Most women who have a mastectomy can have breast reconstruction to help restore the look of the breast. The procedure is performed by a plastic surgeon and can be done at the same time as the mastectomy, referred to as immediate reconstruction, or at a later time, which is called delayed reconstruction. The timing of the procedure will depend on your individual circumstances and you should discuss this with your surgical team.

Although a reconstructed breast will never match the look or feel of your natural breast, breast reconstruction may help you feel more confident. You may need a cosmetic procedure on your other breast to achieve symmetry.

Breast reconstruction can be done with breast implants, with your own tissue, such as muscle, fat and skin from other parts of your body or a combination of these methods. There is no breast reconstruction method that works best for everyone. Discuss the options with your plastic surgeon and take the time to study your options and make a thoughtful, informed decision.

Each person is unique. Your breast cancer treatment, your body type and your lifestyle may affect your reconstruction options and the pros and cons of each. So explore all of your options. Although this decision may seem overwhelming, it may help to know that most women who have breast reconstruction do not regret the method they chose. If you’re a good candidate for a procedure, there are fairly few complications with any of the current techniques.

Breasts implants are made of a silicone shell that’s filled with either saline or silicone gel. Inserting the implant requires several steps.

First, the surgeon inserts a tissue expander between the skin and the chest muscle to form a skin-muscle envelope. The expander is a saline implant with a valve that allows more saline to be added over a period of 4 to 6 months until the envelope reaches the desired size. The expander is replaced with the permanent implant in an outpatient surgical procedure.

A breast reconstructed using skin and tissue grafts from your own body can look and feel more like your natural breast than reconstruction with implants. These procedures are called tissue flaps and several procedures are commonly used.

However, the surgeries are more complex and more invasive than implant procedures. They usually require a longer hospital stay since they also require surgery to the donor site, the area of the body from which the tissue for the reconstruction is taken. The surgery will leave scars at the donor site. In some procedures an entire muscle is removed which can cause weakness in that part of the body.

Natural tissue procedures use tissue from the back, abdomen, buttocks or thigh to reconstruct the breast. Talk with your plastic surgeon to decide which technique is right for you.

If you’re having immediate breast reconstruction, your surgeon may perform a skin- sparing mastectomy to keep as much of the skin of the breast as possible.

Some people are candidates for a skin-sparing or nipple-sparing mastectomy. With a skin-sparing mastectomy, the tumor and clean margins are removed, along with the nipple, areola, fat and other tissue that make up the breast. What remains is much of the skin that surrounded the breast. This skin can then be used to cover a tissue flap or an implant. A nipple-sparing mastectomy is a skin-sparing mastectomy that leaves the nipple and areola intact. This usually improves the overall look of the reconstructed breast.

Creating the nipple and areola is the last step of breast reconstruction. The nipple can be created from the reconstructed breast after the skin has healed. The areola can be created by tattooing the skin or by grafting skin from the groin.

Most women feel sore and tired for several weeks after surgery and should avoid overhead lifting, strenuous sports and sexual activity for 4 to 6 weeks. Most women can resume normal activity within 8 weeks.

Women often have a period of emotional adjustment after reconstruction, and feeling anxious or depressed is common. If you encounter this, it can be helpful to talk with a counselor or other women who have had breast reconstruction.

It’s important to have a realistic expectation of the final look of the breast. Reconstruction results vary and depend on the quality of the tissue left after a mastectomy.

How your reconstructed breast will look and feel depends on many factors including your natural breast anatomy and your treatment plan.

Sometimes, the types of treatments you will have (for example, radiation therapy) limit your reconstruction options and can impact the final look and feel of your reconstructed breast.

More information about treatment options for breast cancer is available in the Treatment section of the Komen website.