After your referral to the plastic surgery department of the hospital where you may have your procedure performed you will meet with your consultant surgeon who will explain the aims of the surgery to you.

At the end of your consultation you may be asked to sign a consent form saying that you give permission for the surgery to be done. However, before you are asked to sign the form you should have been given full information about:

• the type and extent of the surgery you are advised to have
• the advantages and possible disadvantages of the surgery
• any other procedures that may be suitable for you
• possible complications, risks and side effects of the surgery

Sometimes, a lot of this information can be confusing at the first consultation, so don’t be afraid to ask questions, especially if you are unclear of what has been said. Some consultants offer a second consultation before surgery, but if this is not the case do make contact with the department to help you with the explanations.

With this website, a facility will be set up for you to ‘chat’ with other breast reconstruction ladies in the forum and the opportunity to pose questions at the set live chat sessions.

You may feel that hospital staff are too busy and that some of the questions you want to ask are irrelevant. No question is irrelevant. A good idea is to write your questions down; take a note book and take a friend/relative with you, two pairs of ears are better than one.

At your first consultation please do not feel you have to decide about surgery there and then if you have any doubts about how it will affect you. You can ask for more time, especially if you are having delayed reconstruction. You may need to make a decision more quickly if you are having an immediate reconstruction.

Be assured your surgeon will always want what is best for you and will try as hard as they possibly can to do the best job they can; at all times they will treat you and care for you as an individual even though they may have performed dozens of breast reconstruction procedures prior to seeing you.

We are all unique; we all have different needs!