Kathryn’s Breast Reconstruction Story – DIEP Flap Reconstruction*

Kathryn came to see Dr Aggarwal for an opinion regarding breast reconstruction. She was diagnosed with left sided breast cancer. Unfortunately, her MRI confirmed multifocal disease on the left-hand side while the right side was free of any pathology.

Originally Kathryn’s plan was for a left mastectomy with most likely nipple sacrifice. Kathryn underwent a genetic testing knowing there was a strong family history. It was at this stage that Kathryn elected to undergo a bilateral skin sparing mastectomy with bilateral breast reconstruction using DIEP flaps. She favoured using her own tissue as she did not wish to have a foreign object (ie an implant) that could feel hard and cold, and wished to have a reconstruction that was permanent, felt like her own and would grow and age with her during her life.

7 months after her surgery she told us:
“I’ve still got some reconstructive bits and pieces that have got to be done. But I just recently went on a beach holiday and wore a bikini for the first time in my life and felt absolutely amazing and so proud of my breasts and my belly and confident. It was fantastic to be out there living life and feeling good about myself.

Kathryn is now 2 years after her reconstructive surgery and other corrective procedures and loving her life each day.

*Breast Reconstruction is considered to be reconstructive surgery and has associated Medicare item numbers listed in the MBS. This is not  cosmetic surgery. It is focused totally on reconstructing the form of the body after trauma or defect – in this case building a breast after cancer surgery. It can also include symmetrising or refinement procedures aimed at improving the results of the breast reconstruction performed.