Now, LoGiudice is a nationally known breast reconstruction expert and assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He has refined a new technique for breast reconstruction, which gives women facing surgery an option to traditional breast implants. Skin and subcutaneous fat tissue are taken from a patient’s abdomen to build a new breast, or "breast mound" in medical parlance. "Using this technique results in a reconstructed breast much closer to the patient’s natural breast," LoGiudice says.

Benefits of the procedure include using the patient’s tissue as opposed to an implant, less visible or uncomfortable scarring compared to taking tissue from hips or buttocks, and no repositioning of the patient during surgery.

A procedural downside is that the surgery is quite tedious and lengthy, requiring six hours for one side. Preserving the transferred tissue along with its microscopic blood vessels is a time-consuming process. On the other hand, the recovery time is substantially reduced, usually in the range of three to five days as opposed to five to seven days using other tissue transfer techniques.

LoGiudice wants women to know that they do not have to decide on the spot if they want to undergo reconstructive surgery. "Patients can decide to do it immediately or years later."

And if they opt for implants, he says that’s OK, too. "They are vastly improved and one of the most studied devices put in a human being." m