I mentioned this to a friend but thought it a great question to get all of your feedback on.

During the past year I have lost the weight from all areas of my body, but my upper chest, collarbones and shoulders are particularly thin skinned now.  I'm pretty boney.  Looks wise I'm not bothered, but I'm noticing and increasing pain in my skin.  It's almost like a constant tension on my neck, collar and upper chest area.

I don't know how to explain it really except that my neck skin hurts.  I suspect it is actually being stretched from the weight of my breasts and maybe even my panni.  Nate suggested I tighten up my bra a bit to give them more support and I am trying that.

I also know that I have to be very gentle to my neck and chest skin when scratching.  It is so sensitive now that I can easily bruise myself with a simple scratch.  I kind of scrunch up as much as I can and then softly rub the itch to avoid leaving marks.

Has anyone else experienced this? 

Ouch this sounds horribly painful. While I'm not sure if what I feel is the same, I experience, in the same area, a stretching of the skin feeling. Almost as if it is being stretched way too thin. Funny you mention it today, when I was showering this morning, I noticed that my breast skin, at the top was feeling thin too. Almost as if it was being pulled thin.

Thank you for posting this. It will be interesting to see what others have said!

This may be a consideration:   I just got fitted by new bra.   I was in Wilmington NC a few weeks ago and stopped into a new bra shop.    I discussed having shoulder and back pain.   I explained my weight loss and arthritis issues.   

She spent almost an hour.  Fitting and trying different styles.   We found one style it liked and had to order style she thinks will work too.   WOW what a difference.   Feel, support and high quality.  $33.00 and I had a 10% coupon I found in the local doctor's office.

Shop does alot of weight loss customers.  She will make adjustments up to 6 months after purchase.   She fit me based on my future weight loss too.    She carries all types of foundation under garments, swim suits, nighties and nylons.     She is professional seamtress & can make special adjustment at no extra charge.    Felt like it was truly a bargain.     

I tried the specialist treatment at Catherines.   She may have fitted me correctly for their bras but the quality for good support was not there.   You need good support on the sides and the back as well on a bra.   Not to mention how much better your garments look when fitted correctly.

The lady at the Bra shoppe said she believes there is a speciality bra shop in McLean.  Anyone know of any specialty shops.  

 

www.thebralady.net...Dumfries VA

trousseaultd.com
306 Maple Ave W, Vienna, VA 22180

Colesce Custom Fitted Bras

(703) 791-2692 Merrifield, VA 22081

also found

Dell's Bra Boutique
9858A   Main Street
Fairfax VA

Dell's closed their doors on May 31, 2008

Thank you, I'm going to look here in Richmond too, if not a road trip is in order!

Pennyri*****arytown is AWESOME!  I have used them since before surgery.  She works with a lot of WLS folks, too.  Great prices as well. 

**Hijack**

Hi Heidi -

So glad to see you posting again!! I missed you!

Michelle

Thank you for the great response.  I recently did a bra shopping trip to improve how I looked in my shirts.  I knew that my bra was not fitting right.  I was able to go down one cup size, but kept my band the same as I felt the lower sized band was a bit too tight.  As my new bras got washed a few times they have stretched a bit which is what allowed me to tighten up to the tightest setting right now.  I'm not really noticing any difference in the skin pain since making that tighter adjustment.

I'm going to try and see if Richmond has a foundation shop.  I believe I went to one a while back but wasn't really happy with what they gave me.  The bra was far too pointy.  LOL.  BUT, if I was more open to baring all my goodies and really getting down to brass tacks maybe we could have still worked on it.  (I have to admit, the lady "helping" me was a little offsetting - I was quite surprised when she stayed in the room with me to adjust and figure out what was going on - I had never had that much attention bra shopping before).  :)