Breast reconstruction is performed under general anesthesia in a hospital or at an accredited surgery center. As with any surgery, recovery varies, patient to patient. Most of breast reconstruction procedures involve more than one component with some downtime between each step. This is a process that typically involves several recoveries. In general, however, you can expect to be back to most normal activities in about 6 weeks from your initial reconstructive surgery. Other surgical steps are performed as an outpatient with recovery periods that vary based on the procedure(s) performed.