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Breast Reconstruction
Breast Reconstruction
Understand more about your reconstruction
options and the choices you have with Mentor.
Two-Stage Breast Reconstruction with an Implant
This combination of procedures gradually expands the skin on your chest into the shape of a breast and creates a pocket for the breast implant. The most common approach includes a tissue expander followed by placement of a breast implant – allowing for the most flexibility in shaping the breast.
First Stage
Your surgeon will surgically insert a tissue expander, and over the subsequent weeks in the office, slowly expand the space creating the breast shape. Typically, you’ll meet with your plastic surgeon every other week to fill the expander with sterile saline in order to gradually stretch the skin.
Second One-Stage
Once the space reaches the right size and the tissue has healed (several months later), your surgeon will perform a second surgery to remove the tissue expander and replace it with the breast implant. If a mastectomy was only performed on one breast, you might choose to have the other breast lifted or augmented with an implant depending on what is needed to achieve optimal symmetry.
Product Options
Your delayed breast reconstruction can be performed in a few ways: Using tissue expanders with breast implants, using breast implants alone, or using a dual-function implant – a combination tissue expander and breast implant.