How long until you can wear a shirt?

[November Fox]

I basically already said it.

Not a big fan of button up shirts. It's been 2 weeks since my first surgery and a little less since my correction. The good side I can use fairly well, right side still painful. I had peri.

Anybody know more or less when you can go back to "full range" arm motion and wear shirts / grab stuff overhead?

[Kylo]

I heard (my cousin had top surgery recently) it was two weeks or so. I think they're still wearing a binder under shirts temporarily though to compress the surgery site.

[Elis]

Only a week for me; but I didn't have that much pain from the surgery unusually. And doing the physio exercises helped. Took 2 weeks to have a full range of movement again

[November Fox]

Since I'm headstrong I went ahead and put an oversized shirt on today. I have no idea if I'll be able to get if off but I guess I'll find out 

[Kylo]

I've got a question. When you're this early post-top surgery, is it just hard to move the arms in general from stiffness, or due to compression wraps, or is it just pain that restricts movement? Or are you just ordered not to by the surgeon?

I'm wondering about whether things are hard to do, impossible to do, or just painful to do with the arms.

[invisiblemonsters]

I've got a question. When you're this early post-top surgery, is it just hard to move the arms in general from stiffness, or due to compression wraps, or is it just pain that restricts movement? Or are you just ordered not to by the surgeon?

I'm wondering about whether things are hard to do, impossible to do, or just painful to do with the arms.

when i got home i didn't have any compression wraps or even my drains in. i just had my tape over my stitches and gauze over my nipples. it wasn't painful either. for me, my movement was restricted by basically not wanting to stretch my scars, rip my stitches or rip my tape off. it also felt very stiff so it was just a weird feeling all around tbh.

as for the question - i put a tshirt on about 2 weeks after my surgery. i didn't do it myself though the first time and getting it off was...interesting. you kind of improvise.

[Dena]

There is a trick for putting tops on and off within getting makeup on your clothing. I suspect the same approach might work if you have an oversized shirt or something that has some stretch in it. With your arms at your side, put your arms through the sleeves and move the cloth on your arms as far up as you can. Next, lean your face forward and put the top over your head and and around your neck. Now rase your head and work the top over your chest. You should be able to do this with out raising your arms and just reverse the procedure to get the top off.

[Elis]

I've got a question. When you're this early post-top surgery, is it just hard to move the arms in general from stiffness, or due to compression wraps, or is it just pain that restricts movement? Or are you just ordered not to by the surgeon?

I'm wondering about whether things are hard to do, impossible to do, or just painful to do with the arms.

For me too I modtly felt stiff after surgery. Although partly the binder restricted some movement and I wanted to be careful not to pop a stitch or anything

[November Fox]

I was very stiff from surgery. Specially in the first week. Getting out of bed in the morning was difficult because my upper torso'd feel like a plank.

As soon as you start feeling good and get a chance to stretch a leg and move around, the stifness in the muscles decreases. After the first week my muscles would "stir" like you do when you stretch in the morning and become more relaxed.

The reason your surgeon asks you to not lift your elbows too much and not put your arms behind your back, is your pectoral muscles have been exposed (there was an extra layer of tissue on them before) and need to restore. That's how my surgeon explained it to me.

The side that did not have complications healed very fast and I've barely had any pain. So without complications (peri) I think you should be good.

Getting the shirt off turned out easy 🙂 I didn't have to put my arms above my head. I grabbed the shirt in front, if you lean forward you can easily pull it off.

[Kylo]

Thanks for the answers guys. It's something I had been curious about for a while, but no-one had gone into detail about what it felt like.

[Kylo]

Well, now I know how to describe the sensation after DI.

It feels like a horse standing on your chest.