Breast Reconstruction Recovery Period

Breast reconstruction recovery would vary in every patient. However, the normal recovery time would take around six weeks to end. All throughout the recovery period, the patient’s health status along with her activities will be carefully monitored. It is also in this stage where secondary procedures will be executed if found necessary.

Moreover, those patients who decided to undergo different procedure after breast reconstruction will definitely spend more time for the recovery. Normally, the patient will be required to stay in the hospital for at least three to five days past the surgery.

The surgical drainage that is used to draw off unwanted fluids from the incision sites will be taken out approximately one to two weeks following breast reconstruction. Also, stitches will be taken out within seven to ten days.

On the other hand, breast reconstruction recovery time for patient who had undergone breast reconstruction in Flap breast method will likely need more than six weeks to fully recover. However, if breast reconstruction is done with an implant, the recovery period will not likely reach six weeks and beyond.

During breast reconstruction recovery, a patient will likely to experience average pain, fatigue and discomfort that will last for several weeks. Also, during this period the patient will be restrained from doing any forms of activities that are physically demanding such as lifting heavy objects over the head, performing any sports and even submitting to sexual activities. These restrictionswill continue up until six weeks past the surgery.

Furthermore, the patient will not likely to regain the normal responsiveness of her breast but may be able to recover some feelings in due time. Also, during the breast reconstruction recovery the patient may feel disappointed about the appearance of the scars on her breast as it would appear firm and obvious. However, it will slowly disappear over time and while it heals the patient may experience moderate itching especially on the incision sites.

However, recovery period may run longer than six weeks if a secondary reconstruction is needed. Example of this is nipple reconstruction. Normally, doctors would perform nipple reconstruction approximately eight weeks after the initial surgery. The reason for this is that, during this period the incisions, bruising, swelling and the new breast mound have most likely settled.

It is also during this time that breast refining efforts are done. Example is when the patient is not satisfied with the result and decided to have breast asymmetry surgery to correct the shape or size of her breast. Apparently, this procedure needs another recovery time which will only add up to the total number of days spent for breast reconstruction recovery.

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