Video Website powered by Einstein IndustriesKamran Khoobehi, M.D.

DR. KHOOBEHI: The goal of the breast reconstruction, the first one is the safety of the patient. We don't want a breast reconstruction to hinder treatment, chemotherapy, if the patient needs radiation. So that's one of the most important things. But in our constructive point of view, our job is that restore the shape, restore the form, and this procedure is going to require multiple stages. In the first stage, it's going to require bring the volume, bring the skin to replace the breast tissue. And the second stage is going to require the use of the patient's own tissue for nipple reconstruction. And in this stage, the patient is going to require tattooing to even out with the opposite breast.

When they come to our office for evaluation for reconstruction, they're going through a very emotional stage of their life. Most of them they just found out they have breast cancer and the main thing to think about is, one, survival, and being cured from the breast cancer. But after that, also, they're concerned about also how are they going to feel about themselves after the surgery, after the mastectomy, and how it's going to affect their relationship with their loved ones, with their husband, with their boyfriend.

And as a surgeon, it is very gratifying to be able to help those patients to feel complete again. And having the capability to use their own tissue and give them the shape and the form that they had before surgery is very gratifying. And also the breast cancer affects the patient in multiple different ways emotionally. And one of the things that I like to do is that to perform the breast reconstruction at the time of the mastectomy, so the patient, they don't go through the stage of having lost the breast tissue and emotionally being traumatized.

One other important thing is that using their own tissue, and when you perform breast reconstruction, take the tissue from the abdomen. So at the same time that you do breast reconstruction, I do abdominoplasty for these patients, so they do not have a bad scar on the lower abdomen, and there would be some benefit to the patient's shape, taking away the tissue from the abdomen.