After breast reconstruction, most women have little to no sensation in their new breasts.
Whether or not you have breast reconstruction, you’ll partially or completely lose sensation in the breast area after a mastectomy. That part of your chest will initially become numb and you will not feel light touch or temperature on the skin. That’s because the nerves that provide sensation are cut during mastectomy. Over time, some sensation may return. Most women will feel pressure against their breast and some may actually feel light touch or temperature. In some cases, re-innervation of the flap may be possible using microsurgical nerve reconstruction.
Surgical Nerve Connection This technique is the gold standard for re-establishing breast sensation. It uses microsurgery to connect a sensory nerve in the donor tissue flap to a sensory nerve in the breast region. Over time, nerve cells from the breast nerve grow into the flap nerve to restore sensation.
Resensation® Resensation by Axogen is a nerve grafting technique that uses donor nerve tissue (from another human) to help restore sensation to the breast when the nerves can not be connected directly. The surgeon connects one end of the donor nerve tissue to a nerve in the tissue flap and the other to a nerve in the breast region. This allows the breast nerve to grow through the donor nerve to reach the flap nerve. The donor nerves are processed to remove any cells that might otherwise create an immune reaction, allowing the processed nerve tissue to support nerve regrowth between the breast and flap nerves.
Dr. Smith has vast experience in microsurgical nerve restoration.
I didn’t have to take any pain medicine. It was just amazing. . . I had this major surgery and was home the next day.
I would 100% recommend Dr. Smith and just say there isn’t a better doctor out there for this.
I'm astonished. I am amazed at how Dr. Smith was able to create another breast for me from nothing.
Dr. Smith is the happy ending to this story. Everyone that I spoke to about him said, ‘you're in great hands.’
I can't believe I didn't feel any pain. I didn't really need any painkillers. Not at all.
He will always give you his best. He will help you to feel whole again. He will help you to feel like the person you were before.
I can tell you now 1,000% that I made the right decision...the way that they look, you cannot even see a scar.
I felt like this doctor is something. He has a good heart. He’s very gentle and very nice.
And I just knew how thorough he was, that he was prepared, that he was well informed, and that he knew his craft
Dr. Smith was very, very nice and friendly. He was very down to earth compared to some doctors. He's knowledgeable, of course. His credentials definitely spoke volumes.
He's even more impressive than I had first thought. He is very direct and he's smart. And he will explain things to you.
It's very important to me to have good bedside manner. And [Dr. Smith] took the time. He made me feel like he could do this 1-2-3, and I'd be good to go.
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