Hey guys,

I just have a quick question for the guys who have had top surgery and are fully recovered.

So I'm about 2 weeks post-op as of today, so last few days I've been able to chill around the house without bandages and such. But I've noticed that after being without the velcro binder that they initially give you post-op, sometimes I get a bit of an ache on the left side of one of the incisions and also a bit like in my sternum. Its nothing too extreme or anything, but just that I can "feel" the incision more on just the one side (and tends to swell a tiny bit), whereas the other side I don't feel any discomfort. I think the stitching also on the side with the discomfort is not as "smooth" as on the other side.

Basically, I'm just wondering if any of you noticed something similar while you were recovering (it's probably nothing, I'm just a bit paranoid, lol) and generally how long it took to go away so that you could sit more comfortably without the post-op compression vest or ace bandages or whatever you were using.

Thanks!

After the post-op check I actually messed up or instructions were given to me wrong...one or the other... anyway, I ended up skipping the compression after 2 weeks and went straight to bandages.  Wish I had of kept the compression in a way, though not sure if the results would have been different.   My scars on my right side are twice as visible/rough as my left side.   I have no idea why, but I hope that one day maybe I can have surgery to remove the scars completely or something.   I asked my local doctor about the scars because I was tired of putting scar creams on it more then 6 months later and she told me not to even bother, that the only way she has seen scaring go away was surgery.  So I stopped with that completely.

The only discomfort or pain I had really was around the nipple, but most of it was from not having the compression and bandages moving some with my movements.  Other then that, just occasional pain around the stitches but nothing bad or enough for me to worry about, not even enough most of the time for pain killers

I would recommend following the doctors instructions just to be safe.  I think I did okay even with my mess up, I mean there is nothing I can really say was a result of the mistake, but never really know.  If you worry about something, give the doctors office a call.  If there is something they thing is wrong, it would best to figure it out early.

Thanks for the reply.

Honestly, it's probably not so worrisome that I'd need to call them about it, but more that I'm curious about what others experienced/if its fairly normal or not. I don't want to bother them too much, since I just saw them on Tuesday. It's just really tender and slight swelling on occasion on just that one side when I'm not wearing the binder. I guess I was more interested to hear whether this was normal to have it on just one side but not the other from others who might have felt the same thing. And also how long it took before that odd feeling of feeling it stretch and such lasts usually.

I don't see the doc again for another two weeks so figured it might be worth asking here. I hear you on keeping the binder, though. They told me I should spend a few hours a day without it on just while I'm around the house to let the area breathe and heal better. But I find after a while, its like that one side just lacks support or something. Once I put the binder on it feels fine.

The last few days it was definitely tender when I was trying to lie back on my bed without the binder, but today that seems to have changed so hopefully that's a sign that its improving.

Yeah, about nipples, I had some nipple pain during the first two weeks before they removed the nipple sponge things they'd stitched on. But since those were removed my nipples have been ok. Its more just the stitching at the end of the left side. I definitely haven't needed painkillers since probably 1.5 weeks post-op so its not so much pain as just...a weird feeling I can't really describe well...I guess its just that its a really weird sensation like that one side my body seems more aware of the incision, like it feels like it stretches more with slight movements or no movement at all whereas I can't feel it stretching at all on the other side.

I'm starting to think I'm not making any sense, though, lol.