I'm not trying to sound dumb or anything, but I always hear people in the FtM community strongly discouraging the use of ace bandages when it comes to binding for long periods of time on a regular basis. Since many transguys seem to be very wary of using this method for binding, I thought I'd explain what I do and see if there's something unhealthy and harmful I'm doing that I haven't thought of or noticed yet.
I'm seventeen now and I've been binding for about two and a half years, and I've been using ace bandages the whole time. I don't have a very big chest, I've never measured and tried to determine my "cup size" but I'm thinking it's about an A or so. When I bind, I first put on a lightweight, elastic-y cotton sports bra (or I layer two, since they're not bulky). Then I take a deep breath and hold it in while wrapping my chest snugly, but never so tight that it constricts my breathing or makes me extremely uncomfortable. On top of that I wear a lightweight cotton tank-top, and then whatever shirt I'm wearing for the day.
The whole ensemble isn't bulky or overly uncomfortable and it seems to have worked for me over the years, but I'm afraid maybe I'm missing some damage I've been unwittingly doing to myself. I've read everything from the notion that binding can hurt the lymph drainage system under your arms and cause toxin buildup (wtf?) to the belief that it could stunt the growth of your rib cage and spine and put your shoulder blades out of whack. I haven't noticed anything like that going on, but could I be missing something harmful I'm doing that I'm not aware of? Hopefully I'll be getting my top surgery within the year, so if I'm lucky I won't have to worry about binding for much longer!
Thanks.
Ace bandages contract when your rib cage tries to expand instead of expanding.
It can also injure your breasts, making top surgery more difficult. It can also fracture your ribs, which can puncture your lungs and kill you (which can also happen with an undersized binder or over tight corset). When you said you held your breath while binding, that kind of scared me. You're better off just wearing a good sports bra since your breasts are that small or saving up about $30 for a binder.
When I said I hold my breath while binding, I meant that I take a deep breath so I can make sure I'll have enough capacity to take a deep breath after binding, if that makes any sense at all.
What kind of damage could make top surgery difficult? I probably will buy a binder soon but I was wondering what kind of damage I might have been doing/already done.
And the bandages I use are relatively old and stretched-out, so they don't seem to get tighter and tighter as I breath, although I know that's supposedly a danger of using them.
I would wear only sports bras, but when I just wear those my chest still has a feminine shape, although it looks small. I bind to get rid of the rounded shape and flatten things out a little more.
I can't remember exactly what type of damage, but if I remember correctly with one guy I saw he had a lot of scaring on his breasts (that is a sentence that shouldn't exist XP) and his ribs became misshapen.
well damn, if it really does cause lymph node blockage or whatever...I'm screwed LOL
For me I honestly had LESS issues when binding with tape and ace bandages. Binders have done nothing but screw up my ribs, my chest, my shoulders and my back. Thankfully my chest finally healed from tissue damage, as did my esophagus - I got hit in the chest while wearing a binder during laser tag and took over a year to heal. Ever since I started using binders I now get pain when I DON'T bind, I completely messed up my ribs. Oh and just to be clear I wasn't wearing a size to small and I NEVER wore it for long periods of time to cause damage. I always took it off after eight hours, took a rest and made sure it came off if I started experiencing any pain. So from my own experience I couldn't care less about the stupid dangers people warn me about with binding using ace bandages, because binders have not done me any good in comparison. I'm personally going back to ace bandages, the only reason I stopped was because I found out about binders and learned I wouldn't have to worry about it unraveling. Instead I get a binder that rolls up on me...freaking awesome. ::)
i'd think the best way to find out if anything has been damaged or not would be to ask a doctor. every body is different, so i wouldn't expect the same thing to work for every person. usually there is no damage if there is no pain or marks anywhere, breathing in when you bind might have helped you avoid serious damage, but you can't always be sure. if you really want to know you don't have much other choice than to see a physician
I did it for about a year before I got a binder.
They slip around, do not stay in position
You can't do physical activity or they'll tighten
They look like sh*t and unrealistic unless you're really small-chested