Breast Lift FREAKOUT!!

OK all you Breast Lift post ops.....PLEASE HELP..If you can..!! I had my first check up with the PA after my surgey (4/11/08) HE took off my Bandages & wrap. I brought my sports Bra like they asked. When I got too see my breast I FREAKED OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They Look horrible, I look like Frankstein!!!!!!!!!  I HATED them. Is that a normal reaction??, WHEN will they look normal.?? One of my nipples I can not feel, the other is so so. PLEASE tell me it gets better?? Maybe I need augmentation? MY Plastic Surgeon said MOST patients who NEED a lift & get implants at the same time Almost ALWAYS come back for another LIFT because the implants settle 6 months to a year after & the breast lift slides down away from the implant. He told me to wait atleast 6 months. BUT either way the scars are HORRIBLE......I am SO DEPRESSED I cried for hours. Please Help!!! Angie~

Hi, Angie... I have not had a breast lift, but I did have a reduction as a teen and the scars scared the you-know-what out of me for months.  They do a keyhold incision (around the nipple and down the breast, plus under the breast and all the way to the armpit.  The incisions were red and stitched and horrible-looking for about a month, but they have now faded to almost nothing.  I think it is also normal not to have a whole lot of feeling for awhile. I know for ME, I was really paying attention to the redness, swelling and bruising...it can be scary.  Since I don't know *exactly* what you mean by horrible scars, it's hard for me to expound too much, but know it does take breasts a little while to "settle". Hang in there!

Hi Angie, I had my Breast Lift about 5 weeks ago. I had a lot of petosis (droop). Breast lifts are specially challenging for WL patients, our tissues don't behave the way a normal person's does. With that said, I expected that my breast would be nearly normal, but the reality is that they where a bit misshapen in my mind and each breast has a mind of it's own. There was a lot of swelling at first and that has since gone down a lot and they have taken a more natural shape, I think they where in shock at first and are now more relaxed. I will need to have 2 small revisions on the sides and with that I will be happy. My doctor had me check for sensitivity right before going home and although I was a bit numb, I did feel sensation, but everyone is different and I've read that some women's get the feeling back incrementally as time passes. Right after surgery I was a big DD, now I'm a full D and I'm fine with that, I did think I needed  implants, but if I had opted for them I probably would wait. You probably don't want the stress of the implants on the incisions. Don't feel to bad, I know it's a shock, but give it time, you will have a better perspective after the bruising ans swelling goes down, it's too early to tell, but I was not prepared for what I saw either.  

I KNOW EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEL I HAD MINE DONE ON 3/25/2008.   I WAS BLOWN AWAY WHEN I FIRST LOOKED AT MY BREAST THEY WERE THE UGLIEST THINGS I HAVE EVER SAW WHEN I LOOKED DOWN MY NIPPLES WERE LOOKING UP AT ME AND WHEN MY HUSBAND LOOKED AT THEM HIS FACE SAID IT ALL BUT HE LIED SAYING THEY LOOKED NICE,  MY DAUGHTERS 23 YRS OLD AND 25 YRS OLD REALLY EXAMINED THEM I MEAN THEY WERE FACE TO BREAST AND SAID HOPEFULLY THEY WILL LOOK BETTER.    I STILL HAVE ONE DRAIN IN THAT IS NOW STARTING TO SLOW DOWN DRAINING.  WHEN I WENT FOR A CHECK UP ON THIS PAST TUESDAY I WAS SO NERVOUS BECAUSE I HAD A VERY BAD SMEEL COMING FROM THEM WHICH I THOUGHT WAS AN INFECTION BUT FOUND OUT IT WAS THE BULB AT THE END OF THE DRAIN I WAS SOOOO RELIEVED.  BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS THEY ARE REALLY TAKING SHAPE AND STARTING TO LOOK BETTER.  THEY ARE HARD IN SOME SPOTS AND NORMAL FEELING IN OTHERS WHICH I HEARD IS NORMAL.  I ALSO HAVE BEEN TO THE DR EVERY WEEK SINCE MY SURGERY AND ON MY LAST VISIT I LOOKED AT SOME PICTURE BOOKS THAT MY DR HAD IN THIS EXAMINING ROOM.  I WAS BEING NOSEY:)  BUT I AM SO GLAD BECAUSE IN THE BOOKS WERE PATIENTS THAT HAD BREAST LIFTS AND THERE BREAST LOOOKED LIKE MINE BUT OVER TIME THEY REALLY LOOKED GOOD SO I WILL SAY IN ABOUT SIX MONTHS MAYBE LESS THEY WILL BE LOOKING REALLLLL GOOOOD.  I GUESS WE JUST HAVE TO BE PATIENT.  I GO BACK ON MONDAY AND HOPEFULLY WILL BE RETURNING TO WORK SOON.  DO YOU STILL HAVE DRAINS AND HOW MUCH ACTIVITY DO YOU DO?

Hi Shelly, it's reasuring that they will get better and they are. I never had any drains and I refuse to show my husband until they look more normal, which they are begining to. I travel for work, I only took 2 days off and then worked remotely for 2 weeks, then just started my weekly routine again with no problem at all. at 5 weeks, my insicions are all healed and they would have healed sooner, had it not been for the "disolvable" stitches that have been causing havok by coming to the surface and getting tiny infections (all resolved) and that I've been "spewing", I think they are mostly gone now.

Angie, I'm so sorry!  When you say "They look horrible, I look like Frankenstein!" did you mean the stitches?  Because they won't be in forever.  My BL & BA was on 4/8/08, and when my doctor took off my compression device and removed the gauze, I started laughing.  I mean, they are somewhat smaller than I expected (and that's a good thing ... they look natural & perky); it's just that with all the ends sticking out from the blackish stitching, I thought I looked like my husband ... a hairy chest!  I got an anchor cut & they were so stretched out, I had to have an augmentation.  I'm glad I did.  350cc.  I have a wide back, so they were the right size for me. When I told my PS my one little complaint, that I had wanted my nipples higher, he explained that my implants will settle, and if he had placed my nipples any higher, they would be poking me in the chin after any "settling" happened.  Okay, he didn't say that exactly, but you know what I mean.   I haven't lost any feelings in my nipples, but, as others have said, this varies with every woman after the operation. Anyway, Angie, I'm sorry you're feeling so rotten, and I really hope that everything works out and that you feel much better.  By the way, I hear that ScarGuard does a really good job. BTW, who's your surgeon?    Lisa

They will look better, I promise.  Right after my January breast lift with auto-augmentation, my under the breast incision was very puckered and there were dimples along it.  You should have seen how puckered I was along my bikini incision after my lower body lift.  It amazingly smooths out as it heals.  The ones around your nipples and up your breast will really fade to a thin line.  It is very normal for the breasts to be flat or square at the bottom.  They will round out.  I don't remember when I got sensation back, but I do remember being pleased when my nipples reacted when I was washing them fairly early out.  I had a large scab on one nipple.  When it fell off I had a loss of pigment.  It has a very normal appearance now.  The only thing I am unhappy with is that one nipple is higher than the other.  I will see what he says at my 3 month check up next week. I know this sounds silly, but this is what I did.  Every time I thought negative thoughts about my breasts I would replace the thoughts with this.  "I have perfect, beautiful, healthy breasts."  I knew I did.  They were just underneath all the swelling and trauma.  It really helps to affirm their beauty.  Good luck, Loris

We all have the scars - I guess it just depends on how bad you think they look.  In my case, they were bright red and dominant right after the bandages were removed and now three months out they've faded nicely.  In a year, I'm sure they will be hardly noticeable.  As for the implants, your surgeon shares the same opinion as mine.  Wait.  I think I'm happy without the implants at this point.  If you want the implants later, then he will open the lower incision to insert the implant under the muscle.   Cheer up, they will plump up a bit and the incisions will heal and fade. 

Breathe ANGIE BREATHE!  lol.. Sorry dont mean to chuckle but this is SO NORMAL!  Of course I cant see them so I cant tell you whether or not they look like frankenstein.... I dont recall thinking or feeling that way at all.  I had a BL/BA last June.  I chose small 300cc implants too.   I do remember taking the bra off the next day and thinking WOW...they are like right there on my chest.  However, they settled in nicely and looking VERY NATURAL!  Of course you did not have implants either...but it still will take some time to settle down. As for the scars.  I never did understand why some docs do the UNDER THE BREAST incision.  Mine did not do that.  IN fact that is why I decided to do the impants at the same time rather than wait.  So I only have the lollipop incision.  From the very beginning you cant even barely see the lines around the nipple, just the thin lines that go down. I guess what i'm trying to really say is your WAY TOO EARLY OUT to be FREAKED OUT!   Take a DEEP BREATH and let things heal and settle in.  Many ppl choose to do a revision later if need be. MIne have dropped quite a bit but they look natural and even when I went for my mammo last week the lady said  YOU HAVE IMPLANTS?  Uh yes! lol..  I had to show her where they were when she commented on how natural they looked. Thanks hon!    FOr me...I expected them to look MORE FULL which the reason they dont is from what the above poster mentioned...that I could actually use another lift if I wanted more UPPER fullness...but i'm a 38D now and was a 38C before...I'm happy with them....and thank god that when I wear low cut cltothing...my breasts dont shout FAKE! lol.. Cuz that is NOT what I wanted!! Hang in Angie....you may be pleasantly surprised down the road!   It's been 10 months for me and Im STILL getting use to seeing them up where they belong! lol.. Sending HUGS!  Julie  =)

I'm a BL/BA patient and I think it would be a good idea if we all just covered our mirrors for 6 weeks post-op all PS. LOL There's nothing really pretty about scars, but trust me, my dear girl, they do fade wonderfully well.  Our body is very gifted at healing itself. Frankly, you just may be experiencing a little bit of that sneaky post-op depression some of us suffer.  This, too, shall pass. If by Frankenstein you mean that sort of railroad track-like stitching, trust me, that will fade.  At this point, for me at 1 yr post-op, only the vertical incision shows.  Plus, the incisions around the aureolae are so faint that you really can only see less than a pencil-line thin half moon at the tops. Mine looked fairly high in those early weeks, but over time they gently dropped a week bit so that by week 4 I was able to even buy my new 36D underwire bras.  I had the lollipop style incision so there was no scar under the breast. Mine are still delightfully perky, look better than they did pre-pregnancies and being MO, and you can't hold a pencil underneath.  In the bra-burning '70s, that was the marker by which a gal judged whether or not she could go braless.  If you hung so low your twins could get a good grip on the pencil, then you still needed to wear a bra--unless you were politically disinclined. LOL.   IOW, mine definitely haven't dropped so that I'd need a revision.  I do have some very faint hyper-pigmentation that I'm going to start covering with Scar Guard as soon as I'm up and about after my 2 week old thigh lift. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones who didn't lose any nipple sensation, but I've frequently read that nearly all of this, and even all of it, DOES abate with time. Time IS the key word here.  It's so hard to practice patience, but it's really all we can do.   I'll betcha that in a few more weeks you'll be loving your girls, and maybe even be looking forward to implants when the time is right. You might also want to wander over to makemeheal.com's forum on BLs.  There are a lot of women posting there on just about anything you can imagine.  There's also a great photo gallery that can give you perspective on the changes our breasts go through.