Hi,

This is my first post and first time reaching out for advice from anyone other than the doctors/nurses etc.

I was diagnosed with Triple-Positive Invasive Breast Cancer Jan 2021 aged 29. I had chemo, lumpectomy and radiotherapy, and I am now on the Herceptin injections and Tamoxifen.

I thought all was well and this cancer business was starting to be something I could put behind me; that is until I had my first mammogram in May followed by biopsies that confirmed the cancer was back for round 2 as DCIS in the same breast.

I knew that it'd be a mastectomy this time and had prepared for that with reconstruction, however what I was not prepared for was my surgeon telling me yesterday that generally you can't have implants following radiotherapy because of issues it can cause, including encapsulation, so it should be autologous reconstruction.

For many reasons I want to try and avoid the autologous route and consider an implant as a possibility, so my question is this...

Has anyone on here got experience of having implants fitted into a breast that has already received radiotherapy?

I want to know all the good, the bad and the ugly stories to help me make an informed decision. I've tried to do some reading and look at some research studies into this but available information is scarce, any advice or guidance is much appreciated.

Thanks and sending you all love and luck for your own journeys

X