Managing Pain After Breast Reconstruction

Ensuring effective pain management after breast reconstruction is crucial for achieving the best outcomes and ensuring patient satisfaction. Inadequate control of postoperative pain can lead to increased physiological and psychological stress, resulting in higher hospital admissions and costs. Various aspects of intraoperative care contribute to postoperative discomfort, necessitating recognition by the surgeon and treatment team.

Given the diverse range of reconstructive options and variations among patients, it is essential to tailor pain regimens to individual needs. When customizing a pain regimen, the surgeon should initially identify different types of pain and the corresponding available treatment options. Postsurgical pain can be categorized based on its duration (acute vs. chronic) and nature (nociceptive vs. neuropathic). Chronic pain is typically defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain as occurring after the normal healing period.