Wilmington surgeon one of few in nation to perform new procedure

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — It’s a procedure that one surgeon says is only performed by a few people in the country. One of those surgeons is right here in Wilmington.

The Wilmington plastic surgeon says thanks to newer technology, that procedure has helped hundreds of women.

Doctor Charles Kays in Wilmington has been able to perform a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery for women all in the same day.

Aside from women having to come back for multiple surgeries, Kays says it means so much for a patient to be able to wake up feeling like they are almost back to normal.

“You know, you’ve just dealt with cancer,” Kays’ patient Samantha Wood said. “You look in the mirror and you don’t see yourself anymore.”

Doctors diagnosed Wood with stage two breast cancer in 2018. After months of chemo, Wood faced a double mastectomy.

“When you’ve already been into the doctor’s office every two weeks or every three weeks, the idea of going in for a surgery and then expansions every two weeks for possibly several months later, and then another surgery, just frightened me,” Wood said.

Wood says she was intimidated by the idea of multiple procedures and surgeries. Then she found Dr. Kays in Wilmington.

“Typically, it used to be the insertion of a tissue expander or stretcher under the muscle at the time of the mastectomy. then the patient would come to the office repeatedly, every two weeks for months, where we would fill that expander and create a shape that we could once put a permanent implant in,” Kays said.

Kays says that process requires at least two surgeries and almost a year just to feel normal again.

With cutting edge technology, Kays is now one of just a few doctors in the nation to perform a mastectomy, then reconstructive surgery all in one day.

“We’re now able to clinically evaluate the blood flow to the skin,” Kays said. “The reason that’s important is because if we’re going to put our permanent implant in, we want to make sure that skin is healthy and viable that will heal over the implant. Prior to this machine, we used clinical judgment.”

With the help of a SPY machine, Kays is able to test that tissue and complete the reconstruction immediately after the mastectomy.

“To have this reconstruction completed at the time is a profound advance,” he said.

For patients like Wood, the feeling of normalcy goes far beyond physical appearance.

“It just allowed me to start to feel like I’m going to get back to me and look forward and appreciate what I’ve been through,” she said. “That gave me a huge sense of normalcy.”

Kays says the procedure is spreading to more and more surgeons throughout the country.

He says he is also working on a paper on the procedure that will be published in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal.