It is common for many women to have fat deposits underneath the waist and above the hips. While some curse their genetics for these, a recent Johns Hopkins study shows that these “love handles” can be valuable in flap methods of breast reconstruction, particularly in athletic women with little fat on their midsection (read more about it here).
Athletic, slender women may not have enough fat in other areas of their bodies to use for flap methods of breast reconstruction (which takes a flap of fat and skin from one area of the body to use in reconstructing the breast), and in some cases the only option for these women has been implant reconstruction. But this new research shows that the love handles represent a viable area for tissue reconstruction, and better still, surgery using this approach may be less complicated than other techniques.
This is an exciting advance for slender women who want breast reconstruction but would prefer not to have an implant used as part of their reconstruction. I’ll be interested to see if the method catches on with reconstructive surgeons nationwide in the coming years.
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