During this process, you may need to adjust your sleeping position. During the first two weeks after your expander placement, you should sleep on your back. We recommend that women who want to sleep in bed place pillows under their head and knees to support their body.
However, many women find that it is more comfortable to sleep in a recliner chair for a while. Recliners tend to provide more upper body support, and it is more convenient to get up from a seated position. After two weeks, you can continue sleeping on your back or begin sleeping on your side.
Some women find that cradling a pillow makes side-sleeping more comfortable. Avoid sleeping on your stomach during the first four weeks. You can begin sleeping on your stomach, or in whatever position you find most comfortable, after four weeks. Remember to listen to your body during this time. Some discomfort is natural during the process of placing and filling tissue expanders. AlloDerm acts like a hammock beneath the expander. This innovative, body-safe product covers the lower portion of the expander to help speed up the healing process.
The earliest your reconstruction surgery can be performed is three weeks after your final expansion visit. If you need chemotherapy or radiation, the tissue expander will be left in during your cancer treatments. In this case, reconstructive surgery is usually performed two to six weeks after your last cancer treatment.
Natural Tissue. For Appointments Find a Provider. Launch MyChart. Patient Story. A tissue expander is an empty breast implant that your surgeon will fill with normal saline over about 6 to 8 weeks until it reaches the breast size that you and your surgeon decided on. Tissue expanders are temporary, expandable, balloon-like devices used after mastectomy to stretch breast skin and chest wall muscles so that the breast implants can be adequately accommodated.
Because of the stretching involved, tissue expanders can be painful. According to the FDA, the device has two main components: the expander, a sterile implant with an outer shell made of silicone, and the controller, a remote dosage controller.
The expander contains a reservoir of compressed carbon dioxide. After two weeks, you can continue sleeping on your back or begin sleeping on your side.
Some women find that cradling a pillow makes side-sleeping more comfortable. Avoid sleeping on your stomach during the first four weeks. Silicone implants tend to have less rippling or wrinkling than saline implants due to their greater viscosity. After the permanent implant has been placed you will immediately feel more comfortable than when the expander was in place. You may experience minor discomfort for the following 12 to 24 hours after each tissue expansion.
This discomfort usually subsides 2 to 3 days after each tissue expansion. The tissue expander may shift after the 1st or 2nd expansion. You may need a tissue expander: To help the skin stretch so it can adequately cover an implant because there may not be enough skin available after mastectomy. To stretch the skin to cover implants larger than your original breasts.
You may shower on the 3rd day after your surgery. Please do not wear an underwire bra. The tissue expansion process is done after mastectomies to increase the submuscular space in preparation for the placement of permanent breast implant.
The process is often believed to be painful by patients who are often intimidated by the prospect of mechanically stretching out their skin and muscle.
MRI can be considered in patients with breast tissue expanders when appropriate peri-procedural choices have been made so that the benefits of undergoing MRI outweigh the risks.
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