Breast Tissue Expander - What is it and What is it Used For?

A tissue expander is very similar to a breast implant; it is a silicone balloon that is slowly filled with a saline solution over a period of several weeks. A breast tissue expander is implanted into a woman's chest under her chest muscles as the first step in her breast reconstruction.
It will be placed into a woman's body generally under her chest muscles. It will have a valve either built into it or attached to it by an inflation tube; a syringe is placed into this tube and then it is gradually filled over a period of several weeks. This gentle and slow inflation of the expander will allow new skin and muscle tissue to grow allowing room for the insertion of a permanent breast implant under the chest muscles to reconstruct the breast.
Some women have it placed on top of the chest muscles, this will only allow for the expansion of the skin as is generally only suitable for women with small breasts or women who have had both breasts removed and will be happy to have small breasts after the reconstruction. If a woman has larger breasts it will need to be placed under the chest muscle to allow a larger implant that will match her existing breast size to be implanted.
It is used as the augmented tissue will have all of the characteristics of the surrounding tissue. Simply stretching the skin would result in the skin thinning and not being as elastic; it can also alter the texture, color and appearance of the skin. Simply stated the use of a breast tissue expander will result in the skin of the reconstructed skin being identical in appearance, thickness and texture to the skin of the existing breast.
Patients do experience some pain during the breast tissue expansion process but this is generally relatively minor and able to be controlled simply with the use of oral pain killers. After the initial implantation of the breast tissue expander customers are generally extremely comfortable especially while the expander is still small, patients generally only report pain as the expander is filled and the optimum expansion is neared. However these reports of pain are generally relatively minor and able to be controlled with oral painkillers and anti inflammatory medications.
Once the breast expander has augmented the tissue to the required size (generally to a size that will accommodate a implant of the same size of the existing breast) it will be removed and the permanent implant inserted in its place.
Dr. Jim Greene would like to invite you to learn more information that will help you be more informed regarding:
Breast tissue expander Learn more critical information about the breast tissue expansion process.
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