Forum Discussion

Kek's avatar
Kek
Member
11 years ago

Yahhh

Hello, well, today I had my annual visit to my breast surgeon following my routine annual mammogram last week & yah for the first time in 3 years I didn't have a nasty little cancer rear it's ugly head :-). The reason I am posting this is one of my scars has become puckered & sunken (for want of better words!!) my surgeon said they can do some lipofilling on this & I was wondering if anybody out there in BCNA land has had this procedure done & to what success. I'm keen to have this done but I would like to get some personal feed back on it.Hope you are all well, & that what ever stage you are at with your treatment/surgeries that it all goes well for you

Regards

Kerry

9 Replies

  • mum2jj's avatar
    mum2jj
    Member
    11 years ago

    That is fantastic.  I didn't have the option of public as at the time there were no public surgeons where I live.  Also QLD health seem to be a bit behind the ball.  Having said that my plastic surgeon has really looked after me in my big op not charging me any gap, so this wasn't too much to pay when I know  I could have been out of pocket thosuands for the big op. I would have loved not to pay though ;).

    I think living in a regional city in north Qld we seem to be a bit disadvantaged.  Hopefully this will change in time.

    Paula x

  • CarmelS's avatar
    CarmelS
    Member
    11 years ago

    Kerry & Paula, I have to say I haven't paid a thing for any of this. Everything I have had done has been through the public system & I think my breast surgeon just counts it as reconstruction revision. the next surgery he has even put down as category 2 which was a pleasant surprise to me, I had just started to ask if it would be one year or two to wait & he said no I am putting this down as category 2 so hopefully it will be within 90 days. I don't know if its different state to state or whether the work is done by plastic surgeon as opposed to breast surgeon............. I certainly don't query it I must say.

    Carmel

  • Kek's avatar
    Kek
    Member
    11 years ago

    Again thank you Paula for your information, now I have some sort of ball park fiqure that I could be looking at. My surgeon did say something about the item numbers. It's a real shame our hospital system doesn't reconise that people who have had breast surgery can greatly benefit from this sort of operation not only physically but also mentally as well :-)

  • mum2jj's avatar
    mum2jj
    Member
    11 years ago
    It's not rude to ask at all. She is right it is not covered by Medicare. It's a really bad rule, apparently if you lipo from one breast to another it is covered but not from any other part of the body. I don't know the exact cost of having lipo on its own, or what your health fund pays but here is what I have learnt. If there is no medicare claimable item number then nothing is covered if you go private. This means that even the health fund does not cover it. It is a joke as they only cover "cancer surgery". I don't know what they think we are having lipo for? Apparently it's considered cosmetic. My surgeon was very apologetic. It is yet another thing that needs to be sorted with medicare. I am unsure about public. I am not sure if it is claimable if you just have a mastectomy scar (ie no reconstruction). The good news is that if you have other surgery for example scar revision or nipple creation then this is claimable. This means that at least your hospital/theatre fees etc are covered. It's then up to what the surgeon what they charge for the lipo. My surgeon charged $500 for the lipo but he did scar revision at the same time. I am still waiting for my health fund rebate but think my out of pocket expenses will be around $1200. This includes the charges for scar revision and the anaesthetist bill after rebates. No charge for the hospital. I hope this helps. It really is up to your surgeon what they charge. Paula x
  • mum2jj's avatar
    mum2jj
    Member
    11 years ago
    Such great news for you re your checkup. I too have had some lipo filling. There are a few other ladies on the breast reconstruction page who have had it done. I had a bilateral TRAM flap a year ago and one of my breasts due to lack of tissue from my tummy was less full than the other. I had my first lipo fill in Sept and some of it has re absorbed which apparently is normal. I am having my second and hopefully final lot done in February next year when I get my nipples. My surgeon told me about 2/3 reabsorbs, but obviously we are all different. Mine was taken from my inner thigh where there was some bruising and my PS had me wear skins for support of my leg for 6 weeks after. I had no bruising of the breast area. Good luck with yours. Paula :)
  • mum2jj's avatar
    mum2jj
    Member
    11 years ago
    Such great news for you re your checkup. I too have had some lipo filling. There are a few other ladies on the breast reconstruction page who have had it done. I had a bilateral TRAM flap a year ago and one of my breasts due to lack of tissue from my tummy was less full than the other. I had my first lipo fill in Sept and some of it has re absorbed which apparently is normal. I am having my second and hopefully final lot done in February next year when I get my nipples. My surgeon told me about 2/3 reabsorbs, but obviously we are all different. Mine was taken from my inner thigh where there was some bruising and my PS had me wear skins for support of my leg for 6 weeks after. I had no bruising of the breast area. Good luck with yours. Paula :)
  • CarmelS's avatar
    CarmelS
    Member
    11 years ago

    Kerry. I have had two lots of lipofilling done after I needed to have a smaller implant put in because of contracture after radiation. The surgeon used some fat to try & give a bit better coverage because evrything is stretched so tight. Now after the second lot trying to plump out my inframammary fold he feels much happier with my skin under the breast & hopes to actually do some surgery to try & fix that one a bit more & reduce & lift the other side for a bit more symmetry so I can do away with my prosthesis. I didn't have any pain relief after the procedure (also under general anaesthetic) & had some bruising on my stomach which was rather spectacular but not much at all on the breast. I see more & more mention of it at this end of the year. When I had the first one done in Feb, he actually just added it to the surgical request just before I went in.

    Carmel

  • CarmelS's avatar
    CarmelS
    Member
    11 years ago

    Kerry. I have had two lots of lipofilling done after I needed to have a smaller implant put in because of contracture after radiation. The surgeon used some fat to try & give a bit better coverage because evrything is stretched so tight. Now after the second lot trying to plump out my inframammary fold he feels much happier with my skin under the breast & hopes to actually do some surgery to try & fix that one a bit more & reduce & lift the other side for a bit more symmetry so I can do away with my prosthesis. I didn't have any pain relief after the procedure (also under general anaesthetic) & had some bruising on my stomach which was rather spectacular but not much at all on the breast. I see more & more mention of it at this end of the year. When I had the first one done in Feb, he actually just added it to the surgical request just before I went in.

    Carmel

  • Jane221's avatar
    Jane221
    Member
    11 years ago

    Hi Kerry,

    Glad to hear that your mammogram went well, hopefully all will continue to look up for you.

    I had some lipofilling done in August as part of my breast reconstruction process. I had this procedure to fill in an area at the top of my breast which had developed a large seroma during the first part of the DIEP flap transfer surgery. Once the seroma was drained (100ml) I was left with a large dent, which rather took away from the otherwise great job that the surgeon had done.

    The lipofill procedure involved taking fat from my hips, filtering the fat and then injecting it into the breast site. I had the operation under general anaesthetic. The surgeon explained that he puts in a bit more fat than required as there is always some reabsorption. Three months later, the lipofill has done its job and there is no sign of a dent as it has filled the area out beautifully and after 2 long years I actually now have some cleavage!

    The surgery itself seemed quite straightforward. I did have some spectacular bruising around each hip and up each side but this did settle down after a couple of weeks. I have no discernible scars from this procedure (although lots from the previous surgeries!)  I stayed overnight in hospital as we live a couple of hours away, but was certainly fine to go home the next day and was mostly using just panadol in the first few days.

    Hope this helps. Best wishes, Jane