This involves making a breast entirely with an implant. The operation usually takes under 2 hours and hospital stay is usually 1-2 days.
Modern techniques can allow a mastectomy and implant reconstruction to be performed all at one operation.
Such surgery involves using an additional product to support the implant. Some of these products are meshes and some are made of material that started out as either pig skin or calf skin.
However sometimes two operations are required, the first to remove the breast and place a tissue expander to create a space for the implant, the second to replace the tissue expander with a permanent implant.
This second operation is often combined with fat transfer.
Fat transfer or fat grafting is a commonly used method of making improvements to an implant reconstruction.
Pros
Can give a youthful breast shape and can often closely approximate the appearance of the other breast if the other breast is also youthful (implant-shaped). Sometimes the other breast can be surgically adjusted with either a breast lift or reduction or made bigger (and more implant shaped) by placing an implant behind it so that symmetry is improved. Often a good option in bilateral breast reconstruction (when mastectomy on each side is required). It sometimes involves just one operation but frequently involves a second smaller operation to complete the reconstruction. It is a small / moderate sized operation and recovery is usually fairly quick and a lot quicker than other types of reconstruction. It avoids the bigger surgery and additional scars that are required with breast reconstructions using your own tissue.
Cons
It is more likely to require further operations in the longer term than reconstructions using your own tissue. There is a little bit more limitation in how well an implant reconstruction can match a normal, natural breast compared with a reconstruction using your own tissue.