Your choice of breast reconstruction may influence more than the look of your bustline. A recent study has found that, when the breast is reconstructed immediately after mastectomy surgery, the procedure that uses breast implants carried about double the risk of infection as reconstruction using fatty tissue from elsewhere in the woman's body (most commonly, tummy fat).
That's a risk of 12 percent for women receiving implants compared to 6 percent for women having tissue transfers that did not involve implants.
When you think about it, this makes sense. After all, implants are foreign objects that are being introduced underneath the muscle to recreate the breast mound lost as a result of a mastectomy performed for either breast cancer or prevention (a prophylactic mastectomy).
Your body certainly knows that the implant is a foreign object and treats it as such, revving up your immune cells to do battle. If bacteria are present or are introduced in surgery, the body can have trouble fighting off these pathogens, which want to establish a home in the area of the implant and so cause infection.
The chances that such an infection will prevail are even higher for those women who have implant surgery after receiving chemo to shrink a cancerous tumor prior to the surgery. That's because her white blood cells, which ward off infection, have already just taken a hit from the chemo and may not have bounced back to normal yet.
So, if you anticipate having reconstruction with an implant immediately after your tumor is removed, ask the doctor what particular steps will be taken to prevent infection. Commonly, these will include antibiotics being administered intravenously during the operation. Also, be sure to report to your surgeon if you have any symptoms of a cold or flu within two weeks before your surgery date, because a viral infection may influence the timing of this type of procedure.
After you come home from surgery-hospitalization for mastectomy with implant is one night; an inpatient stay with flap surgery is generally three to four nights - inform your doctor of any signs that an infection may be brewing. These signs can include fever, increased pain, or redness at the incision. Also notify your doctor if the skin around the implant feels hotter than the rest of the skin on the chest.
Women at particular risk of infection are those who smoke or have diabetes.