My plastic surgeon wouldn't do the exchange surgery before because he said regular implants don't hold up well under radiation. I did the exchange ten months after finishing radiation. That's the con. You really need to be patient and wait to all the internal radiation has dissipated. If you are still giving off heat to the touch it's too soon. It will effect the healing. But radiated skin is unpredictable and you will probably get a more ascetically pleasing result before. But if the radiation ruins the implant you now have to go back and do it over again.

My comment did not post so if it doubles sorry. I am betweem rads and exchange. My PS would not entertain exchange before rads. He said expander was better and would be more comfortable. He overfilled rads side quite a bit bc he had no way of knowing my tissue response and sometimes rads damages the tissue so it won't expand and overfilling gives him some wiggle room. I did really well with rads but you just never know (the extent of my response was a dirty looking tan). Also he would not even consider exchange until after 6mos post rads. Everything looks great but there still could be issues.

@A MyBCTeam Member, I suggest you listen to your PS. After all he is the doctor that will be dealing with your reconstruction. Keep in mind that Radiation is the burn part of treatment. Lord help each and every one of us on this site to remain strong in you as we encounter decisions with treatments and reconstruction. Blessings and hugs to all of you ladies.

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A MyBCTea...

It's better to have expanders during radiation then get your implants in.....that way the radiation doesn't damage the implants.

I had my expanders put in at he time of the mastectomy and had them filled to where i wanted to be prior to radiology. Sometimes they overfill a bit because the radiation can cause the skin to shrink ad tighten a bit so that helps. I had a new type of radiation where they run the radiation through catheters placed on a breast mold. It was done in Scottsdale by Dr. Kuske. Instead of 6 or 8 weeks they do it 2x a day for 10 days but supposed to be easier on other organs near by. I am also told they do this process in LA and perhaps Harvard.