Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Wondering if I could get some input from some other transguys about swimming after top surgery? I'm a few days over six weeks post Op with a double incision method. My surgeon cleared me to go back to my regular activities including working out, but my scars felt tight after swimming the other day and they are kinda sore. It was a VERY light swim work out, but I've held off from going back because I don't want to streach my scars. I've also been putting on Mederma PM scar cream on at night. Should I wait a couple more weeks or is it normal? Is there a better scar cream I could be using?

I want to say I read somewhere that 3 months is when the most stretching is likely to occur, though stretching can really occur any time. Is it the scars that hurt specifically or that whole region? Your chest as a whole might be sore if that's one of the first chest-intensive workouts you've done since surgery.

I used ScarAway strips and gel for a hot minute when I thought I might care about how my scars looked. That is the brand that typically gets recommended around here. Also Kelocote. If you google either of those, Mederma comes up so I'm sure it's all the same thing in different packaging.

It's going to real annoying not being able to move around much following surgery... if ever I've had leg injuries I tend to forget them while waking up and think I can leap outta bed or something and then end up on the floor. I can see myself thinking I can use my arms when I shouldn't.

But I do use my arms a lot. Probably more than I think, and I work from my place at home... I can see myself struggling not to do any work, and struggling to stay inactive for more than a couple of days. :/

I had peri and regained my full range of motion after only a couple weeks. I was given the OK for swimming a month after my op (not that I have pool access right now). That said, the movement can still feel sore and tight. Moving while sore might not be entirely a bad thing if it's due to stiffness. If it's too much right now, maybe you can do the motions for a week or so here and there out of the water to loosen things up before jumping back into the pool. Might be a good question for your surgeon tbh

I wonder if steri strips or something like that would be helpful to keep the scars from stretching.

Fellow swimmer here. 6 weeks really isn't that long when you think about all the work that your body's doing behind the scenes. I waited about two months to start swimming and for the first two months of swimming I did mostly kick drills. anytime you move your upper body you're going to feel some stretching in your scars it's just pretty much normal. even though I was super careful about doing over the head weight lifting and stuff like that for about seven or eight months I still felt stretching when I started it.

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Quote from: FTMax on February 17, 2017, 06:31:43 PM
I want to say I read somewhere that 3 months is when the most stretching is likely to occur, though stretching can really occur any time. Is it the scars that hurt specifically or that whole region? Your chest as a whole might be sore if that's one of the first chest-intensive workouts you've done since surgery.

I used ScarAway strips and gel for a hot minute when I thought I might care about how my scars looked. That is the brand that typically gets recommended around here. Also Kelocote. If you google either of those, Mederma comes up so I'm sure it's all the same thing in different packaging.

Yeah my whole chest wasn't sore because it was a pretty light maybe 600 yards and i went at a very slow pace. I used to swim competitively so I knew that I wasn't pushing it muscle wise, but along my scars it did. The sides of my incisions especially.
I did get some scar away stips tonight so hopefully that helps? I just started putting stuff on my scars hopefully it's not too late for the Scar away!

Quote from: Rlake633 on February 17, 2017, 05:29:05 PM
Wondering if I could get some input from some other transguys about swimming after top surgery? I'm a few days over six weeks post Op with a double incision method. My surgeon cleared me to go back to my regular activities including working out, but my scars felt tight after swimming the other day and they are kinda sore. It was a VERY light swim work out, but I've held off from going back because I don't want to streach my scars. I've also been putting on Mederma PM scar cream on at night. Should I wait a couple more weeks or is it normal? Is there a better scar cream I could be using?

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