Innovations and advancements with prosthetic breast reconstruction

Prosthetic breast reconstruction has evolved over the years to provide results that now mimic that of a natural breast. This is due to a variety of innovations and advancements related to mastectomy techniques, acellular dermal matrices, autologous fat grafting, and improved breast implants. The evolution of prosthetic breast reconstruction has gone full-circle and included prepectoral placement in the 1970s and 80s, partial or total subpectoral placement from 1985 to 2015, and now gradually trending back to prepectoral. There are several techniques and strategies that now allow for patients to achieve results that are superior to any time over the past 50 years. This manuscript will review the salient aspects of prosthetic breast reconstruction and how its evolution has progressed over the years.