PRMA of South Texas, a leading cosmetic and plastic surgery practice in San Antonio, Texas is sponsoring a unique effort to inform and educate breast cancer patients about breast reconstruction surgery options after mastectomy.
“Life is a Carnival,” a bold approach to mastectomy and breast cancer reconstruction education, is a 14-month calendar featuring photos of women who had breast reconstruction after mastectomy and those who didn’t. The calendar is published by Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE), the only national nonprofit organization for families affected by hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. “More than just a calendar, ‘Life is a Carnival’ is an intimate collection of real women courageously sharing their bodies and their experiences to help others understand their choices,” said Sue Friedman, FORCE Executive Director. “Our calendar celebrates life after mastectomy. As these photos attest, life after mastectomy— with or without breast reconstruction—
Mastectomies are performed to treat various types of breast cancer. Increasingly, more women—including very young women—with a family history of the disease are choosing preventative (or prophylactic)
PRMA plastic surgeons Drs. Peter Ledoux, Chet Nastala, Steven Pisano, and Minas Chrysopoulo specialize in all aspects of cosmetic surgery and breast cancer reconstruction following mastectomy, with a special emphasis on advanced microsurgical breast reconstruction techniques using the patient’s own tissue. Their preferred reconstructive technique is the DIEP flap (Deep Inferior Epigastric Perforator flap), which uses the patient’s lower abdominal tissue (like a tummy tuck) and spares the abdominal muscle.
The DIEP flap procedure is the new “gold standard” in breast reconstruction surgery and is associated with less postoperative pain and a shorter hospital stay and recovery than the conventional TRAM flap procedure. Another major benefit of the DIEP flap is that it prevents the loss of abdominal muscle strength usually associated with TRAM flap reconstruction.
To learn more about DIEP flap breast reconstruction please go to: http://www.prma-
Experience is an essential factor for this technically demanding surgery and due to the technical difficulty of the procedure, only about 40 surgeons perform the surgery in the US. To date, PRMA plastic surgeons have performed over 1000 successful DIEP flap breast reconstructions, typically performing over 250 DIEP flaps per year.
Please visit the PRMA website at http://www.prma-
The “Life is a Carnival” calendar is available by calling FORCE at (866) 288-7475.
