Dr. Teresa Buescher
“I take breast reconstruction very seriously, and try to offer the form of reconstruction that will best suit the patient's needs with a durable high quality reconstruction. No one type of reconstruction fits everyone. We are often able to help high-risk patients turned down by other institutions or salvage failed reconstructions.”
Dr. Teresa Buescher practices in the specialized areas of plastic and reconstruction surgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center, where she is also an Assistant Professor of Plastic Surgery. Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (1995, 2004), her main interest is in reconstructive surgery, with a special focus on breast reconstruction. She has been practicing medicine since 1983 and plastic surgery since 1993.
Originally from Washington DC, Dr. Buescher earned her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. While serving in the United States Army, she completed her General Surgery residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and her Plastic Surgery residency at Wilford Hall Air Force Medical Center. She is fellowship trained in microvascular breast reconstruction, and holds active memberships in the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the American Medical Association (AMA).
Dr. Buescher served in the Armed Forces for a total of 22 years (15 in the Army, 7 in the Navy) and is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. From the military, she gained extensive experience in burn injury, breast reconstruction, and extremity reconstruction after blast injury. Dr. Buescher’s surgical expertise encompasses all forms of breast reconstruction, immediate and delayed. Standard techniques include tissue expander, implant, pedicled latissimus, and pedicled tram. Microvascular techniques include diep flaps, TUG (transverse upper skin paddle gracilis) flaps, and SIEA flaps. KU is the only place within several hundred miles that offers these procedures.
About her work, Dr. Buescher says:
“Helping ladies regain their self-esteem and feeling of wholeness after cancer amputations is a really big deal to me, more like a crusade. Nobody has to walk around feeling mutilated. I will spend a considerable amount of time and effort trying to get them back to normal and will keep going until they are satisfied.”
