Dr. Gorman Teams Up with Plastic Surgeon to Give Patients Best Cosmetic Results After Breast Cancer Surgery

Waxahachie, Texas -

Dr. Valerie Gorman, MD, FACS, has formed a partnership with the plastic surgeon, Dr. Jason Potter, MD, DDS. Dr. Gorman provides breast cancer surgery to give a patient the healthiest results, and Dr. Potter works with them from the beginning to decide the best cosmetic outcome.

Mastectomy can cause a complicated relationship between a person and their self-image. Reconstructive surgery, however, can offer assistance in improving their self-image. This can put the patient more at ease.

In a joint interview with the two doctors, Dr. Potter explained:

"The two main types of reconstruction are either implant-based reconstruction or tissue-based reconstruction. Patients are not always a candidate for both. Sometimes there are limitations put on us by the patient's body habitus, such as how much tissue they have to donate for breast reconstruction or prior surgeries that prevent utilizing tissue from certain areas. Implants are a common option, but if patients have had multiple infections or have a history of radiation, there are higher complication rates, and they may need to consider tissue-based reconstruction.”

Dr. Potter offers both of these options for reconstruction, the implant- and tissue-based, including the DIEP flap. A DIEP flap operation is a particularly complicated procedure that can take a long time. However, Dr. Potter is a local expert in this matter. Dr. Gorman says about this, "Not everyone does the flaps. That’s a big operation, and Dr. Potter does a significantly high volume of these in the metroplex. He’s the DIEP flaps guy. If you mention DIEP flaps to anybody, his name comes up. We offer that to our patients, which is awesome."

The two doctors work in tandem to give their patients the most comfortable experience they can have given their situation. With their partnership, they can communicate patient conditions, needs, and next steps with each other without relying on the patient to carry this information back and forth between offices. There is less pressure on the patient.

Dr. Gorman summed this up when she said, "The team we've formed between our offices and the options we offer together are what I want to emphasize. Between the two of us, we can more thoroughly follow-up. If a patient goes to see him, he will ask me any questions that need asking. If they need to have drains removed but don’t want to drive all the way to him, they can stop in our office to get them taken out. We do a lot of that for the patient, which I think is pretty great for them. We navigate them through the post-breast reconstruction hassle. We can say ‘yes, we've talked to them, you’re good to go here or do this’ so they don’t have to go back and forth between us and say ‘well Dr. Gorman said this’ then they say ‘well Dr. Potter said to let you know that’. This way, the patient doesn’t have to do all that on their own."

Dr. Potter is a double certified plastic surgeon serving the greater Dallas area who has affiliations with multiple hospitals and hospital systems. His advanced surgical training is focused on reconstructive plastic surgery.

Dr. Gorman is the Chief of Surgery and Medical Director of Surgical Services at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Waxahachie. She is board-certified by the American Board of Surgery and specializes in surgical oncology and surgical diseases of the breast.