It aims to help women who have undergone an oncological process recover their self-esteem, satisfaction and the quality of life they might have lost due to the disease and treatments.
With minimally invasive surgery, a breast restoration is achieved that improves the aesthetic result reaching greater realism and naturalness.
The team of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Service at the Bellvitge University Hospital (HUB) has performed the first reconstruction with a custom-made nipple prosthesis in Catalonia on a patient who had undergone a mastectomy for breast cancer. In recent years, reconstruction techniques have focused on the breast, but not on the areola or nipple. This new technique will help patients who have overcome cancer to leave behind the physical and emotional after-effects caused by the disease.
Until now, the classic nipple reconstruction technique has been carried out using the patient's own tissue with subsequent micropigmentation. However, satisfaction is not optimal: in a very high percentage of patients, as a result of the pressure of the bra, the nipple becomes flattened and the result is a nipple with no projection.
This brand new technique, performed at Bellvitge Hospital, is minimally invasive and is carried out in an outpatient procedure under local anaesthesia lasting about fifteen minutes. It consists of implanting an innovative non-porous polyethylene prosthesis, which is customised for each patient. This permanent device is placed under the skin like a nipple button. Between three and six months later, micropigmentation is carried out to give it colour, giving it a natural look.
"Six months after the breast reconstruction, when it already has its final shape, the procedure can be performed, improving the appearance of the breast and getting a lasting nipple volume over time," explained Dr Anna López Ojeda, head of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department at the HUB.
In principle, there are candidates for whom the implant will fit better. These are patients who have undergone a mastectomy with the skin preserved and with a breast implant behind. "Each case must be assessed individually," states the plastic surgeon at the Bellvitge Hospital. Nupple® Implant, the prosthesis used, has been created by Dr Cristina Varela Mas, a Galician surgeon specialising in breast pathology.
The emotional importance of the breast restoration process
Beyond the priority of treatment and disease control, the process of restoring the breast is key to the emotional well-being of many breast cancer patients. "Reconstruction is not just an aesthetic enhancement, since the absence of the nipple reminds them of the disease. Having this implant allows them to close the cycle of the breast cancer process and move on with their lives," explained Dr López Ojeda.
Precisely, the new device being tested at the Bellvitge University Hospital statistically significantly improves self-esteem, body image and satisfaction in the psychosocial and sexual spheres, besides the satisfaction with the breasts and chest for breast reconstruction patients. These are the preliminary results of the prospective study evaluating the impact of Nupple® Implant on satisfaction, quality of life, body image and self-esteem in women with breast cancer. These results were presented as an oral communication at the National Congress of Aesthetic and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery 2021.
This minimally invasive and outpatient procedure is being considered to become part of the portfolio of services of the public hospital in the coming months. In fact, Bellvitge Hospital was the first hospital in Catalonia to include micropigmentation in its portfolio of services more than twenty years ago.