct the carnage I was left with from the original reconstructive surgery/surgeon. I've recently had 2 more surgeries to cope with the breast cancer coming back. With all the scarring my chest and abdomen look like a bad science experiment. Early on I had high expectations and a belief that I would look pretty close to normal once reconstruction was complete. I think a lot of us have this type of expectation when we start our reconstruction journeys, but sadly I don't think many of us really achieve that in the long run. I've also decided it's way more important to cut out as much cancer as possible than having good looking breasts. At this point I am just happy that I look close to normal with clothes on.
Keep in mind that your surgeries are fresh. It can take as long as 6-12 months until the swelling all goes down and your breasts drop and settle into the position they are going to be for the long term. You may want to wait a while before trying to tweak them in an effort to make them look more normal and you may want to consider using a different surgeon. Good luck to you.
0