Once you are happy with your breast size, the tissue expander will be left in place for a few weeks for maximal tissue expansion. The earliest your reconstruction surgery can be performed is three weeks after your final expansion visit.

Tissue expanders are used after a mastectomy to increase the amount of tissue doctors have to work with when they’re recreating or implanting a breast. They may be placed during a mastectomy or in a second surgery after you’ve healed and finished cancer treatment.

During the first two weeks after your expander placement, you should sleep on your back. We recommend that women who want to sleep in bed place pillows under their head and knees to support their body. However, many women find that it is more comfortable to sleep in a recliner chair for a while.

What should my activity level be? You cannot perform house hold chores or heavy lifting greater than 5 to 10 pounds for 6 weeks post-operatively. No hot tubs, swimming in lakes while the tissue expander is in place.

When is bilateral mastectomy recommended? Having both breasts removed is recommended for women at very high risk of breast cancer. For example, those who have tested positive for a breast cancer (BRCA) gene change are at very high risk.

After the permanent implant has been placed you will immediately feel more comfortable than when the expander was in place. The tightness will decrease quickly as the implant settles into the pocket.

Please do not wear an underwire bra. Please wear a “sports” bra for 24 hours a day for 21 days. You may remove the bra to shower. After 21 days please wear a bra for a minimum 12 hours a day to maintain the shape and position of the implants.

It’s major surgery, which entails drains (small plastic bulbs hanging from tubes inserted where your breast tissue was to collect fluid—these are temporary so don’t worry), expanders, and a nip here and a tuck there to get the size and shape right.

If you are having expanders put in at the same time as a mastectomy, you will remain under general anesthesia; if you’re having expanders placed at a later date, local anesthesia combined with a sedative may be used. 6 

You will have intravenous sedation or general anesthesia during your reconstruction surgery. Your general surgeon will follow the skin markings to open your skin and then remove your breast tissue. He will be careful to take enough tissue in order to get clear margins so that no cancer is left behind.

Implants are inserted underneath the skin or chest muscle following the mastectomy. (Most mastectomies are performed using a technique called skin-sparing mastectomy, in which much of the breast skin is saved for use in reconstructing the breast.)