Hi Gareth, When a women has a mastectomy the skin left needs to...

Hi Gareth,

When a women has a mastectomy the skin left needs to be stretched in order for reconstruction to take place and to make space for a breast implant. The only way of doing this to date has been to place a plastic balloon under the breast muscle and have around 100ml of saline injected into it every week or so until the skin is stretched enough to make space for the implant. As you can imagine having a needle stuck through your chest would be very uncomfortable. Its also inconvenient as you have to go and make an appointment to see the surgeon and spend the time travelling there as well as waiting for your appointment. Its painful as well in a lot of cases as the skin is stretched in sudden bursts and the saline is quite heavy like water. From the surgeons perspective he spends a lot of time carrying out this type of work rather than more profitable surgery etc.

Aeroform by Airxpanders also has a balloon but it has a tiny CO2 cylinder inside controlled via a remote, so that the patient can self dose up to three times a day. As the dosages are very small but very regular in most cases there is no pain or discomfort. Air is much lighter than saline so its way more comfortable. There is a lot fewer visits to the surgeon and no needles through the chest. Patients get to the size they want in less than half the time which has been proved in numerous clinical trials. Best of all the device is fully covered by insurance in Australian and the USA so they get a far superior product at no additional cost. The patient also gains some control over the process which is huge when you have breast cancer as you feel a loss of control over your life. The surgeon is much better off as he gets more time to spend carrying out surgery, which is more lucrative. The product has a number of patents on it, so it would be very hard to copy plus there would be clinical trials required etc so that doesn't seem to be an issue. There is no product in the world like this and the clinical trials have showed a 98% satisfaction rate. If you go to Airxpanders website you can see some patient reviews and surgeons thoughts on the product, which are all extremely good.

Its hard to say what market share they will get but the benefits are so great you have to ask yourself why anyone would choose to use the old technology once this becomes readily available. From what I have heard, when patients are offered both expanders by surgeons in Australia they always choose the Aeroform one, its a no brainer.