Breast Reconstruction After Mastectomy

I had the most amazing customer call last week.  She is courageously battling breast cancer.  She had recently undergone a Mastectomy followed by a TRAM Flap (transverse rectus abdominus myocutaneous), a procedure that reconstructs a breast using muscle, fat, and skin from the abdomen. 

Both surgeries went well and her recovery moved forward at a good pace.  But she was really uncomfortable with her postsurgical garments.  The hospital had provided a stiff abdominal binder and a bulky surgical bra loaded with scratchy velcro, hooks, and zippers.

She was having a serious love/hate relationship with her postsurgical bra and abdominal binder.  They were so uncomfortable that she couldn’t stand wearing them, but when she took them off, she felt like a cookie about to crumble.  Against physician’s orders, she started removing both products for short intervals during the day and completely stopped wearing them during sleep. 

After working with patients for over 10 years, I know that not complying with a physician’s recommendation to wear postsurgical medical compression garments can have serious repercussions.  If a patient does not wear their postsurgical compression garment or postsurgical bra, they face the possibility of numerous post-op complications and their procedure results may be less than satisfactory.

My customer’s story is why we work so hard at Design Veronique to offer our patients products that are comfortable, attractive, and, most importantly, offer proper compression or seamless support for healing.  With more women opting for the Mastectomy/TRAM Flap surgery, we now offer a Breast Surgery Recovery Kit that includes a compression garment designed to target the lower abdomen and a soft, supportive postsurgical bra.

After advising my customer that she really needed to comply with her doctor’s recommendation, I suggested that she try our product kit specifically designed for women recovering from breast reconstruction after mastectomy.  She called me the next day and was thrilled to finally have a garment set that offered her the compression and support she needed without adding to her discomfort.