Early Results Show Reduced Infection Rate Using No-touch Technique for Expander/ADM Breast Reconstruction

Infection is a common complication of immediate breast reconstruction that often leads to device removal, a result emotionally devastating to the patient and frustrating for her surgeon. “No-touch” techniques have been used in other surgical disciplines and plastic surgery, but they have not been reported for breast reconstruction with tissue expanders or implants and acellular dermis. We report a novel technique of tissue expander and acellular dermis placement using no-touch principles with a self-retaining retractor system that holds promise to decrease infectious complications of breast reconstruction.