Stacked Flaps in Breast Reconstruction

It's always great to see micro-surgeons at Plastic Surgery the Meeting to sit down for an educational interview. In this video we interview Dr. Tim Matatov of the Aesthetic and Restorative Breast Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

Dr. Matatov tells us in certain patients, a single flap is not enough to achieve the desired volume in a breast reconstruction.

One method is to extend the DIEP (deep inferior epigastric perforator) flap. The love handle area is used to provide an additional blood source and to achieve more volume.

A PAP (profunda artery perforator) flap can be used with the DIEP flap. This is the area of the inner, posterior thigh. The crescent shape of this flap in addition to the tummy area of the DIEP can be combined to achieve a shape close to the original breast removed during mastectomy.

Follow us on:

[florenceandrews]

My plastic surgeon doesn’t want to do this for me due to double flaps doubling the risk of flap failure and also the difficult recovery. He wants to do diep only and then, bc he thinks he may falls a bit short of my current breast size, to make up that volume with fat transfer later on. Have you seen this work too? And what are your thoughts on the increase of risk due to using more flaps? Thank you!