Alternative Flaps Before and After
ALTERNATIVE FLAPS before & after photos
The Thoracodorsal Artery Perforator (TDAP) Flap uses excess fat and skin from the upper back to recreate a soft, warm, and living breast. The TDAP flap is well suited to women who have excess upper back skin and fat, women who have had previous abdominoplasty or extensive gynecological surgery, or who do not have fat elsewhere in their body . The scar from the TDAP flap donor site is hidden in the bra line, and the donor site shape after a TDAP flap results in a flatter, smoother back.
Extended or stacked flap breast reconstruction uses multiple perforator flaps stacked on top of another to create a larger breast. For a bilateral breast reconstruction, four flaps can be used, such as bilateral DIEP and PAP flaps or bilateral DIEP and DCIA flaps (extended DIEP) or various other combinations of multiple flaps. Usually, multiple flaps are used to reconstruct the breast when a patient is very thin and she wants larger breasts using natural tissue that cannot be achieved using one flap for one breast.
Another option for thin women is a combined perforator flap and breast implant reconstruction. The perforator flap breast reconstruction restores the natural breast shape. Once the perforator flap breast reconstruction has healed, some women may want a larger breast without going through another flap or fat grafting. A breast implant can be placed in a manner similar to a cosmetic breast augmentation, with more tissue coverage than simple breast skin only.
Autologous lymph node transfers are flaps to replace lymph nodes that were removed or damaged from surgery or radiation. For post-mastectomy upper extremity lymphedema, the lymph nodes are taken from the superficial groin region and transferred to the axilla to replace lymph nodes removed or damaged from an axillary lymph node dissection. For lower extremity lymphedema, lymph nodes are taken from the axillary region and transferred to the groin or the popliteal region (behind the knee) to replace lymph nodes from a groin lymph node dissection.
