Before and after right TUG flap microsurgical breast reconstruction in a 40-year-old woman with recurrent breast cancer. Following neoadjuvant chemotherapy to shrink her breast cancer, she required a right mastectomy and reconstruction. She felt strongly she did not want an implant, although she certainly was a candidate for implant-based breast reconstruction.
Skin and fat from her left upper inner thigh was microvascularly transplanted to her right chest as a TUG flap at the same time as a nipple-sparing mastectomy and removal of her left chest chemo port. After surgery, she required additional chemotherapy and radiation of her right breast.
Follow up photos are shown 1 year after surgery and 6 months after completion of radiation therapy. She has some mild asymmetry due to radiation-related edema (swelling) of her flap and weight changes after surgery; she is considering a future outpatient revision procedure to include liposuction contouring of her thighs and free fat grafting to her chest.
*All photos are actual patient photographs and are for illustrative purposes only. Individual results may vary.
