TISSUE EXPANDERS (Breast Reconstruction) - Everything You Need to Know!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.พ. 2023
- Tissue Expanders 101 - EVERYTHING You Need to Know. In this video I'll answer these questions and more:
✅ What do they look like?
✅ What do they feel like?
✅ What's the expansion process like?
✅ Is it painful?
✅ How long do you have them in for?
✅ I'll review my timeline and what the expansion process entailed to give you some insight into what to expect when you're going through this process.
➡️ FREE Stretching Guide - breast-cancer-rehab.ck.page/s...
➡️ Printable Step-By-Step GUIDES for Post-Surgery Rehab & Common Side Effects - breastcancerrehab.myshopify.com
For reference:
My expanders - 275cc
My implants - Mentor SMHX-310; smooth round moderate high profile Xtra 310cc
Diameter 11.1cm; Projection 4.6cm
❇️ For bras post-mastectomy and beyond:
- www.prairiewear.com/ERICA10 (save 10%)
- www.anaono.com/r?id=q77j7c (save 15% code applied at checkout)
❇️ My favourite rehab & recovery products - amazon.com/shop/breastcancerrehab
🔅 Enjoying my videos? If you want to show some love and support consider contributing to “Buy Me a Coffee” - www.buymeacoffee.com/drerica
⭐️ RELATED VIDEOS:
- Over vs. Under the Muscle Reconstruction - • OVER vs. UNDER the Mus...
- Lumpectomy vs. Mastectomy - • Lumpectomy vs. Mastect...
- Pain with Tissue Expanders: Tips to Help - • Pain with TISSUE EXPAN...
- Exchange Surgery (Tissue Expanders to Implants) - • Breast Reconstruction ...
- How Radiation Affects Breast Reconstruction- • How RADIATION Affects ...
- Rehab Exercises 0-3 weeks Post-surgery - • Breast Cancer EXERCISE...
- Rehab Exercises 3-6 weeks Post-surgery - • Breast Cancer EXERCISE...
Some of the products are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Check out this video for the Pros and Cons of OVER vs. UNDER the muscle reconstruction - th-cam.com/video/yexMfCQ3HKU/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for this video! So informative. I go in for a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction (expanders) on the 11th. I was super scared now not so much! They are also taking my lymph nodes out on my right side. The process is so scary but I’m glad we have informative videos like yours what a blessing!
You’re welcome Sarah! There’s so much unknown during the process of breast cancer treatment and having a little knowledge of what to expect can go a long way. Wishing you well with your upcoming surgery.
Great video, thank you!
Glad it helped! Thanks for watching.
Thankyou for sharing ❤
You're welcome!
❤ thank you dear for sharing this
Thanks so much! Your channel is a huge help. DMX with expanders next month. I’m nervous, but I’m not as worried as before I found your videos.
So glad the videos have been helpful!! All the best with your DMX next month. I found I wasn’t as anxious when I knew more what to expect.
Thank you so much for sharing, I found this very informative xxx
Glad you found the info helpful! My next video is on the exchange surgery so watch out for that.
Thank you. I’m going in on Thursday for a double followed with expanders. Thanks for taking some of the scariness away. 💕
Big day on Thursday but you got this!
I have expanders in right now. I’m do to have my first injections of fillers coming up 11/10/23 and I can feel these now. They move especially on the affected side. Thank you for your videos. They are very helpful to while going through my process
Glad the videos have been helpful. Looking back the expansion phase is so weird when you think about it!
So informative,thank you so much!
You are so welcome!
This is soooo helpful thank you so much for taking the time to explain all this. You answered all my questions. Stay well ☺️
You are so welcome! Thank you for the feedback.
Thank you so much for this video! Very informative; I’ll have my second refill this week.
You're welcome. Hope the expansion process goes smoothly for you.
Bless you sweetie ! My first wife died of breast cancer.
I am so glad to see you well !!
My sincerest condolences to you. People say that the fear of recurrence reduces over time…I’m not there yet but will get there!
Thank you!
Excellent video! Thank you SO MUCH!!! This answered 99.99% of my questions. I’m having a single mastectomy with tissue expander in a couple weeks, and my anxiety is mounting. These videos have been such a blessing in my journey. ❤
I was pretty anxious too! I always felt more at ease when I had more information. All the best with your surgery in a few weeks!
Excellent explanations…
Glad it was helpful!
All of your information was very helpful 😊
Glad it was helpful!
This is great thank you! My surgeon advised that you should never wear underwire after mastectomy and reconstruction with inplants due to the lack of sensation in your breast you are at a higher risk of the underwire rupturing your implant over time because you don’t notice/feel the underwire digging in/putting pressure on your skin the same way you might prior to the mastectomy.
This was my advice too after my double mastectomy but my plastic surgeon said I could wear an underwire bra a number of months after my reconstruction. I had a slight flare-up of lymphedema after surgery and could see the indentation of the underwire when I removed my bra. Only wireless bras for me now. It’s interesting how varied some of the recommendations are between surgeons.
I’m glad I found you! Your format and content fit what I want to know more about. What are your thoughts about expanding larger for impant under the muscle? Will there be loss of “cc’s” under the muscle? Thank you.
Hi t. You can definitely expand larger than what I did (275cc expander) under the muscle. The actual amount will depend on a number of factors and your plastic surgeon will be able to determine what would work best for you. I’m not sure what you mean by loss of cc’s under the muscle. The size will look similar over or under the muscle but the contour can look different. Erica
Great and informative video! I am almost 4 weeks po DMX with expanders. I had my first fill last week and felt nothing. 70cc. My expanders are only 275cc. I was quite excited to get the 70cc fill after being flat for 2 weeks. I was a small C cup prior to surgery.
My expanders were the same size as yours. I was thankful to wake up from surgery having had the expanders filled a little bit so I get what you’re saying about being excited with your first fill.
I think you are about the first BC patient I know who used implant after radiation of the cancer side. I was told that I am not a good candidate for breast implant on my radiated mastectomy side, so the only way was DIEP flap. Sounds like they are working out for you. :)
There are many women who are candidates to get implants after radiation. These women (like me) typically get tissue expanders first for the goal of expanding the skin and tissue BEFORE radiation when it's more pliable. Radiated skin/tissue doesn't stretch well so doing a DIEP or flap procedure is usually done when tissue expanders aren't used first.
i start expansion next week. this was so great. Do you have a video on movements that can be done post expansion that will help alleviate the tightness? I’m a very active
person. that’s been the hardest part of the process for me. I’m
looking forward to doing even small things to keep and repair mobility
Nicole, that’s great you’re trying to stay active throughout the process. Keeping active was key for me physically and mentally. Like I said in the video, I didn’t do much the day of my expansion and the day after but then I got right back into it. For me, that was CrossFit (modified of course). I found doing weights encouraging full range of motion was helpful rather than just stretching alone. You can go back to the rehab exercises post-surgery (3-6 wks - th-cam.com/video/P5K8itTPxd4/w-d-xo.html) and the maintenance rehab (th-cam.com/video/-H6pLhuV8Hc/w-d-xo.html). Good luck with the expansions next week!
I had DMX in May, developed an infection in August (cultures never grew anything), and I had left expander removed and then replaced in September. I still have expanders and am looking at reconstruction in a month or two. I am deciding which type to have. LAT flap (which I saw in your video) has been recommended for me, but I am honestly not sure I want to give up those muscles, as I am active & a yoga instructor, and I use my lats a lot in my yoga practice for inversions, arm balances and more. Do you have any active clients who have had a lat flap?
I’m sorry to hear about the infection and additional procedures because of it. Do you not have enough skin to be able to do implants on their own…is that why they’re recommending lat flap? I’m planning a video on lat flap in the new year but the video likely won’t be done before your surgery. I’m interviewing a colleague of mine (a chiropractor) who had it and she said her function was better than she thought it would be. I wanted to get more details to share with other women as I’ve had a bunch of questions about this. I didn’t even consider it as an option for me as I was concerned about reduced function. Because I was a candidate to do implants I didn’t research lat flap extensively.
I'm scheduled to have my expanders exchange this Friday.. I'm so ready.
All the best with your upcoming surgery Patty. The recovery after the exchange surgery is typically quicker and less painful than your mastectomy & tissue expanders. I hope that’s the case for you! Look for the video - REHAB 0-3 weeks that you can start after surgery.
Thank you this was so helpful. I had a double mastectomy going into week 3. I have my first increase tomorrow and was concerned how much of this I would feel. I’m not going through treatment at this time as I am having my surgery four years after my cancer diagnosis.
Glad it was helpful! I’m curious why your surgery is so far out from your initial diagnosis.
I went through my treatment during the peak of Covid. My original surgeon assigned thought I was being too aggressive with wanting a mastectomy. So when I relocated and mentioned it to my new set of drs they agreed with me due to my history.
Good for you for self-advocating with your new Dr!
How did you deal with lymphedema? If you have a video, I will go look for it and check it out. I have cording developing and I have one very enlarged L. Node. The node is about the size of an acorn or large marble.
I did a LOT of things to help with lymphedema - self-lymphatic massage routine, lymphatic massage from a therapist & treatment for tight shoulder/chest muscles, kinesio-tape when it was acute, avoiding bras that dig into my side and LOTS of weight training (acts like a pump for lymphatic system). I haven’t done a lymphedema video yet but it’s on my list. Watch the scar massage video as I talk about releasing scar tissue where lymph nodes were removed.
@@breast-cancer-rehab Thank you. Your videos are very detailed and quite helpful during these tough times. I am glad to see you doing well!
Omg the shoulder and neck pain is soo real! It felt so heavy and tight there when I did fills! I wish they would have told me that was normal because it freaked me out lol
Yeah, it’s pretty surprising how tight things can feel after the expansions. Thankfully that tension settles down.
Thank you!!! I had a double mastectomy in September with expanders at the same time. Been through chemo and still going through targeted therapy and half way through radiation. It has been a year long journey thus far. Have had some issues with my shoulder and pt was making it worse, so they put me on hold. Possible rotator cuff. Also, i keep getting little "bubbles" at the inside edge of my expander that are very painful, sometimes i can get them to pop and sometimes i can't. They think it my muscles pulling apart. Mainly on the cancer side. On the left my whole chest wall will hurt so bad it hurts to breathe sometimes. I only have them filled from surgery. Depending on my skin after radiation they will determine when they can start filling them. Final surgery hopefully by September. Thank you for this video!!!
Also, I had nipple sparing that turned out perfect
You’re welcome, glad the video was helpful. I’m currently working on a video about pain with tissue expanders - it’s so common and I’ve heard a lot of women talk about pain with breathing. Keeping up with rehab exercises and exercise in general, massaging around the breast (expanders) and meditation can help with that tension. They’ll be more info in the video when it comes out. Interesting that some women have their expanders partially filled before radiation and others (like me) have them fully expanded before radiation.
I may get skin and nipple sparing mastectomy and then an expander. Did you have the mastectomy via the breast crease? Was skin removed at all for your DMX? Was it because you wanted larger implants or increase cup size, so you had to use expanders rather than the direct to implant? You mentioned you were a small B before DMX then small A after expanders. What size did you end up after implants? Thank you so much.
I had a skin-sparing mastectomy with expanders placed at the time of my double mastectomy. My incision for the mastectomy was central across the breast because it was skin-sparing. If it's nipple sparing then it can be in the breast fold. There was a bit of skin removed on the cancer side to get clear margins but overall I had a typical skin-sparing mastectomy. The decision to do expanders first was related to possibly having radiation (which I did) so I was a candidate to do implant-reconstruction because of this. I was a small B going into DMX and a larger B with tissue expnaders and also implants (310cc). Hope that helps!
@@breast-cancer-rehab Thanks so much for helping me understand. :) Because I was so confused and troubled over the cancer when I had it, I did not consider reconstruction when my breast surgeon asked me. I just wanted to remove the breast and the cancer. I wish I was educated better and made a better decision, but time was of the essence back then. So I had a flat closure and then radiation. I then had it reconstructed with DIEP flap recently but right now both breasts are uneven in sizes. My healthy breast is small, and if the breast tissue is removed, I am guessing the skin needs to be stretched out with expander before putting implant in. May I know, since the breast tissue have been removed, your implants only have skin over it, do they feel like normal breasts? Did you use any acellular dermal matrix? Did you have liposuction to make them look and feel more natural? And do they feel warm? My breast surgeon says if I remove my breast tissue and replace with implant, it doesn't look good cosmetically and I heard from another surgeon that it would feel cold. Thanks again for your help!
Check with your surgeon if you would need an expander. Sometimes it depends on the size of your preferred implant compared to your current size. The implants don’t feel exactly like natural breasts but they do squish and are close enough! I was just happy to have some sort of breasts after a double mastectomy. My surgeon didn’t use ADM and I didn’t have fat grafting. Yes, my breasts do often feel cold!
@@breast-cancer-rehab Thank you so much again 😊
I have infection I’ve taken two courses of antibodies two different kinds. Please help me how to get rid of this. I don’t want to take my expanders out.
I’m sorry to hear about your infection Katrina. Infections are out of my area of expertise - your surgeon is probably the best person to advise you on the next steps. Good luck!
❤
My expander became infected on my cancer side and it was incapsulated. Can you provide any information on how that is dealt with?
I'm sorry to hear about your infection. Your plastic surgeon is the best person to speak to about this.
Will the expanders drop ? I just got my first filled yesterday & mine expanders look so high right now.
My expanders didn't drop. They were higher than my OG breasts but didn't appear like they were too high. Give an update once you have more fills as other women may have the same question.
@@breast-cancer-rehab I will keep you update once I get my second fills, hope they will drop.
Can I do chemo while the tissue expander is still in me?
It's common to do chemo with tissue expanders in.
Tissue expanders feel like manhole covers. 😊
I hear you Helen. It’s a very constricting feeling with tissue expanders. I