Breast reconstruction using tissue from other areas of your body

The most common areas are the buttock or the inner thigh. It may also be possible to take flaps from other areas where there is enough fat and a suitable blood supply.

Reconstruction using tissue taken from your buttock Back to top

Sometimes a new breast is made using fat and skin taken from the buttock. This may be done when the tummy area can’t be used, perhaps due to scarring from previous operations or because there is not enough tummy tissue for reconstruction. It involves complex surgery and a long operation (6-8 hours).

There are two different operations that use tissue from the buttock:

• Free SGAP flap (superior gluteal artery perforator flap) – tissue is taken from the upper buttock.
• Free IGAP flap (inferior gluteal artery perforator flap) – tissue is taken from the lower buttock area.

Benefits

• A larger breast can be made.
• The reconstructed breast looks and feels natural.
• Two breasts can be reconstructed using this procedure.
• There is no need for an implant.
• There is no weakness in the back or tummy afterwards.

Limitations

• You will have an oval-shaped scar on your breast and a scar on your bottom. An SGAP leaves a diagonal scar on the upper buttock, which can usually be hidden by underwear with a higher waistband. An IGAP scar may be hidden in the crease between the lower buttock and thigh.
• One buttock may be slightly smaller than the other after the operation.
• The reconstructed breast will have little or no sensation (it will feel numb).
• This type of reconstruction involves complex surgery and a long operation (6-8 hours).

Reconstruction using tissue from your thigh (TUG flap) Back to top

This is a relatively new operation that uses tissue from the upper inner thigh, including some muscle. The tissue is removed and attached to the breast area using micro-surgery. It is called a free TUG flap because the transverse upper gracilis muscle is used in the operation. It involves complex surgery and a long operation (6-8 hours).

It may be suitable for women who are slim and have small breasts as there is not usually enough tissue on the thigh for larger breasts. As well as an oval scar on the new breast, there will also be quite a long scar on the thigh after the operation. However, this is usually well hidden because of its position.