DIEP Flap After Double Mastectomy

They are the two most frighteningly words a woman can hear. Breast cancer. Not only do you face the fear of losing your health, your wellbeing, and potentially your life but also you must risk all of this at the expense of that which is most feminine.

A full or partial mastectomy leaves a visible and painful constant reminder of the struggle endured. Often the options for reconstruction are limited to painful muscle sacrificing procedures or implants that lack the natural feel and look of the real thing. Fortunately for women who have lost a breast from cancer there is a natural and incredible way of getting their figure back. Using a procedure called a DIEP flap surgeons are able to rebuild what cancer destroyed.

DIEP flap is an acronym for deep inferior epigastric perforator, which are a series of blood vessels from the abdomen. They are used to get blood supply to the new tissue and are a vast improvement over the old TRAM procedure that used abdominal muscles.

Because this surgery uses the woman’s own tissue it is the most organic form of reconstruction. The surgeon removes a section of fat, skin and blood vessels from the stomach and connects it to a blood supply I the abdomen via the DIEP flap in this way he reconstructs the breast. Because it is part of her own body it has a more natural feel and appearance and also does not feel foreign. Rather than the alien feel of implants the woman feels whole again.

One of the unexpected fringe benefits of having a DIEP flap reconstruction is that there often is a similar result to light liposuction or a tummy tuck. Because skin and fat are removed from the stomach it is trimmer and thinner.

Of course this is not the primary benefit but it does not hurt to look a little better. In fact after recovering from a double mastectomy is a great time to have some cosmetic surgery. Rounds of chemo, surgery, and sickness have undoubtedly taken their toll on the body. What most ladies want more than anything else is to get their lives back to normal. There are few better ways than a full body makeover and since they are already under the knife they think, “why not?”

There are risks with DIEP flap surgery as with any sort of major operation. There is added risk of scarring and infection because of the wounds both on the chest and the stomach. The best way to alleviate any fears is to schedule an appointment with the surgeon and have him lay out the details and give information on recovery time and postoperative concerns.