ATLANTA — More and more local breast cancer patients are choosing a cutting-edge procedure after undergoing a double mastectomy.
Channel 2's Craig Lucie spoke with a specialist Tuesday who is using women's stomach fat as breast implants.
The procedure is called DIEP Flap and the plastic surgeon Lucie talked to is one of only a few in metro Atlanta who can perform it at Piedmont Hospital.
Not every patient can do it, but a business owner says if you are a candidate, she highly recommends it.
Clare Schexnyder is the founder of Atlanta-based Oh Baby Fitness. After a mammogram in September, she found out she had Stage 2 breast cancer.
"Everybody was very concerned; I could tell the looks on people's faces (it) wasn't good news," Schexnyder said.
From that moment forward, Schexnyder said she started researching and came across Dr. Grace Ma with Piedmont Hospital.
Ma is a leader in DIEP Flap surgery.
"I saw this DIEP Flap and to be a candidate you have to have enough belly flat and tissue. OK, I've got extra pounds I've been carrying around for a while," said Schexnyder.
"The pros of having your own tissue is it lasts forever," Ma said.
Ma uses women's stomach fat as an implant.
She says Atlanta has been a slow adopter of this type of surgery, and not many hospitals offer it since it requires someone recently trained in this type of microsurgery.
"You are connecting the arteria vein feeding the fat of the abdomen to the arteria vein in the chest. So now this piece of fat has its own blood supply and keeps it alive," Ma said.
"I would totally encourage woman to take a look at this and see if they are a candidate for DIEP flap and use their own tissue and fat to reconstruct breasts," Schexnyder said. "It seems to be a healthier way to do things."
Ma said this type of surgery is only used 5 percent off the time for breast reconstruction.
There are pros and cons to using this type of surgery.
Pros: Once you have the surgery, you are done and don't have to have another. With implants, they have to be replaced every 10-15 years.
One of the cons is it's a much longer surgery. It's eight hours long and requires more time spent in the hospital.
WSBTV
