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

[JandJ]

Okay Gentelmen -

Here is my one month pic.  I still think I was left with too much skin, but I'm still happy to be able to wear whatever shirt I want to wear!  My surgeon feels that massage does more for scar reduction than any product on the market.  I will admit that the massage has done a LOT to reduce things - but I am also using a scar gel AND strips!  I will not know what worked best - but as long as it works, I don't think I will really care

Just thought I would add my 1 year Post-Op pic.  What a year it has been!

[Nick S.]

Post op nipple graft care question:

I'm a few days shy of two months post op DI w/ Dr. Medalie. Im a little confused about what my nipple graft care should be going forward.

I've been putting a little cocoa butter on them when I put it on my scars two times a day.

Is this  necessary? Or should they be good to go now? (For reference I stopped covering them with band aids about two - three weeks ago).

[RaptorChops]

(for the poster above I didn't do anything else with my nipples i just let them breath and washed them with cocoa butter soap in the shower)
couple weeks away from my one year. Only thing I'm a little sad with is how my right nipple turned out but, other than that I'm happy with my results.

[FTMax]

Post op nipple graft care question:

I'm a few days shy of two months post op DI w/ Dr. Medalie. Im a little confused about what my nipple graft care should be going forward.

I've been putting a little cocoa butter on them when I put it on my scars two times a day.

Is this  necessary? Or should they be good to go now? (For reference I stopped covering them with band aids about two - three weeks ago).

I cocoa butter'd mine when I remembered to. If you've stopped covering them and they aren't "goopy", they should be good to go. You may want to check on them and keep a small bottle of lotion to use throughout the day if they seem dry for the first few months.

[palexander]

@nick: i also went to medalie i continued to do vaseline until they were more hydrated. they're 'normal' now for me at 7 months post op.

[lionheart]

I'm currently 3 days post-op with Dr. Mangubat in Tukwila, WA. I'm on mobile right now but I don't have any great pictures yet anyways. I'll definitely update that once the stents come off next week, though. One thing I've noticed is that I have a lot more mobility than I expected to. I'm worried I'm gonna push myself too much. Does anyone have any tips of specific things I should avoid doing or take it easier as to not stretch my scars (or I guess reopen the incisions at this point)?

[trumi]

I was just wondering if there are any guys who had tattoos for their scars specifically? I don't see many of them online, just a few.

[tjack77]

I'm 6 weeks post-op, here's day 1 vs 2 weeks vs 6 weeks:



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RaptorChops]

I'm 6 weeks post-op, here's day 1 vs 2 weeks vs 6 weeks:



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks good dude! Congrats! Nipples are a good size and looks like you'll heal up nicely.

[tjack77]

The scabs came off as one whole piece instead of peeling off little by little. Also my surgeon didn't use that yellow stuff on my nips like most of you had.
I wonder what the surgeon used to create my nips, because they're definitely not the same color as b4 

[lionheart]

This is from 10 days post-op, I believe. Still looking pretty gory. I think I like the right side better so far.


To be honest, I'm starting to become really self-critical about my results. I just keep trying to tell myself that nobody looks great the first week or so post-op, and I'm sure it'll look a lot better once it starts to heal more. But I can't stop comparing myself to other people. I don't know if it's just my body in general because I never really looked at it a whole lot before the surgery and now I'm realizing how many problems I have with that too.

[groudon18]

almost 4 weeks post op with Dr Sajan, I'm super pleased with the progress so far

[veniamviam]

18 weeks (!) post-op with dr medalie. pardon the lowness of my shorts, i've been losing a lot of weight and none of my clothing really fits at the moment. anyway, the pics: my left side is the one with the pinker/oval-shaped nip. right side's the pretty side. image quality isn't great for reasons of cropping out my face area, but honestly for me not having the mental capacity to keep up with scar care i'm surprised with how well they're doing.





you can see from the front that my left side is definitely not the pretty side but it is more balanced/level than it looks like in that picture, i'm just hecking exhausted so my ability to stand upright is. wonky.

[Chive]

Hey first post here! I am 10 days post-op and worried about the amount of tissue or swelling that I have on the top part of my chest, close to my armpit but on the front of my chest mainly.. There was a fair amount of swelling on both sides that popped up above my ace wrap in the first week or so.. It has gone done considerably on the right side. But the left side their is a marked difference (it stands out more than a finger width beyond the rest of my chest below. Both sides are tender to the touch but unlike the lower part of my chest (near nipples) the feel is not as mushy. So I don't know if it is just normal swelling that escaped compression or excess tissue (breast or adipose) that got pushed up to this area or was not removed enough.... Any similar experiences or thoughts on what this could be or what to do about it? I've tried to wear my ace bandage higher,, but there's only so far it can go especially when I'm a lil active and it slides down

[RaptorChops]

Hey first post here! I am 10 days post-op and worried about the amount of tissue or swelling that I have on the top part of my chest, close to my armpit but on the front of my chest mainly.. There was a fair amount of swelling on both sides that popped up above my ace wrap in the first week or so.. It has gone done considerably on the right side. But the left side their is a marked difference (it stands out more than a finger width beyond the rest of my chest below. Both sides are tender to the touch but unlike the lower part of my chest (near nipples) the feel is not as mushy. So I don't know if it is just normal swelling that escaped compression or excess tissue (breast or adipose) that got pushed up to this area or was not removed enough.... Any similar experiences or thoughts on what this could be or what to do about it? I've tried to wear my ace bandage higher,, but there's only so far it can go especially when I'm a lil active and it slides down

Could you post any pics so we can get an idea? Did you have drains by chance?

[tjack77]

Seems everyone who had DI wore some kind of compression / ace bandage for awhile post-op, and to my understanding is to keep the swelling down? My surgeon never put any type of compression on me. Sure the area swell up a little which is normal after any kind of operation, but nothing to worry about. You can see the photo I posted the day of surgery, just bandaged up with drains and that is it. If you really concern about the swelling, you should get in touch with your surgeon though.

[lionheart]

Hey first post here! I am 10 days post-op and worried about the amount of tissue or swelling that I have on the top part of my chest, close to my armpit but on the front of my chest mainly.. There was a fair amount of swelling on both sides that popped up above my ace wrap in the first week or so.. It has gone done considerably on the right side. But the left side their is a marked difference (it stands out more than a finger width beyond the rest of my chest below. Both sides are tender to the touch but unlike the lower part of my chest (near nipples) the feel is not as mushy. So I don't know if it is just normal swelling that escaped compression or excess tissue (breast or adipose) that got pushed up to this area or was not removed enough.... Any similar experiences or thoughts on what this could be or what to do about it? I've tried to wear my ace bandage higher,, but there's only so far it can go especially when I'm a lil active and it slides down

I also have swelling in the same region, although I can't tell if it's swelling or just fat as at this point pretty much all of the swelling has gone down. The only thing is I don't know if it would be breast fat or just regular fat.

[Chive]

I also have swelling in the same region, although I can't tell if it's swelling or just fat as at this point pretty much all of the swelling has gone down. The only thing is I don't know if it would be breast fat or just regular fat.

That's what I'm worried about.... Like that it is any kind of tissue (breast or adipose) that got pushed up there and will take longer to shift around (or just go away when I can get back to exercise). It's such a dramatic difference in the contour.

Can I ask how long post op you are?

[Chive]

Could you post any pics so we can get an idea? Did you have drains by chance?

Yea.. DI but nipples preserved (untouched areolas) with drains in for one week.. I have photos but I'm just trying to sort out where to upload them to share. Will do soon

[lionheart]

That's what I'm worried about.... Like that it is any kind of tissue (breast or adipose) that got pushed up there and will take longer to shift around (or just go away when I can get back to exercise). It's such a dramatic difference in the contour.

Can I ask how long post op you are?

I don't know that it could've been pushed up, but I think breast tissue extends out a lot further than most people realize so I don't know if it's just something they missed. I intend to ask my doctor the next time I see him if it's even still an issue by then. I'm 3 weeks post-op.