DIEP Flap Reconstruction Houston
Most women consider breast reconstruction after mastectomy for the emotional and psychological health benefits breast restoration may provide. DIEP flap breast reconstruction is one of the methods to create a natural looking breast with your own skin and fat tissue but without the need to move abdominal muscle tissue or the need for foreign body implants.
The DIEP flap takes the excess lower abdominal skin and fat (from the belly button down) and isolates this tissue to just the blood vessels that feed it.
These blood vessels, called “deep inferior epigastric perforators” (DIEP), and the skin and fat connected to them are detached from the lower abdomen. The skin/fat/and blood vessels are then transferred to the chest wall. This tissue is hooked up to new blood vessels from the chest wall using advanced microvascular surgical technique.
The DIEP flap procedure spares the abdominal wall muscles to potentially minimize abdominal weakness/discomfort and potentially decrease risks for bulging or hernia formation. Just like the TRAM flap, patients obtain a cosmetically pleasing tummy tuck closure of the abdomen from where the tissue was taken.
