I can understand the hesitations many women may have when deciding whether or not to undergo breast reconstruction after a mastectomy. But I still find it surprising to learn that more breast cancer patients don’t opt for reconstructive surgery after their mastectomies because most women find that they are very happy once they decide to move forward with the reconstructive procedure.

 
Of 106,988 breast cancer patients who underwent a mastectomy from 2000 to 2010, only about 22 percent chose to also have reconstructive breast surgery directly after. These numbers are of particular interest to me because my experience with breast lift surgery began while I was caring for breast cancer patients who lost part or all of their breasts during treatment.

Research has shown that reconstructive breast surgery can be extremely helpful in improving both the quality of life and the overall psychological well being of mastectomy patients. Many breast cancer patients feel distressed when they look down to find a flat, scarred chest post-mastectomy. I’ve seen so many reconstructive surgeries (whether performed immediately after treatment or a bit farther down the road) help women to regain their confidence and get back to living their normal, pre-cancer lives’. One patient remarked, “The huge difference is my self esteem and feeling like a woman again.”

The first step on the road to new breasts is talking to a surgeon. My main priority will always be to openly discuss what you hope to achieve and expect from your reconstruction and then provide you with each and every option available to ensure you to achieve the perfect result.

Women choose to undergo breast enhancement procedures for many different reasons; each situation is unique and personal. If you’re recovering from breast cancer treatment and find yourself thinking about wanting to feel more comfortable in your skin again their are many reconstruction options that can restore your breasts to a very natural and authentic shape and get you back on the road to a normal everyday life.

TURN BACK TIME. As time goes on, the effects of gravity, sun exposure and life stresses show up in the aging face. The irony is that many people who have hit mid-life feel energetic and on top of their game yet they look older and more tired than they feel.

Many people hesitate to get a facelift because they worry about looking “too pulled” or feel that they are too young for the procedure. In addition, plastic surgery reality shows show facelifts that require hospitalization, general anesthesia, and long and painful healing periods. Typically, the traditional facelift requires more than 4 hours to perform and 4 weeks for healing.

In today’s world people want a younger looking face but don’t want to take significant time away from their busy schedule. Also, they want a natural appearance that doesn’t look “plastic”.

The Weekend Facelift was developed as a modification of several facelift techniques to create a more youthful jawline and neck without the downside and downtime of a traditional facelift. The procedure involves a considerably smaller scar than a standard facelift and is performed in an office operating suite under local anesthesia.

One of the many advantages of The Harmony Weekend Facelift is the time it takes to have the procedure – about 1 hour. The term “weekend facelift” is used because some patients can have the procedure on a Friday and return to work on Monday. However, many people do take a few more days off before returning to work.

Leesburg, VA (PRWEB) May 22, 2010 – Ten years ago, Dr. Chang introduced and taught his Transaxillary Breast Augmentation (underarm) technique to minimize breast augmentation scars. Last year, he was one of the first local plastic surgeons to offer the On-Q Pain Pump to his patients to minimize their postoperative pain. This year, Dr. Chang was one of the first local plastic surgeons to regularly use the Keller Funnel to minimize the length of scars in his breast surgery patients, as well as minimize the risk of trauma and bacterial infections that may cause implant ruptures and scarring around the implant, respectively. The Keller Funnel device was introduced at the Annual Conference of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) in 2009.

Dr. Phillip Chang, MD ( plastic surgeon in Loudoun and Fairfax Virginia )Breast Augmentation, also known as Breast Enlargement, is one of the most common surgical procedures performed by Dr. Chang. According to the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), Breast Augmentation was the most popular cosmetic surgical procedure in the United States in 2008. Many patients decide to have a breast augmentation prior to having children. But the majority of patients decide to have a breast augmentation after having children as part of a Mommy Makeover Procedure to restore and rejuvenate their breasts. Due to pregnancy and breastfeeding, a woman’s breasts lose volume and roundness, the stretch on their skin leads to drooping, and the nipple-areola complex may become larger. Post-childbirth women often want to return their breasts to what they might have looked like before having children.

The Keller Funnel is a cone-shaped device designed to help surgeons place a pre-filled silicone breast implant into the breast pocket through an incision as small as three centimeters (cm). The cone is lined with a hydrophilic polymer coating, a special lubricant that — when moistened — makes the funnel so slippery that an implant can be placed without ever being touched by human hands. Dr. Chang cites at least three reasons do have a breast augmentation using a Keller Funnel Device:

1. Minimize the length of the scar;
2. Minimize the trauma of putting the implant into the surgical pocket;
3. Minimize the amount of bacterial contamination.

The benefit of minimizing the length of the scar is self-evident. To take a patient with an A-cup breast to a C-cup breast used to make a scar of at least seven- to-nine cm in length. The silicone breast implant can now be placed through a Keller Funnel with just a five cm incision. The benefit of decreasing the trauma of breast implant placement is also self-evident. Researchers have determined that the most common cause of implant rupture, even 10 years after the breast implant surgery, was trauma to the implant at the time of rupture. The effort of placing the implant with Keller Funnel is only a fraction of what is traditionally necessary. Finally, by delivering the breast implant through the Keller Funnel, the implant never touches the patient’s skin. Additionally, the implant is never touched by the surgeon or nurse — even wearing surgical gloves in a sterile environment — which reduces the risk of infection and capsular contracture.

Dr. Chang has performed the Keller Funnel procedure on dozens of patients. He states that his patients often compare surgical scars with their girlfriends who have also had Breast Augmentations, and universally, they say that they have the smaller incisions. Before and After Pictures of Breast Implant Procedures can be seen at Dr. Chang’s website at http://www.gotobeauty.com/breast-augmentation-before-after.php

More on the Keller Funnel can be seen on the Plastic Surgery Channel at http://www.theplasticsurgerychannel.com/breast-augmentation/breast-augmentation-risk-reduced-with-keller-funnel/

Transcript of video:
I’m Dr Phillip Chang at Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and Laser Center and this is Christina and we’re going to do a demonstration today on Botox. Right now we are going to try to treat some of the lines on her face that she doesn’t like. She’s obviously pretty but there are thing she doesn’t like which are the lines on her forehead. Christina raise your eyebrows. Those lines. Also her angry lines or the elevens or as she calls them her “Grrr” lines and then her crows feet lines which honestly she doesn’t have too much of but when she smiles you can see some of those lines right across here.

So those are the three main areas that we do Botox for without any numbing. We can demonstrate that this really is a relatively painless procedure. So we’re going to do this area right across here. We will do it on both sides (of the face.)

I am very result oriented and what that means is I treat by the area and if that doesn’t work you can come back and be treated again as long as it is within a reasonable time. We usually put a limit on that of about two week. If it hasn’t worked in two weeks it’s probably not going to work and you can come back for a touch-up.

These angry lines here, you can see that these vertical muscles right here are really kind of strong for her. What we are going to do is get these lines right across here, put the needle in,

Dr. Chang, “Did that hurt?”

Christina, “No.”

Ok so we can get those muscles directly. I inject a little bit as I withdraw and what that does is reduces the bleeding to a large extent. As you can see she is not bleeding there at all. The length of this muscle is long, you can see that here so we will try to get all the way across to try to avoid as many needle pricks as possible. And then we inject here at the face of the muscle.