Hello...
I feel totally lost and confused about what type of top surgery to get...
All I know is that, I definitely need to stop binding because it literally is affecting my entire life.
Now,
I have a couple of very specific questions for those who have had these surgeries:
(any type of mastectomy or breast reduction)

~ Is the amount of breast tissue that is removed in an f2m mastectomy the same as those who have it removed due to breast cancer?
I recently heard that transmen who have the surgery can still get breast cancer so does it mean that for them technically the tissue isn't removed entirely?

~ If I were to get a breast reduction to the smallest size possible, would it look natural(like a male) for me to appear shirtless?  So, what is really the difference between the smallest size reduction {By the way, this is considering the surgeon is also willing to resize & reposition the areola of course} and mastectomy? 
Since cis men also have breast tissue, could it possibly be that the smallest size reduction still result an acceptable male look?  Or does it completely depend on the figure of the person?  --An example would be:  someone who is muscular or overweight would look normal with a reduction where as a slim person would look like they have man breasts?--

Apart from the unimaginable amount of pain and suffering that I will have to go through (this is of course IF I ever survive) I am very worried about the drains that I will have to put up with... First off, I can't even stand the sight of blood in general, so being responsible for this kind of thing really does give me an excessive amount of anxiety...  So in order for me to be prepared for this kind of horror, I am wondering:

~ Exactly how long am I supposed to have them on?

~ I heard that they make a hole in your armpit/s?  Is this really true?

~What can I do in order to prevent any kind of complications or infections from happening during this time with the drains on?

By the way, since I have absolutely no one who is willing to help with the drains, any help would be highly appreciated.

To make things even worse than they already are... I don't have much time at all!!!
The surgery date is supposedly going to be later this month and then I have to go to school on September...  I just know it's not enough for me to be 100% healed

I dont really think i'll be much help cos i have yet to have surgery but if the date is set already shouldnt you have talked to someone by now o discuss all these considerations- as in the person who is doing the surgery?

I'm not sure about any surgical procedures BUT I've watched a few trans men on youtube who've undergone top surgery and they look completely flat. Their chest looks like a male chest.

http://www.youtube.com/user/skylarkeleven
http://www.youtube.com/user/MeikoEliasXavier

They've both had top surgery and look completely flat. Except for muscles.

My answers are in bold.

Quote from: nolife on July 03, 2010, 06:41:44 PM
I recently heard that transmen who have the surgery can still get breast cancer so does it mean that for them technically the tissue isn't removed entirely?
I know with peri they have to leave some breast tissue in or else the chest will dip in places and look unnatural. Not sure about double incision.

~ If I were to get a breast reduction to the smallest size possible, would it look natural(like a male) for me to appear shirtless?  So, what is really the difference between the smallest size reduction {By the way, this is considering the surgeon is also willing to resize & reposition the areola of course} and mastectomy? 
Since cis men also have breast tissue, could it possibly be that the smallest size reduction still result an acceptable male look?  Or does it completely depend on the figure of the person?  --An example would be:  someone who is muscular or overweight would look normal with a reduction where as a slim person would look like they have man breasts?--
Breasts and man boobs are different. Breasts are breast tissue and man boobs are fat. I personally think a reduction would look very wrong as a male chest. Using peri as another example; you see guys before revisions who have a little bit too much breast tissue left in and it doesn't look good. It's like the breasts used to be there and look almost like they've deflated because you can see the definition of where they were.

Apart from the unimaginable amount of pain and suffering that I will have to go through (this is of course IF I ever survive) I am very worried about the drains that I will have to put up with... First off, I can't even stand the sight of blood in general, so being responsible for this kind of thing really does give me an excessive amount of anxiety...  So in order for me to be prepared for this kind of horror, I am wondering:

~ Exactly how long am I supposed to have them on?
It's different for everyone, but I believe a it's usually maximum of 10 days without major complications.

~ I heard that they make a hole in your armpit/s?  Is this really true?
Yes. This is where the drains go in.

~What can I do in order to prevent any kind of complications or infections from happening during this time with the drains on?
Your surgeon will tell you everything about this. Generally though, just keep clean. Maybe start taking multi-vitamins to prepare for surgery as this will help your body's ability to heal.

By the way, since I have absolutely no one who is willing to help with the drains, any help would be highly appreciated.
It's recommended that you have someone with you after surgery as you won't be able to move your arms much without the risk of damaging your chest. Nurses should be able to help with your drains to an extent.

To make things even worse than they already are... I don't have much time at all!!!
The surgery date is supposedly going to be later this month and then I have to go to school on September...  I just know it's not enough for me to be 100% healed
Maybe take some time off school? Doing too much too soon will stretch out the scars and possibly damage the nipple grafts.

Quote from: nolife on July 03, 2010, 06:41:44 PM
I am very worried about the drains that I will have to put up with... First off, I can't even stand the sight of blood in general, so being responsible for this kind of thing really does give me an excessive amount of anxiety...

I am also verry worried about the drains.. I too cannot stand the sight of blood let alone the thought of it, it makes me queezy &nautious to the point where I can pass out. I just hope that when my time comes, ill have someone to help me out.

Hi nolife,

I had my surgery done in the UK so I will answer your questions about how things were for me although some of the answers to your questions may vary depending what country you have your op done in.

1) I have had some breast tissue left behind to prevent the "flat" look and have been told to keep checking my chest for lumps. I had the double incision method.

2) My chest looks natural with my shirt off but I do still have some scarring, although this is fading. I am very slim so the surgeon did make my chest quite flat so I do not look like I have man boobs but it is still slightly plumped out if you know what I mean? Some surgeons do leave bigger guys with larger chests because otherwise it probably would not look natural if the chest was completely flat if the guy has quite a lot of body fat.

3) I only had my drains in for 2 days. Basically as soon as the drains no longer keep filling up with blood they told me they would remove them. My left drain stopped seeping within about a day and half. I got a haematoma on the right side of my chest after my op and I had to go straight back in for them to sort it out, so my right drain took about an extra half day before there was no longer any blood coming out.

4) My drains were not in my arm pits, they were lower down either side of my chest, either side of where the the incisions were made.

5) Because I was kept in an extra day (3 in total) my drains were removed before I left hospital so I didn't have to worry about an aftercare with them. My only advice is to keep the area dry, clean and covered as I still had to do this with the incision areas and around where the drain holes were.

6) You will need some help after surgery. You must avoid lifting your arms up above your chest level and over stretching as this can pull the stitches and also cause worse scarring results.

7) I returned to work 4 weeks after the op and had no problems. I was still VERY careful about stretching and my job was not very physical. You should be ok going back to school after 4-6 weeks as long as you are careful and don't overexert yourself in the upper body/chest area.

Some people have told me that they found the pain of drains to be unbearable and also the removal of them to hurt a lot but in my experience I didn't find them that painful, more uncomfortable. Pain relief in tablet form may be beneficial if you do find you are in unreasonable pain but I think you may find them less daunting than you may think.

Unfortunately, this is just one of the things you have to put up with along the path to transition and just keep looking forward to all the good things that come from having the op... no more binding and sweating your a** off in hot weather being just one. It makes it all worthwhile in the end, trust me 

John

Thank you everyone, this helps a lot

QuoteI only had my drains in for 2 days

Wow!  I thought it was going to be a week or more, thanks for sharing this with me

Quote from: nolife on July 13, 2010, 10:18:39 PM
Thank you everyone, this helps a lot

Wow!  I thought it was going to be a week or more, thanks for sharing this with me

This is why I mentioned that things may vary depending which country you are having your surgery in. Are you based in the UK? I was quite surprised that someone said it can be up to 10 days depending on complications. I DID have complications in so far as a haematoma (internal bleeding/haemorrhage) goes and they were still in for only 2 days and I had NO problems at all after being discharged.

Maybe in other countries they leave the drains in for longer than when the blood stops draining, which is the point of drains, surely    I don't know, but I do know (at least as far as my own experience goes) that they are maybe not as bad as you may think. I must point out though that other guys I have spoken to post surgery, that they have said that they have had more pain than I seemed to have experienced.

It is difficult to describe as everyone's pain threshold is different but I had little or no pain during or on removal of the drains after my chest surgery.

first of all relax! it's really not that bad!
and yes your surgeon should be more than happy to answer these questions for you too.
The drains are more irritating than anything, and they are certainly a relief to get out. like snowdoggy, i only had mine in for 3 days, generally pretty common unless you get a haemotoma.
you sound like what you need is some support. unless you want more pain and for your healing time to be much slower, you need a support person for the first couple of days, you really wont want to be doing much at all, and moving your arms too much increases bruising and swelling significantly and could stretch your stitches.
as far as school/ work goes, its different for everyone but i had mine on dec the 11th and went camping at new years and was fine.
Icepacks are great to stick under your arms if its summer there!