Top Surgery Recovery Updates (a place for all members to update after surgery)

[Kreuzfidel]

Kreuzfidel your incisions are looking amazing, they're so thin and light already. I can't comment on the nipple graft, I'll let someone with experience chime in.

Thank you, Jeatyn! 

Kreuzfidel, I don't have experience in the chest surgery area to reference yet but I do have an interest in the medical field and I would also be very concerned with that nipple. It appears to have separated from the surrounding flesh. At three weeks, everything should have long been closed up, that doesn't look remotely healed. Does it hurt?

Yeah, I'm pretty worried.  I guess I'll just have to wait and see what the surgeon says when I hear back from her.

The thing is that it would normally be scabbed over, but she has me debriding (taking off the dead scabby stuff) every time I change the dressing - which ends up make it look like a bloody mess.  I wonder what would happen if we just left the scabs on it?  She also doesn't have me putting any kind of antibiotic ointment on it like I read about other guys doing.  If I don't hear back from her, I may go and see my GP since the surgeon is in Sydney.

I really don't want to fly back out to Sydney to have another surgery.  What happens if it dies?  Does it just scar over?

*Edit:  I forgot to say that it doesn't hurt.  It's still all relatively numb in that whole area.

[Alexthecat]

I put on ointment but I didn't pick at the scab. Between 2 and 3 weeks is when it just started falling off in chucks every time I changed the dressing.

[Bimmer Guy]

I would be extremely concerned about that nipple graft. Yours looks like its dying.

Not.  Helpful.   

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Kreuzfidel, I can see how your nipple might look that way if she is having you continue to remove the scab.

It makes sense to send her an email, though.  Personally, I would ask her why you are supposed to pull off the scab all the time.  How is that good for healing, would be my question.  I would think that would delay healing and create scarring. 

Good luck.  Try not to stress.

ALSO...I think your chest looks great!  Great incisions as Jeatyn remarked!

Thanks for posting and keeping us updated.

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Jeatyn, good to hear from you too.  How many weeks are you out now?

[timbuck2]

Brett: I know! I was hoping I wouldn't have any sensation at all as I'm not fond of nipples in general and didn't want to worry about any extra pain there. I dunno what my surgeon did but I could feel them just a day or two after surgery. Great for some guys...terrible for me xD

Kreuzfidel: I'm with the others, that nipple doesn't look good! Please clean it up on and don't pick at the scab, I'd put some ointment on and bandage it up if I were you. I really hope you don't get an infection!

[Kreuzfidel]

Thank you for the reassurance, Brett and timbuck2.

I'm honestly panicking a bit at the moment with all the talk about it dying.  I don't really know what to do.  I can fly back to Sydney if I have to, but my god that is something that we really can't afford right now - in terms of additional time off work and money 

*Edit:  I've been looking online at nipple grafts (mostly in women) and to be honest, a lot of them look similar if not worse than mine at 3 weeks.  It seems like at the 6 week point, they should be pale and scarred over, completely healed.  I'll take some comfort in that - it may just be a slow process.

Will keep updating.

[Bimmer Guy]

Thank you for the reassurance, Brett and timbuck2.

I'm honestly panicking a bit at the moment with all the talk about it dying.  I don't really know what to do.  I can fly back to Sydney if I have to, but my god that is something that we really can't afford right now - in terms of additional time off work and money 

*Edit:  I've been looking online at nipple grafts (mostly in women) and to be honest, a lot of them look similar if not worse than mine at 3 weeks.  It seems like at the 6 week point, they should be pale and scarred over, completely healed.  I'll take some comfort in that - it may just be a slow process.

Will keep updating.

Yeah, man, what the hell do we know?  I mean, seriously.  We aren't surgeons and each of us have seen only so many nipples at week 3.  Everyone heals differently too.  Plus, the rate of healing and WHAT IT LOOKS like at each point of healing I bet is different based on what is being done to the nipple during recovery (you are to pull the scabs off, I was to keep them moist with a blob of antibiotic gel).  Different surgeons use different bandages.  If you were a binder afterwards or not is different.  There is just no way to compare this stuff I don't think when you are looking at different surgeons (and our individual healing).

I think the only way that you can really compare your nipple to anyone else's (to know if it is ok or not), is if you had pictures of a Hassall patient at 3 weeks.  That's it.

It's going to be ok.  If if something funky is going on, it will be alright.  Hassall carries a good reputation.  Hang tough until she gives you the all clear.

[SX0877]

Kreuzfidel, it seems like the healing is a bit slow, but your nipples are NOT dying--the edge is nice and pink.

[Kreuzfidel]

Thank you, Brett and SX0877.  That makes me feel heaps better 

[Bimmer Guy]

Kreuzfidel, it seems like the healing is a bit slow, but your nipples are NOT dying--the edge is nice and pink.

Right, this is what I was thinking, too.

[aleon515]

Right, this is what I was thinking, too.

I agree. Someone asked Dr G about how you would know if a graft was dying and he said basically it turns black. So this still looks like tissue, also wondering re: the idea of pulling the scab off. I wonder if this was EXACTLY what she meant. Might mean to kind of help it along if it were already coming off. But looks like you might be reinjuring (or injuring) it.

--Jay

[NathanExplosion]

Day three for me! Woke up feeling great. Having trouble sleeping a bit, but only because I have to sleep upright. I'm a teeny bit sore today but nothing intolerable. Not even sure I need a Norco today... I'll probably just take a Tylenol or a Celebrex.

[aleon515]

Day three for me! Woke up feeling great. Having trouble sleeping a bit, but only because I have to sleep upright. I'm a teeny bit sore today but nothing intolerable. Not even sure I need a Norco today... I'll probably just take a Tylenol or a Celebrex.

Well I never even took Vicodin, which is more the strength of Norco, I'd imagine. Know a lot of guys who only took 1-5 Vicodins. It was more uncomfortable than painful really, and not a lot you can do about being uncomfortable, sorry to say, but to realize that this is really time limited.

--Jay

[Alexthecat]

Day three for me! Woke up feeling great. Having trouble sleeping a bit, but only because I have to sleep upright. I'm a teeny bit sore today but nothing intolerable. Not even sure I need a Norco today... I'll probably just take a Tylenol or a Celebrex.

Be careful with sleeping upright. I got a power lift recliner chair and it caused me severe pain in my lower back. It hurt worse than the surgery and I ended up taking pain pills for my back rather than my chest.

[NathanExplosion]

Well I never even took Vicodin, which is more the strength of Norco, I'd imagine. Know a lot of guys who only took 1-5 Vicodins. It was more uncomfortable than painful really, and not a lot you can do about being uncomfortable, sorry to say, but to realize that this is really time limited.

--Jay

Yeah, honestly, the only real discomfort I have is the tightness of the bandages... and the fact that I can feel fluid moving in my chest is really almost nauseating, but I guess normal considering I don't have drains. Other than that I feel really good today.

Is it weird that surgery also seems to have cured my allergies for the most part?? I can breathe through my nose! That's a first!

Will definitely be careful about my back. So far the only real discomfort in sleeping upright has been my neck... and the fact that I'm a side sleeper and I can't get comfortable on my back all night!

[NathanExplosion]

Has anyone else had an issue with bandages giving them blisters? I just noticed I have a little blister on my tummy, underneath some sticky bandage/medical tape. It's small and nowhere near my incisions and doesn't looked infected or anything, just a little blister where it looks like the tape has been pulling at my skin. Is that normal?

[AdamMLP]

Has anyone else had an issue with bandages giving them blisters? I just noticed I have a little blister on my tummy, underneath some sticky bandage/medical tape. It's small and nowhere near my incisions and doesn't looked infected or anything, just a little blister where it looks like the tape has been pulling at my skin. Is that normal?

I've not had surgery yet so I can't comment, but perhaps you could put a large plaster/bandaid over where its blistering to stop the tape pulling at it.

[aleon515]

I've not had surgery yet so I can't comment, but perhaps you could put a large plaster/bandaid over where its blistering to stop the tape pulling at it.

I think that would work (though you will probably then get irritation from the band aids/plasters. But anyway it's caused by rubbing no doubt.

Just an uncomfortable thing, but you just had surgery. Not supposed to be a walk in the park.

--Jay

[Kreuzfidel]

Has anyone else had an issue with bandages giving them blisters? I just noticed I have a little blister on my tummy, underneath some sticky bandage/medical tape. It's small and nowhere near my incisions and doesn't looked infected or anything, just a little blister where it looks like the tape has been pulling at my skin. Is that normal?

I had a blister underneath the tube on the right side where my drain was rubbing against my skin - I haven't had any blisters with tape or anything - just general skin discomfort from the waterproof bandages.

[anibioman]

Hey I've been posting on tumblr as I go into a lot of detail so if anyone wants to read detailed daily posts check out my tumblr. http://thegoodbadandtransition.tumblr.com/

[Bimmer Guy]

Hey I've been posting on tumblr as I go into a lot of detail so if anyone wants to read detailed daily posts check out my tumblr. http://thegoodbadandtransition.tumblr.com/

Hey, looking great, man! 

For the purposes of the thread (future readers), would you be open to posting one of those photos directly onto this thread (rather than a link)?  If so, please also tell us how many days post op the picture is and the name of surgeon.  We are trying to make this thread a "one stop shop" for a person looking for photos and recovery updates. 

Are you having any problems with your recovery?  Anything unusual from what you have heard others have experienced?

Thanks for posting on this thread!