Our story
Shaped by experience
The Reco Bra® was created by a lymphoedema practitioner with more than 30 years of hands-on experience caring for women after breast surgery. It was developed because the garment her patients needed wasn't available to them. Every detail was shaped by experience, listening to patients and understanding what recovery really requires.
I am a solo entrepreneur who designed the innovative, seamless 3D knit Reco Bra® in partnership with a skilled medical textiles manufacturing factory, for post-surgery comfort after autologous breast reconstruction and a variety of plastic surgeries. Our Reco Brief®, which is coming soon, makes a complementary set with the bra for combination type surgeries. We are in the final stages of production and securing design registrations in multiple countries.
About Nicole
Nicole de Havilland has worked as a Lymphoedema Practitioner for more than thirty years, for the NHS and privately, including the NHS St Margaret's Essex Breast Unit, where she handled referrals for breast cancer complications and reconstructions. She set up the West Essex Lymphoedema service, the first GP referral system with regulated protocols for primary and secondary lymphoedema, and held practising privileges within the Ramsay Hospital Group.
The Princess Grace Hospital invited her to set up and run a service for breast patients within the London Breast Institute, working alongside the team led by Professor Kefah Mokbel. She later ran a consultation and treatment service based at 108 Medical Chambers, Harley Street, where she worked as part of The London Breast Clinic team.
What her patients kept telling her
Patient after patient told her the same thing: there was no post-surgical bra that was truly comfortable and included all the necessary features. She watched seams irritate incisions and uniform compression impede lymphatic flow, causing complications and compromising healing.
The women in front of her were asking for something simple. Something that did not rub, that they could put on without lifting their arms, and that could accommodate swelling as their bodies healed.
Four years in the making, alongside the demands of running busy clinics
Finding a suitable medical textiles manufacturer willing to develop and produce a seamless bra suitable for every type of breast surgery took four years of searching, development and sampling. Once she found the right manufacturing partner, fifteen prototype versions were developed before she was satisfied with the final design.
Reco Heart Ltd is the medical device manufacturer behind Reco Bra®, working with a specialist medical textiles manufacturing facility to produce the garment.
Launched in 2017, and adopted by leading breast care teams
Reco Bra® launched in 2017 and has since been adopted by leading hospitals and clinics, with breast care teams and consultant surgeons recommending it to their patients.
The London Clinic, King Edward VII's Hospital and BUPA Cromwell Hospital supply Reco Bra® to patients as part of their post-operative care, alongside recommendations from consultant surgeons and key opinion leaders who have chosen Reco Bra® for their patients' recovery.
The sizing was deliberately kept simple: S, M, L, XL, 2XL and 3XL. The four-way stretch fabric accommodates a broad range of breast and body shapes, making fitting straightforward.
There are no moulded cups and no conventional bra-size fitting required, so patients do not need a pre-admission appointment specifically to be fitted for their post-surgical bra. The bra can be selected by size and supplied as part of their immediate post-operative care.
For hospitals and clinics, that simplicity reduces the range of stock that needs to be held, while removing the need to allocate appointment time and resources to individual bra fittings.
treating breast surgery patients in the NHS and Harley Street clinics
searching for a manufacturer able to make the seamless design
before the prototype was right
Reco Bra® launched, and is now used by patients, clinics and leading UK hospitals
Made for the private, practical weeks of recovery, the ones spent at home navigating your own personal healing process.
We hope that you love our Reco Bra® product. Wishing you all a comfortable and speedy recovery.
Designed for your surgery
One patented design (USA design patent D1131981) for breast cancer, cosmetic, lipofilling and breast implant removal surgery, in sizes from a 26 to 52 inch band.