5 minutes with… Bloom 43

15 October 2026 — lia-rogers

In today’s blog, we hear from Bloom 43 about how they are supporting breast cancer patients to prepare for surgery. Their app is free and available globally.

Tell us about your organisation…

Our founder, plastic surgeon, Dr Saahil Mehta, was always being asked by patients ahead of their surgeries ‘What can I do prepare?’ and this always struck him – that patients wanted to be doing more to prepare their bodies, and their minds, ahead of surgeries. The idea behind the technology that is at the heart of BLOOM⁴³ was created to address the wound healing challenges Dr. Saahil Mehta saw while treating plastic surgery patients. Frustrated by witnessing wound complications, especially in his breast surgery patients and with a lack of a solution on the market to address the issue, he started investigating potential solutions. He found a paper exploring how heat improved wound healing in mice. Inspired by the potential of this approach, he received funding and set up a clinical trial in the UK to research supraphysiological preconditioning™ in humans. The results were extremely promising and that research became the seed from which BLOOM⁴³ was born.

In patients undergoing skin-sparing mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction, supraphysiological preconditioning™ was associated with a marked reduction in mastectomy skin flap necrosis, a shorter hospital stay, and measurable increases in tissue vascularity.

When bringing BLOOM⁴³ to market, we knew we wanted the FDA registered medical device to have a companion app that provided education, support and connection – to answer that question that patients kept asking – ‘What can I do to prepare?’ Though a focus group with breast cancer patients and survivors, we discovered what they wanted in an app and we built it from the ground up by engaging experts from around the world in plastic surgery, rehabilitation, nutrition, emotional wellbeing and intimacy.

Today, we are based in London and Los Angeles, with one clear purpose: to help people facing breast surgery feel mentally and physically prepared before their operation and fully supported throughout their healing journey. We want every patient to feel informed, empowered and confident, while helping to reduce the complications that can occur following surgery.

What services do you offer people living with or affected by cancer?

Through the BLOOM⁴³ platform, we empower patients to prehabilitate and feel stronger in mind and body before breast surgery, and precondition their skin before their breast surgery. By combining the science of supraphysiological preconditioning™ with evidence-based digital guidance through our free app, we help patients feel prepared, supported and confident throughout their surgical journey.

Our free global app provides education, guidance and support to anyone preparing for breast surgery, wherever they are in the world. Alongside this, our medical device, currently available in the US, with a UK clinical trial in the works with the MHRA, as we pursue approval in the EU, is worn at home the night before surgery for three hours. 

It delivers a carefully controlled heating and cooling protocol designed to optimise the body’s preparation for surgery. By using supraphysiological preconditioning™this releases heat shock proteins, which increases the blood flow to the skin. And increased blood flow leads to better wound healing and less complications. Clinical trials show that using this approach can significantly improve outcomes, with the relative risk of skin necrosis decreased by 67%, the number of follow-up surgeries reduced by half, and hospital stays shortened by an average of two days, with outpatient visits dropping by 70%. 

Who are your services aimed at supporting?

Our goal is to support everyone facing breast surgery around the world through our free app, and in time, everyone preparing for surgery through our medical device.

We also support healthcare providers to offer Prehab™ and rehabilitation with the app and skin preconditioning with our medical device.

We also recognise the vital role that caregivers play. That’s why we’ve created dedicated content within the app to support family members, partners and friends who are helping someone through their surgical journey.

How do you cater for people with specific needs? 

The BLOOM⁴³ app is compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. These guidelines cover a wide range of recommendations for making web content more accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, including accommodations for blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, limited movement, speech disabilities, photosensitivity, and combinations of these, and some accommodation for learning disabilities and cognitive limitations.

Compatible with the below iPhone accessibility features:

• Voiceover
• Voice control
• Larger text
• Reduced motion
• Captions
• Magnification

Compatible with the below Android accessibility features:

• TalkBack
• Voice Access
• Dynamic display text size
• Magnification
• Remove Animations
• Captions

We are continually evolving the platform to meet the diverse needs of our community and are committed to ensuring our content is inclusive, accessible and easy to understand for everyone preparing for surgery.

What’s the most rewarding thing about the work you do?

Nothing is more rewarding than hearing from patients who tell us we’ve helped reduce their overwhelm and fear before what is often one of the biggest moments of their lives.

Breast surgery can leave people feeling vulnerable, anxious and frightened. Being able to give patients practical tools they can use in their own homes to prepare physically and mentally means they arrive for surgery feeling more informed, empowered and in control. Knowing we’ve helped make that experience a little less daunting is incredibly rewarding for our whole team.

What would you say to those who are considering getting in touch with you but are nervous or apprehensive?

Please don’t hesitate to reach out. We genuinely love hearing from everyone in our community, whether you’re a patient, caregiver or healthcare professional.

Our organisation has been built around listening to patient experiences, and every conversation helps us continue improving what we do. No question is too small, and we’re always here to listen, support and help wherever we can. We have three healthcare professionals and two patient champions on our team who all have lived experience they are willing to share – and they know where you’ve been.

Do you have testimonials from people that have used your services?

Yes, we’re incredibly proud of the feedback we’ve received from patients who have used both our app and our preconditioning device.

Many have shared that they felt significantly more prepared, informed and confident before surgery, while others have told us the support reduced their anxiety and helped them feel more in control throughout their recovery. Hearing directly from patients about the positive impact BLOOM⁴³ has had on their experience is one of the greatest validations of the work we do.

“It was great to feel that I was doing everything possible to ensure fast healing, and reduced pain and bruising, post procedure.” BLOOM⁴³ Patient

“I had a great experience with BLOOM⁴³! The ability to begin improving chances of surgery before the post-op recovery even starts is the biggest advantage.” BLOOM⁴³ Patient

Can you tell us about your team?

We’re a small, dynamic global team united by one shared mission: bringing the power of prehabilitation and preconditioning to everyone facing surgery.

With our founder based in Los Angeles, offices in Los Angeles and London, and team members working across Brazil, Italy and New York, we collaborate across continents to deliver the very best support for patients.

One of the things that makes BLOOM⁴³ truly unique is that patients are at the heart of every decision we make. We have both a Global Patient Champion and a US Patient Champion who, through their own lived experience of breast cancer and breast surgery, ensure the patient voice is represented across everything we do.

We’re also incredibly proud of our partnership with Panasonic in the UK, who manufacture our medical device and share our commitment to quality, innovation and improving patient outcomes.

What are the values of your organisation and can you describe your organisation in three words?

Our vision is to make prehabilitation the global standard of care, transforming the way people prepare for surgery.

Prehab™ remains a hugely underutilised area of healthcare, despite the significant difference it can make to surgical outcomes, healing and recovery. We’re passionate about leading this conversation, driving innovation and ensuring that every patient has access to the support they need before surgery.

If we had to describe BLOOM⁴³ in three words, they would be:

• Innovative

• Game-changing

• Inclusive

These words reflect our ambition to challenge the status quo, put patients at the centre of everything we do, and create meaningful change in surgical care worldwide.

And finally, how are you funded and what can people do to support you if they would like to?

Plexāā, the makers of the BLOOM⁴³ platform, is a purpose-driven health technology company funded through grants, investors and healthcare organisations that implement our prehabilitation platform and medical technology.

The best way people can support us is by helping to raise awareness of the importance of prehabilitation. Whether you’re a patient, healthcare professional, hospital, charity or organisation, every conversation helps increase awareness of how preparing both physically and mentally before surgery can improve outcomes. If you know anyone who needs to have a breast surgery, please tell them to download the free BLOOM⁴³ app. We’ve worked really hard to ensure that it meets patients where they are, assists in shared decision making, and provides them an easy to use, personal Prehab™ and Rehab program before and after surgery to ensure they have the best outcomes possible.

We also welcome opportunities to collaborate with healthcare providers, researchers and organisations who share our vision of making prehabilitation the global standard of care. Please email info@plexaa.com, visit www.bloom43.com, or follow us on social media.