Mastectomy Surgery vs Reconstruction Surgery: What’s the Difference?

Written April 3, 2022

I’m writing this mini post purely because I was confused by the difference, and you may be, too.

Everything I write here is about my own experience, so keep in mind that I had a mastectomy where they put in expanders, meaning I was NOT a candidate for “Direct to Implant” (DTI) surgery, due to the size of my chest. 

As such, I had two surgeries: Mastectomy and Reconstruction.

Mastectomy is often written as “DMX”, which stands for “Double Mastectomy”.  This is where they essentially take out all of your breast tissue, and potentially your nipples and much of your skin (depending on the patient). This surgery can take 4-8 hours, and you’ll stay overnight in the hospital for at least one night. (Mine was 4 hours and I was out that the next day.)

Reconstruction usually happens at least 12 weeks later (to allow the skin to heal), and is where they ‘reconstruct’ your breasts to put in implants, if you so choose to get implants. This surgery can take 2-4 hours and you’ll usually be out the same day. (Mine was 2.5 hours and I was out that same evening.)