Thought I had it all figured out, but i'm starting to question. (Long, but Need Advice)

Hi All,

I'm pretty new here. Was on the boards a lot about 2 years ago but i've been busy living life lately. I graduated recently and decided its time for plastics. i've had a couple of consultations here in Indy...one with Dr. Turkle and one with Dr. Sando of My Plastic Surgery Group.

The first with Turkle....after some quick discussions we decided...just so they could get a quote together... on a TT with an anchor cut and a BL. She seemed very capable and I know she's a great surgeon, but I wasn't very comfortable in the end with the consultation....i felt rushed to decide on things, though i know i can change later, but mostly it seemed like she has only certian procedures she was willing to do and even though i may want or need something else she didn't seem willing to listen to that.

My next consultation with Dr. Sando was the next day so comparison was very easy. He seem very responsive to my concerns and questions about addressing certian areas and I left feeling very confident that he was my surgeon and that i had made a good choice going with the extended TT and instead of a BL using small implants to give a fuller breast. plus we discussed having another small procedure to address the area under my armpits that is a concern for me.

I have been questioning everything about the procedures, whether the implant vs the lift is really the way to go, whether the TT will create a tight enough tummy, and other nit picky things, but I have always been confident in Dr. Sando and been able to talk myself through all of these questions from everthing we discussed during the consultation.

Fast forward to this weekend when I met 2 women who had the TT with an anchor cut who were telling me how incredibly tight their surgeons were able to get their stomachs in all directions and how happy they were with that decision, and then I started reading here about BL vs BA and it's all just left me very confused!!!!

Here are my biggest questions/concerns...
-My surgeon decided against the BL b/c from his experience breast tissue will always continue to fall and sooner or later the tissue would sag back down leaving a droopy breast again. He thought the implant would be best option to make not a bigger breast but a fuller breast.  My issue is that my breast size is still quite large and I wouldn't mind losing some of the tissue and reducing the size while lifting the nipple, but he seemed very experienced with these procedures and thought he could get the best results with that....Just curious if anyone had a similar situation and what worked/did not work for them. Also, would the implant do anything to lift the nipple? I'm just concerned about the length of the breast not really changing without the lift.

-I was originally convinced i needed a LBL but neither surgeon seemed to think that was necessary, so a TT it is. When an extended TT (cut all the way around) is performed and the skin is pulled down I imagine that it is very tight in that direction, but what about side to side. I gained weight all over so pulling down still leaves plenty of skin unless it was to be folded in like creating a dart with a dress, right?? Does that make any sense lol ?? If it does, any input would be appreciated. The anchor cut would address that issue i believe, but since the cut is only hip to hip i would still have the pooch over my jeans on my lower back...Do i just have to choose to have remaining issues after the surgery, or is there somthing elsae i can ask my surgeon about, or will either of these procedures address them in a way that is satsfactory in your experience?

I have a million other questions, and this is aleready way too long, but i'm going crazy here...questioning everything...advise/experience/input anything would be appreciated....if you even made it this far

Jennifer

Yes, you have lots of very important questions. You're young and I don't know if you have or plan on having children and nursing them. I think you need to add this potential as well when considering surgery.

I don't want implants because I don't want to face additional surgery in the future. Implants need to be replaced or removed at some point. It may or may not be when you would have planned to do so if an accident or pain due to healing issues occurs to the implant.  You will need to stash a bundle of cash away for this and a have life style where you can take off time to recuperate.  I will be happy with what breast's I will have left after BL and after years of overly large breasts, I'm looking forward to being smaller. I figure I can always wear a push up bra with added cutlets if I need to look overly endowed. LOL

btw Dr. Lomonaco replied to a recent post about which patients are good candidates for implants and which for bL alone.

Congratulations - all the thoughts and feelings you have, mean you're normal. 

One thing that I knew I needed to do, was to look at before/after pictures of people who had body shapes just like or very close to mine.  Then I'd look at what procedures they had done.

The two women that you spoke to, have they lost a large amount of weight?  If they haven't then you might want to take that into consideration.  If they have, then you want to continue the discussion with the ps you choose to find out why they recommend one procedure more than the other; what they envision the results to be.

As for selecting a ps - their experience is probably the most important critieria, however, how you interact with them is not far behind.  With any doctor you choose, you should have a good rapport to be able to have open discussions about your care.  With plastic surgery, that rapport is even more important IMHO because you will need to discuss very intimately your concerns about your body and its appearance.  You need to feel absolutely comfortable in being open with him/her.

Hey Jennifer,

Congrats on your weight loss!

I am in a similar boob boat.  I was born wearing a D cup and after a lifetime of being overweight (and now weight loss)....the girls are a 36 D LONG!

Like you, I really wouldn't mind going down a bit in size.  One thing the consults did tell me was that a lift would put my nipples back on my chest BUT because I have so little volume and tissue left, when I laid flat, the lifted boob would sort of slide off to the side.  The two consults I went to suggested adding like a 200 cc (pretty small) implant to give shape and volume-not so much mass.

I am also having an extended TT and butt lift, but there wasn't so much discussion on those other than the TT will take care of my muffin top.

Good luck!

Nancy

Jennifer--I just had an extended TT and brachioplasty 2 weeks ago. I had a DS 2.5 years ago and lost almost 200 pounds. I am cautiously happy about the results, as I am not done healing yet.

I had the same issue with an extended TT vs. a LBL and whether an anchor cut would be necessary. So many questions and fears beforehand! Here's my thread on that, and soe people's answers:

Topic: Age-old question: Anchor Cut or Not?

Two surgeons told me a regular extended TT would address most of my problems, whereas a LBL also would do my butt some good, but that benefit would fade in just a few years, as it was only skin removal, not muscle repair, too, and formerly obese people's skin really has a of of stretch to it. One of the surgeons (the one I picked) also warned of the tendency of the butt area wound to open and re-open because it's such a flex area on the body. I do know two people that happened to and it's a toughie to deal with.  Again, that's only a few months of your life, so you have to decide what you can deal with. For me, that pain and potential complication was not worth a few years of a tighter butt.

My DS surgeon (because I run all important life choices by him--tee-hee! Actually, he also does PS work,  so I picked his brain) encouraged me to get the anchor cut, likening it to drapes being pulled down tightly. If there's extra at the sides, it will still be there, even if you pull it down (actually, 2-3 people gave me the same analogy, so he's not a creative genius so much as simply following the herd!)

Man, the anchor cut is awesome! It really got a ton of extra skin and fat from my upper abdomen area. Just two weeks out with lots of swelling and I am thrilled with the flatness! Frankly, I have so many stretch marks on my abdomen that it's nice some of them were cut off in the middle, anyway.

Okay, my butt is still my butt--a little droopy. I honestly could care less. It never caused me real grief, like the front did.

My plastic surgeon's ONLY reservations about doing it were the big scar and the potential for the anchor to open up where the two cuts meet by the pubis.

Well, since I had no "open" scar from my DS, it did leave me with a big, vertical scar. (Apparently lots of patients do not want this. I said "nuts" to that and did it. At this point in my journey, a scar is a minimal concern, as long as it is nicely done.

So far, the scar is intact, no opening up where the two cuts of the "anchor" meet.

You can see some pix on my blog. New ones will be posted later tonight, I think.

Take your time on this decision.

Nicolle

Not everyone needs an anchor cut. You should feel comfortable enough to discuss all your concerns with your dr. I have seen tons of women have great results without an anchor cut and some who wish they had done it. Your dr is really the best one who can deterimine what type of results you can expect from just a TT.

It sounds to me that you still need to clarify some things with your dr in regards to your breast. If you really want the breast lift then you need to make that clear. It's true that the breast will sag some at some point in the future. That's just gravity and age working. We can't change that. Don't let him convince you to do something you don't want unless you really do and agree with him. PS isn't cheap and you don't want to pay thousands of dollars and wish you had spoken up after the fact.

Good luck!
Melissa