ARTOURATM Breast Tissue Expanders and MemoryShape® Breast Implants: Expanding Your Reconstruction Toolbox

There was a time when breast reconstruction patients were content with simply having a breast mound or looking good in clothes; that time has passed. Many of today’s patients expect to look just as good or better than they did pre-mastectomy. They want breasts with a well defined IMF, curvilinear lower pole contour and a near-even distribution of implant volume i.e. upper and lower pole fullness without a round, overly augmented appearance to the breast. To meet the rising expectations of today’s patient, plastic surgeons need better “tools” to overcome the challenges created by the mastectomy such as thin skin envelope and ablated architecture/ support structures such as lateral and inframammary folds. This article will discuss two tools: (1) The ARTOURA Expander and (2) The MemoryShape Implant. After reading this article one should be familiar with the clinically salient features of the ARTOURA Expander, able to identify the patients best suited for the expander, comfortable with the different approach to choosing the expander, expansion and implant exchange and how it differs from older generation expanders. Introduction: ARTOURATM Breast Tissue Expanders and MemoryShape® Breast Implants: Expanding Your Reconstruction Toolbox