Reconstructing Breasts with Feeling
Do you still have breast feeling after a mastectomy and breast reconstruction?
Most women facing mastectomy and breast reconstruction want to know what kind of feeling their new breast(s) will have.
Unfortunately mastectomy leaves many women with very little feeling long term (if any), regardless of whether they have breast reconstruction or not.
There is some good news though…. Most women undergoing DIEP or SIEA flap breast reconstruction are also candidates for reconstruction of the sensory nerves in the breasts that provide feeling. The feeling in the new breast won’t be as good as what Mother Nature provided but it’s certainly a lot better than the alternative. A nice bonus at the very least.
Once the tummy tissue (flap) is moved up to the breast, a sensory nerve in the flap is connected microsurgically to a breast nerve in the chest that was cut by the mastectomy. New nerve cells grow from the chest nerve into the flap nerve over time allowing the reconstructed breast to develop feeling.
I hope this info helps.
Author: Dr. Minas Chrysopoulo
Unfortunately mastectomy leaves many women with very little feeling long term (if any), regardless of whether they have breast reconstruction or not. There is some good news though…. Most women undergoing DIEP or SIEA flap breast reconstruction are also candidates for reconstruction of the sensory nerves in the breasts that provide feeling
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Reconstructing Breasts with Feeling
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Bonnie
This is great news!
Maria
Over what period of time does it take for the chest nerves to grow into the diet flap nerves? At what point would someone realize that maybe this nerve regrowth may not have worked for them ?
PRMA Plastic Surgery
Great question Maria! Every individual is different, but it can take up to a year before some nerves may “wake up.”