Breast Cancer

This is my first post on this site. My Godmother has breast cancer which was the reason I started researching all this. Unfortunately it turns out her cancer is too advanced for an immediate breast reconstruction. The DIEP flap certainly seems like the way to go if possible but she'll have to wait until all her cancer treatment is completed, including radiation.

During my research I came across a plastic surgery practice in San Antonio, TX that specializes in DIEP flap breast reconstruction called PRMA Plastic Surgery.

Four plastic surgeons. All are very experienced in the DIEP flap procedure. They've performed over 2000 DIEP flaps and have a very high success rate (over 99%). I was extremely impressed by the practice. They treat patients from all over the USA and even from abroad so they're used to patients flying in for their DIEPs.

Good news for us is that they accept all major US insurance plans and unlike most of the other practices we spoke to across the US they do NOT balance bill.

They have a very nice article on their website about finding a DIEP flap surgeon and what questions to ask.

I found this article particularly useful when I started researching DIEP docs. While there are plenty of DIEP flap surgeons across the country, I didn't realize so few of these "specialists" perform DIEP breast reconstruction ROUTINELY. Some docs advertizing the procedure have not even performed that many DIEP flaps!! I find that very scary.

The article above was very useful in educating me as to which questions to ask to ensure the surgeon we choose has the necessary experience. There are also a bunch of links in the article to other sites listing DIEP docs around the country (now that you know what questions to ask). Hope it helps others as much as it helped me.