Reconstruction of the breast after mastectomy for carcinoma.

During the last 5 years, 80 patients underwent reconstruction of the breast as a primary or secondary procedure after mastectomy for carcinoma. Breast mounds were reconstructed with the silicone breast implant. A Silastic implant corrected the infraclavicular axillary deformity after radical mastectomy. The nipple-areolar complex was created either with a nipple-areolar graft from the contralateral breast or with a labial free graft in a bilateral breast reconstruction. If the contralateral breast was large or ptotic, reduction mammoplasty or mastopexy was performed. Subcutaneous mastectomy or total mastectomy of the other breast with insertion of the silicone breast implant was the method of choice for a group of high-risk patients.