Breast Reconstruction: plastic surgery

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w3oan2VyA0[/embed]   Dr. Fernando Amato (CRM 133826) talks about breast reconstruction. In addition to being an organ for breastfeeding, breasts are a symbol of sensuality and play a fundamental role in the aesthetics of the female body. Breast cancer treatment can be mutilating, in addition to causing breast deformities. More important than that is the emotional impact. Reconstruction will depend mainly on how the breast is, that is, its size, volume, shape, and especially the surgical proposal made by the mastologist. ***transcript*** Hello, I am Dr. Fernando Amato, plastic surgeon, and today I will talk about breast reconstruction. Breasts represent much more than an organ for breastfeeding. They are a symbol of sensuality and play a fundamental role in the aesthetics of the female body. Breast cancer treatment can be mutilating, in addition to breast deformities, it causes a significant emotional impact. In Brazil, it is a woman's right, both in the SUS and in health plans, to undergo breast reconstruction during or after cancer treatment. The best time for surgery is chosen according to each patient. It will depend on her wishes, as well as various factors, including her clinical conditions. Reconstruction will depend mainly on how the breast is, that is, its size, volume, shape, and especially the surgical proposal made by the mastologist. What will he do? Quadrantectomy, which is the removal of only a part of the breast, or mastectomy, which is the removal of the entire breast. With this information, for example, reconstruction can be done only with the use of tissues that remained from the breast, that is, with flaps, and depending on the location, it can have a result similar to a breast reduction or a mastopexy. Silicone implants or breast expanders can be used. What is an expander? An expander is a small balloon that, after being placed, saline is infiltrated in the outpatient setting and it gradually expands, gaining skin, so that in the future this expander can be replaced by a breast implant. And when a lot of skin is removed for breast removal, it is necessary to make a flap, and a flap is the movement of tissues from other places. An example of this is the latissimus dorsi muscle flap, where skin from the back with the muscle is removed and rotated forward, and this flap and this skin cover an implant. There is also another well-known flap, the TRAM. This TRAM is an abdominal flap where skin and muscle are removed and moved to the breast to reconstruct the breast, and the final result of the abdomen can be similar to an abdominoplasty. In addition, there are other more refined techniques for breast reconstruction, with transplantation of the patient's own tissue to the breast. Examples include the gluteus and leg. After the breast has been formed, it is possible to create the areola and papilla, and this can be done with flaps and grafts. In addition, a less invasive technique is micropigmentation. It is worth remembering that it is also the patient's right to have plastic surgery on the other breast, to make it more similar to the reconstructed breast. That's what I had to say about breast reconstruction. Stay tuned for the next videos and follow us on social media.