The major trend in breast reconstruction surgery right now is toward reconstructing the breast immediately. If you’ve waited some years after your mastectomy before you started to consider breast reconstruction, you might be worried that you’ve missed your chance for this procedure, but I can reassure you that this isn’t the case.

In my experience there are a few clear advantages to having your breasts reconstructed immediately, but there are also plenty of benefits for women who choose delayed reconstruction, and there is no reason to worry that you’ve somehow lost out on your opportunity to benefit from breast reconstruction just because you waited.

Immediate Reconstruction: The Advantages

For most patients, the biggest benefit of having breast reconstruction immediately after mastectomy is that you will wake up from surgery and still have breasts. For most women this benefit alone is a significant reason to have immediate reconstruction, but as a recognized authority on breast reconstruction procedures I can tell you that breast reconstruction has plenty of other benefits even if you wait years for your procedure.

Look at the Bigger Picture

No matter what your age, your breasts can have a profound impact on your self-image and sense of femininity, and that relationship doesn’t change just because your body does. Studies have found that both immediate and delayed breast reconstruction can benefit women in areas such as:

• Body image
• Self image
• Mood, emotion, and positivity
• Sexual satisfaction

Ultimately, the choice to undergo breast reconstruction after mastectomy on Long Island, New York should be yours and yours alone. But I think it’s important for patients not to feel that they have “missed out” on their chance to gain better self confidence and complete the healing process just because it’s been some time since their mastectomy.