What to Expect After Breast Reconstructive Surgery
If you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, your doctor may have advised you to have a mastectomy followed by breast cancer reconstruction. Here are some tips that can help you through the process.
After your mastectomy, you’ll probably want to wear a breast prosthesis or breast form until you have your breast reconstruction surgery. Amoena breast forms and Camp breast forms are made to replace missing tissue and restore balance and symmetry. To keep your breast form firmly in place, you may also want an Amoena mastectomy bra, which is a post-mastectomy bra that has pockets for breast forms.
When you first leave the hospital a day or two after your breast reconstruction surgery, you may still have a surgical drain in place to drain excess fluids from the surgical site. Your plastic surgeon will take the drain out within the first few weeks after your surgery.
Following your breast reconstruction procedure, you’ll probably have some swelling and bruising around the breast for several weeks. Hot and cold packs are great to help alleviate this discomfort. You may also have some pain, which your plastic surgeon can treat with medications or a pain pump.
You should be able to go back to work about a week or two after breast reconstruction surgery, although you’ll probably need to limit your activities and wear a post-reconstruction recovery garment for a few weeks after surgery. Your options for post-reconstruction surgery garments include compression bras and compression vests.
While most plastic surgeons can perform breast reconstructive surgery, there are doctors that specialize in this specific plastic surgery.
Many women undergo breast reconstruction following a