Sensitivity

[COS]

Hello
I was just wondering - how long did it take you/does it take in general/ to regain chest sensitivity? I'm not talking strictly about nipples, but the area around them as well. Does chest sensation come sooner, or do they come more or less at the same time with nipple sensation? What were your experiences? Is it possible to regain sensation in your chest, but not in the nipples? Is there something one can do to enhance the possibility of returned sensation (like massage)?
I myself am two months out of keyhole surgery, so there were no changes yet (my whole chest, almost u to my neck is completely numb) and I can't share much, but I will once/if the changes occur.
I'm really curious about how this works, so any experiences or anything you've read/heard are very welcome !

[aleon515]

I have a little bit more than I did earlier (4-5 months), but I hear guys post-op for a year who have some numbness, so I am guessing that that's normal. I don't massage as it is my observation that it stretches the scars.  I think your body is going to heal how your body heals though.

--Jay

[Kreuzfidel]

I'm 2 months post-op and I still have most of my pec area totally numb - like Jay, I feel more in the area than I did just after surgery, but it's obviously just something that takes time.  My understanding is that the nerves have to essentially repair themselves and that isn't an overnight process - I honestly don't think that there's anything you can do to physically speed that up.  I am inclined to say that it's just a matter of waiting it out.

I'm not sure that everyone will regain sensitivity or sensation - everyone will have different experiences.

[Bimmer Guy]

I had minimal numbness from the beginning.  The only numbness I had was a 4-5 inch length by 1 inch width between the areola and the incision line on each side.  Now I have about two inches by one inch between the aerola and incision line that is mostly numb.  Outside of this, I really had no numbness.  In two days I am 6 months out.

I see you had keyhole.  Hopefully, someone who has had keyhole will weigh in on this thread as I would suspect that location and type of incisions would effect the type/area of numbness one would have following surgery.

3/27 - edited the wording on the first few sentences for clarity

[COS]

Yeah, I can't find much info about keyhole anywhere, so I want to eventually document my experiences so others who had/will have this procedure can get an idea what's it like. I read a lot about other types of surgery, but since it's different in some aspects, it still leaves me quite blind. I'm taking pictures and everything, so once it's all healed up, I'm going to post the progress with descriptions and so on.
Thus far - as I wrote - there is no sensation at all, the whole area where there used to be the removed tissue is completely numb. They could operate on me again right now and I probably wouldn't feel a thing, hah. But I hope to start regaining some feeling soon, it's uncomfortable to not feel my own body and I don't think I would be able to get used to this. I'm massaging my chest lightly, especially using pressure massage on the scars and sometime the whole operated area, as I read it helps heal the scar tissue.
Interesting fact is, that when I do push ups and blood rushes into my upper body, the operated area doesn't blush or anything, so it's clearly visible where the sensations haven't started yet - this could be helpful for mapping the progress.

[aleon515]

I know someone who had a keyhole, and it sounds like I might have more nipple sensation than he does (he is 6 months post op, I think and I am almost 5 months post op). I have nipple sensation, but it isn't very much-- kind of like skin to skin contact like pressure and cold. Obviously the don't respond to cold, I can just feel it. But I think numbness post-op for up to a year (maybe more) is normal. If you aren't sure you can contact the surgeon.

--Jay

[COS]

Sometimes it's mentioned that keyhole gets good results when it comes to sensitivity, but from what I've read, it seems that it's actually the worst option ( http://ftmichael.transboys.info/topsurgeryinfo.html ). I myself didn't know what kind of surgery I'm getting until few hours before the actual act - were the situation different, I would have not gone for keyhole. Scars are no issue for me, I'm not ashamed of them and couldn't care less if my whole chest was one huge scar. But the sensation is important to me, so I hope I won't be some unlucky case (really, what use it is to have a scar-less chest when you can't even feel it). Well, we shall see in a few months!

[SX0877]

I don't remember how long it took exactly. But it did come back to me gradually.
Initially one of my nipple was hypersensitive and the other was numb. The area closer to incision lines was pretty numb at the beginning also.
But now i have regained most of the sensitivity. The only numb parts are the two incision lines.

[Berserk]

I'll be two years post-op at the end of July. I had a double mastectomy not keyhole, but at first quite a lot of my chest was very numb. My nipples were completely numb, fairly wide radius around them, the incision lines and even all the way up to the end of the incision lines near my arm pits/sides were numb as well. For a long time afterwards it was also kind of awkward sleeping on my chest because of the numbness.

Currently I've got definitely more sensitivity back than I thought I would, but it took a long time (at two months, you definitely have a while to go to start regaining sensitivity, at least from my experience). Probably close to a year it took me to notice regaining sensitivity. My left nipple has some sensitivity back...kind of comes and goes I can feel "harder" to medium sensations but have trouble feeling lighter touches. My right nipple I can't feel much at all. Most of the area around the nipples has regained quite a bit of sensitivity, though, same with the sides/underarms. Overall it's not completely back to normal yet, but I've heard similar things from other guys that it took them at least a year to start regaining sensitivity if they did. It was also around a year before I felt like I could stretch my arms without feeling like my chest was going to rip, so that seems the amount of time for things to settle for my chest.

[Sarah Louise]

I had a tumor removed from one breast and that nipple has very little sensitivity, especially compared to the other side.

[Jeatyn]

I feel like my experience has been different to most people with regards to sensitivity, possibly to do with the fact my surgeon uses the pedicle technique for nipples which is apparently quite rare. I'm 16 weeks post op. Can't say for sure what the official name of the technique I had - it was only ever referred to as an "extreme breast reduction" 

I had sensitivity in my nipples and a normal hot and cold response pretty much immediately after surgery - it really sucked to get cold  the surrounding areas were numb for a bit, but then the nerves seemed to spring in to life all at once, I had horrible pain and had to go back to get pain meds after not needing anything at all at first. It didn't last too long thankfully. The pain levels got progressively better and I think at around the 11 weeks mark I considered myself "recovered". (Would have been sooner but I also got an infection at one point) No numbness or pain - unless I over stretch myself, when a sharp pain reminds me that full 100% recovery is a slow process

[Elijah3291]

I'm about 11 months post DI and I can feel everything but my nipples, my fiancee is about 3 years or more post keyhole and he cannot feel his nipples plus several inches past his nipples he cannot feel either.

[Bimmer Guy]

I feel like my experience has been different to most people with regards to sensitivity, possibly to do with the fact my surgeon uses the pedicle technique for nipples which is apparently quite rare. I'm 16 weeks post op. Can't say for sure what the official name of the technique I had - it was only ever referred to as an "extreme breast reduction" 

I had sensitivity in my nipples and a normal hot and cold response pretty much immediately after surgery - it really sucked to get cold  the surrounding areas were numb for a bit, but then the nerves seemed to spring in to life all at once, I had horrible pain and had to go back to get pain meds after not needing anything at all at first. It didn't last too long thankfully. The pain levels got progressively better and I think at around the 11 weeks mark I considered myself "recovered". (Would have been sooner but I also got an infection at one point) No numbness or pain - unless I over stretch myself, when a sharp pain reminds me that full 100% recovery is a slow process

With the pedicle techniques, the nipple stalks (therefore, the nerves), stay attached.  Makes sense you would keep sensation.  That is the great thing about that technique.

[panther]

I had keyhole first, then a peri revision, and second peri revision.

I was able to feel my general chest area I'd say after a month or two each time, but my nipples took longer to regain sensation (a good sensation at least). After about the first month I could feel again, then around 2-3 months I could feel completely, but it hurt. After a year though, I could feel completely and it didn't hurt, the erogenous sensations came back fully.

It really depends on your body, complications and your healing time/age, and surgeons techniques (methods of tenting the skin during surgery, suture style, etc).

[Ethedon]

I had keyhole first, then a peri revision, and second peri revision.

I was able to feel my general chest area I'd say after a month or two each time, but my nipples took longer to regain sensation (a good sensation at least). After about the first month I could feel again, then around 2-3 months I could feel completely, but it hurt. After a year though, I could feel completely and it didn't hurt, the erogenous sensations came back fully.

It really depends on your body, complications and your healing time/age, and surgeons techniques (methods of tenting the skin during surgery, suture style, etc).

I hope I'm as lucky as you are. I know everybody heals different but I hope to gain full sensation even if it takes a year.

[rexyrex]

Yeah it could take up to a year. I had peri and it was numb all over for a few weeks under a month, then it slowly getting some feeling back I'm 3 months post-op and I have most feeling back but some part of my chest mostly from nipple toward middle of chest it's still numb. I have a really sensitive nipples. D: 

[Alexthecat]

My incisions don't like it when boxes are held up against them. Nipples are really jumpy when I rub vaseline on them.

[COS]

Thought I would upload a photo for reference. I'm 3 months and 2 weeks post-op now. The areas I circled on the photo are the ones where I have no feeling at all - no touch sensation, no pressure sensation, no pain sensation, no cold/hot sensation, nothing. You could stab me there and I wouldn't even notice. The no-sensation area on my right side goes far to the side and under the armpit. The rest of the chest has limited pressure sensation. I guess I'll take another photo in another 3 months to see if there's any progress.

[David27]

I just had surgery on the 12th and in my post op appointment she told me to touch my chest a lot. By touch she meant lightly stroking it without pressure and not the nipples. She said it would help the nerves wake up and reduce pain.