In honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, we will be posting daily informative videos presented association with Beth Israel Medical Center and Dr. Susan K. Boolbol for our series "31 Days of Breast Cancer Discovery". Each day, Dr. Boolbol, who is the Chief of Breast Cancer Surgery at the medical center, will talk about breast cancer and share tips on to how to reduce the risk and what steps should be taken if you are diagnosed with it. 

On Day 26, Dr. Susan K. Boolbol discusses that the length of recovery depends on the type of reconstruction performed. If no reconstruction is done, a woman may be home the next day after the mastectomy to rest with a drain.  A drain catches bodily fluids post-surgery. For breast reconstruction, there are 2 types: using an implant or using your own tissue. With an implant, a woman will stay in the hospital for a day, before returning home with a drain, but may be out of work for a few weeks. With reconstruction using tissue, the discomfort will be from the donor site, for example, your back, not breast and the woman may be out of work for several weeks.

For  information, contact the Beth Israel Medical Center at 212-884-6231 or visit them online at http://www.wehealny.org.