Breast reconstruction with flap surgery carries a risk of complications. Complications may be related to the surgery or to the tissue flaps.

Risks of surgery

The risks of breast reconstruction surgery include:

• Slow healing of cuts in the skin, called incisions.
• Infection.
• Bleeding.
• Risks linked to the medicine that puts you in a sleeplike state during surgery. The medicine is called a general anesthetic. Risks include nausea, vomiting and confusion.

Risks of having flap surgery

The risks of having breast reconstruction with tissue flaps include:

• Tissue death, called necrosis, from too little blood supply to the new breast.
• Loss of feeling at the place where the tissue flap is taken from.
• A weakness in the belly wall that may let tissue come through, making a bulge. This is called an abdominal hernia.

Radiation therapy to the skin and chest wall after breast reconstruction with flap surgery may cause complications during healing. Your healthcare team may suggest that you wait until after radiation therapy to have breast reconstruction with flap surgery.