DIEP Flap Breast Reconstruction

In a DIEP flap, fat, skin, and blood vessels are cut from the wall of the lower belly and moved up to your chest to rebuild your breast.

In a well-executed DIEP surgery, the muscle and nerves are preserved; if you’re having a DIEP flap, make sure this will be the case. Your surgeon carefully reattaches the blood vessels of the flap to blood vessels in your chest using microsurgery.

Because the muscle and nerves are preserved, most women recover more quickly and have a lower risk of losing abdominal muscle strength with a DIEP flap compared to any of the TRAM flap procedures. It can take about 6 to 8 weeks to recover from DIEP flap reconstruction surgery.