Exchange City

ThinkingPositive

MinusTwo - Thanks... and yes looking in the mirror again. I guess I will take your advice and write my questions down, go back to the PS on the 17th.

JustAJennifer

I am home and happy on my couch. Exchange and lift went well from what I understand. I woke to more pain than after MX, but I think that was due to my anesthesia choices. We got it straightened out.

My implant is Allergan Natrelle 410 FF 740cc. It has a smoother slope than the high projection of the TE. At first look, I'm worried that the breast doesn't fold over but maybe this is swelling? And it seems low on my chest. My PS warned me the lift side would be higher and more swollen than the implant, and that's true.

The lift side is giving me more discomfort than I anticipated, mostly on the side boob. It is quite black and blue, and the incision under the breast is much longer than I expected. The exchange incision line is strange- she didn't fully reopen the horizontal scar, just a section on the inside and a section on the outside.

The mirror was scary, I think I'll stay away for a bit, and try to remember all of your good advice to hold judgement.

mjh1

justajen - glad all went well.  Rest up and take the pain meds as prescribed for the first few days.  We all can't help ourselves but to look in the mirror.  Unfortunately, every time we do this gives us more emotional turmoil as the girls are settling.  Put a jar next to the mirror and every time you look, throw a dollar in.  You'll be amazed as to how much money you'll save up for those new bras.  

minustwo - that goes for you also.

MinusTwo

mjh1 - I will be 4 years post exchange this fall. I have Allergan 410 anatomical implants & I have always been very happy with them. When I had my recurrence 1-1/2 years post exchange, the BS was able to scoop out the new mass & the lymph nodes w/o having to remove the implant on the right side - hooray!!. The only difference is my right side is now a little tighter due to radiation fibrosis. Unfortunately I have truncal LE & pretty bras are no longer in the cards since I need compression 24/7.

SpecialK

Fe - I had FG a year after exchange.

ThinkingPositive

Once the exchange occurs and now have implant with small implant to lift on non MX side, how do you self examine? What is the procedure for Mammo... Ultrasounds...MRI?? I always thought that once you have a MX there was no more Mammo's done. How do you then screen for the possibility of recurrence...and how do you screen the non MX side that has small implant. I am starting to wonder why my Dr's are not giving me info...is it that I just want too much info that is not needed??

JustAJennifer

thanks mjh1 good advice!!

RAK1

JustAJenn, I am glad you are home. Please rest, I was thinking about you yesterday.

Give yourself time. On your birthday I will be having my exchange.

Sending you soft {{hugs}}.

Love Robin

JustAJennifer

thank you Robin

Leslienva

I heard no more mammograms, just MRIs every few years to check implant for leakage. However, one of my friends had a mammogram recently when she felt something abnormal and she has implants, so I guess it can be done.

robinblessed54

Does she have implants from breast cancer or augmentation? If you have augmentation you still have mammos. BC survivors have no breast tissue.

ThinkingPositive

robinblessed.. I have implant in the side that I had mx on.. the other side I had very small implant put in and reduction to make the same as the mx side. So if there is no mammo for the mx side how do people know that they have a recurrence? As far as the non mx side, even though there is an implant, they can do a mammo still? Since I have dense breasts I assume I would get an ultrasound as well. Would really like MRI's done as the ultrasound and mammo never picked up my IDC... only the dcis.

Kazzy115

hi ladies. A question. I had exchange surgery 5 months ago. I'm going in soon as the non radiated side is not as symmetrical as I'd like. I am also thinking I am a bit too large but struggling with making decision to change implants out and by how much. Has anyone felt reconstruction was too much and opted to reduce? I've always been small breasted (b cup)and at 47, it's a lot to be a D cup. Implants were 400cc. wOndering if 300 would be too much of a reduction.

robinblessed54

My daughter has augmented breasts and she still has mammon so I would assume if you had a UMX you would have a mammo with the implant. Invasive cancers like to be sneaky and hide! I had ILC the sneakiest of all! I was told mine had been there a long time being missed. You had a grade 3 which is fast growing. Mine was a grade 1 slow growing. How was yours discovered? I found my lump. They were going to pass on a mammo last year but found the lump and insisted on one. It was found and 1 month after I found the lump I was on the operating table. May I ask why you didn't do a BMX? Robin

jojo9999

Hi Krazzy, I can't tell you my experience yet, but I am having a revision in July to go smaller. I had my exchange in March and PS used 535cc implants. We never discussed exact sizes and my fills were under 400cc's so I just assumed I would get 400cc implants. I find the 535cc too large, especially the non-radiated side, and too tight on the radiated side. Trying to decide on the new implant size (with a new PS) and we are considering anatomicals in the high 300cc range. I am 52 and look forward to small foobs!

Although plastic surgeons don't like to equate cc's with cup sizes because it depends on many individualized measurements, a rough estimate is 150-200 cc's per cup size for women with average measurements. but then there are the differences between rounds vs. anatomicals, which make these rules of thumb more difficult to apply. Did you have rounds or anatomicals?

Iwannacookie

Hello Ladies--

I understand that it can take several months for our new boobs to "settle", and therefore we should refrain from judging them for a while. But, the ripples in mine are only getting more pronounced. I can't imagine how this will correct itself. My doc said she would probably exchange my implants for slightly larger ones, but that I should wait another 4 months to see what happens. I believe the surgery is inevitable, and I hate thinking that I'll have to lay low another six months after this first six months. I want to get this over with. I'm thinking of sending her an email asking to schedule the surgery now. Or, is there some medical reason that I need to wait between surgeries?

Thinking Positive -- rippling is what it sounds like--ripples/waves in your breast. In my case they run vertically in the upper poles of both breasts.

DiveCat

Iwannacookie;

I started seeing some rippling about 3-5 months out, but my PS prefers to wait about a year until revisions. I asked him why. One reason he gave was that it takes time to recover from surgery; even if you feel recovered, your body can still be healing internally and more trauma to the area while it is healing is, in my PS's opinion, not a great idea. Also a concern of going under GA again too soon as risks are increased. Finally, my PS said after a year he could really see ALL things that may need correction. It is possible that there are things that are not obvious now that may become obvious in a few months...if they can deal with it all in one surgery the better. Or you may go in for surgery, and be back again in a few months as things that were not obvious now pop up.

I had my revision (an exchange to anatomicals) at about 11 months out, so not much shy of my PS's preference for a year. If I had done fat grafting, he would have insisted on the full year, though. I also had my revision for rippling. Mine was concentrated on the right side, and also included a weird dent. The anatomicals improved the rippling quite a bit (and the dent is gone). I still have a little bit of rippling on right side due to my thin tissue in that area (both due to my body type and my breast surgeon!), but it is acceptable to me and I am not interested in further surgery, especially as it is in large part due to my own tissue.

I can empathize though with how long the wait can be when you just want it fixed!

trailrose

Iwannacookie- The rippling is getting worse especially on my right side. My sweet husband has been taking pictures of them every Friday and it's definitely showing more and more. Remember my PS said it wasn't rippling in that one spot well now there's 4 ripples. I will wait a few more months to call it.

robinblessed54

Trailrose, when will PS start to listen to us and explain things better?! My PS insisted that no one ever comes back to him saying they are too big! But too small! He is convinced all women want to look like porn stars! But he did listen to me, i had TEs filled to 420cc and he put in475cc anatomicals. They are perfect! The anatomicals have to be bigger so you don't get rotation. Hope you can get what you want. I am 61 and totally get the size thing.

robinblessed54

this goes to all but it was jojobthat mentioned her age

Kazzy115

I have rounds. The radiated side, while tight isn't too bad but generally feeling as if the larger breasts than previously make me look bigger overall. My one concern is that menopause and age will lead to a thickening and the larger breasts might help counter. My gut tells me to drop 50-100 ccs.

I am not a fan of having to decide size. I was never all that unhappy being small but though larger might be nice. I just don't quite feel like myself.

MinusTwo

Robin - right on!!! I agree. Most PS docs just can't believe that women would be really happy smaller, or certainly not any bigger. I had quite an argument w/mine. I tried to put images in his head - like ballet dancer or triathlon competitor - but he just didn't get it. I do like my anatomicals but would still have liked to be even smaller.

mjh1

Iwannacookie - rippling for me started two weeks both after my exhange and revision.  The first time it was in large part due to too small implants for pocket and thin skin my PS told me.  In my revision I had a larger anatomical implant put in but again have rippling although just on one foob which I have come to learn is in large part not only due to thin skin but also because my pec muscle was detached and therefore not covering the implant completely.  Under my insurance plan, the first 90 days are considered post op and therefore no PS would operate before then because they wouldn't get paid.  So technically you can go in for surgery after 3 months but it is better to wait even longer if you can because anesthesia can stay in your system for up to 6 months.

mysunnyday - Hope all went well with your exchange today and you'll love the new "girls".  Rest well!!

Leslienva

Robinblesed, my friend had a bilateral mastectomy and implants, but was still given a mammogram on her "cancer" side when her doctor felt something suspicious

MinusTwo

Robin - after my BMX - my PS said no mammograms ever again. However my MO believe in mammos even with implants.

Iwannacookie

Thanks for the responses to my question about having to wait for revision surgery for my rippling. I guess I have no choice but to wait out the next 4+ months, but at least I know that there's some rational reason for the delay.

nlosgatos

Seeing some posts about being too big after exchange.  I'm a skinny person that was born with natural DDs.  I'm 3 weeks post exchange with anatomical Sientra 370cc mod profile.  I am only wearing sports bras right now so I'm not sure what cup I will be.  Seems like a smallish C.  In talks with my awesome PS, I just said please make it look natural and what best fits my frame.  This really does look like what I should have been born with.  For me, smaller is better.  Funny, my natural boobs were mistaken for fakes, now my fakes look real

Janett2014

nlosgatos, I haven't been skinny in many years, but I too had DDs or DDDs. I now have Cs and am much more comfortable with this size.

nlosgatos

Janet, yes.  It's a good size!   A few "friends" say, wow, are those gonna be okay for you?  Such odd commenting.  They are healthy and fine

robinblessed54

Yeah, aren't the comments funny sometimes?!  Are you going to be alright with those???  You better believe it!  Cancer free sounds pretty good to me!  I am just so blessed to have the ability to get a body back that feels good and looks good.  I was always a B cup and my what I think is a small C are just fine for me.  I go see my PS for 3 month follow-up on June 17.  I plan to tell him that I have heard from a lot of women that they like the smaller version.  Just because I wasn't a busty woman, didn't mean I wanted to be just because he was going to be in there anyway!  But he did listen to me and gave me the perfect pair of foobs.  They are Allergan 410 FF 475cc.  Just perfect for me.  Of course he is still trying to talk me into nipple recon but he is wasting his breath!  I have no desire to have protruding nipples that might and almost always flatten or fail.  I like the idea of not having to hide them in a bra if I don't feel like wearing one.  I will either do 3D tattoos or silicone nipple prosthesis.