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What are the common complications? Since the DIEP flap reconstruction is a long,
complex procedure, you do sometimes come across complications that can delay the eventual
recovery and the healing process. The complications that we encounter sometimes would include
those related to wound healing, as you do end up with quite long scars on your tummy,
as well as scars around the reconstructed breast. So you can have issues of delayed
wound healing. You can sometimes get a collection of blood or fluid around either the site of
the reconstruction or around the tummy area, which is called a haematoma or a seroma. Infection
is not very common, but you can sometimes get small, stitch-related problems where you
may have some inflammation around it. The major complication or the big complication,
as you could call it, would be an issue with the blood supply to the reconstructed DIEP
flap being not adequate, and in a very rare situation, the blood supply may be completely
compromised and we may not be able to re-establish that. Now this would eventually result in
the whole flap being lost, but, thankfully, the risks of that are less than 1%, and in
my hands and in my practice, it is approximately 0.5%. What are the common complications Robin
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