Diep Flap vs. Expansions with Nipple Sparing

A little over a year a go Dr. PK (peter kreymerman) met with me in his office to discuss my options for reconstruction on my breasts. I remember him taking a marker and drawing a design of each option on the tissue paper that patents usually sit on in a surgeons office, I was amazed then and I still am at the knowledge and talent of Dr. Kreymerman.
At that time my mind was so full of un-surities and lack of knowledge I really did not care what he did, I just wanted the VILLAIN out of my body....who cares what boobs look like right? Some have asked me what the difference in the options I was given are, I am going to try to explain it to you, but remember I chose the expander's so to really give a comparison on the recovery would not be fair of me.

DIEP flap, is a procedure that is actually very popular among surgeons and their patients. A DIEP Flap procedure uses fat and skin from the lower abdomen, but does not require removal of any muscle. When Dr. PK drew that picture on the tissue, my mind was checking out, are you kidding me? Not only was I thinking about getting the cancer out of my body, now I was looking at another scar as a constant reminder on my abdomen?

Then he explained the expander's, A tissue expander is a temporary device that is placed on the chest wall deep into the pictorials major muscle. This may be done immediately following the mastectomy, or as a delayed procedure. The purpose of the expander is to create a soft pocket to contain the permanent implant. Dr. Kreymerman put my expander's in at the same time of my mastectomy, then over several months I would visit him every other week and he stuck a needle into the port of the expander and filled it with usually around 50cc of saline per breast, this part was painful for me, I think because I was also going through chemo at the same time, so I had expansions one week then chemo the next, I remember feeling really sick one week then really sore the next. Dr. Kreymerman is also only one in a few who can do nipple sparing for mastectomy patients who qualify, I'm not sure all the qualifications but I know I qualified and this is how Dr. Kreymerman became my "nipple repairman"

The 2nd part of the expansion surgery is what I just had on Thursday, expansions out and implants in, again as I have stated before, be careful what you say "you would never do" I used to say I would never get implants...mostly because I already had big boobs and I hate big boobs... I am amazed at how soft my boobs are now, they were as hard as a rock a week ago and now they feel normal. I am still in some pain from the incisions but the pain I am feeling now is temporary and is nothing like the pain I have been feeling for over a year now.

From what I have experienced and from what I have read, expander's with nipple sparing will give you a totally normal looking breast, but the pain you will have to endure will be worth it if you are looking for a normal looking breast. With the diep flap, I am not sure they can do nipple sparing, (you will need to get a tattoo) no long term pain in your breast, but you do get a tummy tuck out of it all. Either way you decide to go there is going to be pain and there is going to be scaring.