Flap breast reconstruction

Flap breast reconstruction involves taking skin, fatty tissue and sometimes a thin layer of muscle from elsewhere on the body and moving it to the area on the chest wall where the original breast was removed.

In Marjory's case she waited a long time after the original mastectomy operation before she decided to go ahead with a flap breast reconstruction procedure. This was partly because she wasn't fully sure that reconstruction was the right thing for her as an individual - and partly because she had undergone fairly extensive radiotherapy treatment and wanted all that to settle down before any further operation.

One of the concerns some surgeons have about doing breast flap reconstruction at the time of the original mastectomy is that radiotherapy can make the new flap contract or shrink - spoiling the desired cosmetic result. If you don't need radiotherapy then going ahead immediately might be a good option for you - but even then it might make your recovery period more prolonged and could leave you more at risk of short term seroma problems.

The word "flap" is used because the surgeon will take some skin, fatty tissue and muscle from another part of your body but will keep it attached to its blood supply. This "flap" can be taken from your back over your shoulder blade or it can be from your tummy area just below the umbilicus.

You can read a good article about breast reconstruction after mastectomy here.