46 year old female with high grade DCIS, 8cm in right breast all malignant biopsies. I am on my 2nd opinion at a major cancer hosp and they have me scheduled for a double non nipple sparing skin sparing mastectomies with immediate placement of under muscle expanders. I am alone, I don't understand. have 1 plastics surg and they perform limited techniques as center seems to lack advanced tech.
Sorry to hear of your diagnosis. Im glad you are able to meet with a plastic surgeon. Under the muscle tissue expander as well as over the muscle are both accepted techniques. A majority of my reconstructions are over the muscle.
If you feel that you want more options, you have a couple of options
- get the mastectomy and under the 1st stage under muscle reconstruction and seek additional opinions for your second stage
- I see you are not too far from phoenix / scottsdale. There is no shortage of plastic surgeons there who perform breast reconstruction. You may want to seek a consult with others first.
My good friend and colleague Dr. Matatov at Southwest breast and aesthetics in phoenix performs all types of reconstructions
Best wishes and know all of your options before you proceed
Seems they have a good plan for you. When talking to different surgeons you are going to get some different answers but they are not going to necessarily be wrong. Perhaps you are calling a microvascular reconstruction as advanced. There are reasons for not doing this and your surgeons may have a reason. A microvascular reconstruction may not be the best thing for you. You should not have anything done unless you fully understand and agree with the plan. You need to ask all the questions to your surgeons and if you do not like the answers you should seek another opinion from some other ASPS certified or eligible surgeon close to where you live.