So, at group one of the guys told me he started exfolliating the skin on his chest before surgery --- he said it helps tighten up the skin and you get better results from surgery.  Anyone else heard of it?  What product did you use?

Did he explain how that would help? Cause it doesn't sound logical to me. To minimize scarring it's actually quite crucial to keep the skin soft and lubricated...whereas exfoliation is sometimes said to increase blood circulation but mostly just leads to more fragile, dry skin.
I just moisturized every day before surgery, and my skin is very healthy now despite having to wear the compression vest 24/7.


Plus, you only really want your skin to tighten if you get peri, and you'd have to stop exfoliating after surgery for the first (and most important) weeks anyways. With double incision, if there's too much tension on the scars, the scars will widen.
But I guess if your skin doesn't get irritated easily it wouldn't do much harm either.
Unfortunately can't recommend any products, but make sure the pearls are really small cause otherwise it will easily leave tiny scratches.