10 days post exchange, lots of rippling...to early to panic?

whitenack

** Sorry for the typo in the title

Hi all.  My wife had her exchange surgery a little over a week ago and we are noticing a lot of rippling.  One is rippling on the outside curve but the other one is rippling all over.  Will this improve over time?  I know that it takes a while for everything to heal and they change their appearance for months after surgery.  However, I have also heard that rippling can take a while to show up, which makes me wonder that since she is rippling already if that means they won't improve.

whitenack

As I have thought more about it, I have a theory.  The PS had to do some pocket work on that side, bringing the implant more to the center of the chest.  She had to release some of the pec muscle and then used sutures on the outside to close the pocket up on the outside.  It could be that, since the pocket hasn't healed up completely, the implant has too much room in the pocket right now and that is the cause of the rippling.

sarahjane7374

It's too early to panic. The implants will look different over time, so give them a chance to settle.  I have some rippling, and have had it pretty much since the swelling went down.  It hasn't really changed, or gotten worse.  But I don't expect that it will get better on its own & plan to ask my PS if another round of fat grafting might help. 

whitenack

False alarm!  OK, I really feel stupid.  Turns out the "ripples" were really just marks from some stitching on her surgical bra.  We looked at them again last night in better lighting and noticed the "ripples" stretched all the way outside the breast, and then realized what we were looking at.  Shoo...

Anonymous

lol!!! 

I had that bra too!! Terrified me til I figured it out. 

Now....STEP AWAY FROM THE MIRROR!!

(Even when you've read it a million times it sure is nearly impossible!)

How is she doing though? Does she like the general size?

whitenack

She's doing very good, thanks for asking.  She describes it as "not pain, just discomfort".  She had some fat transfer from her belly, so she is still wearing the binder around her waist.  At first she didn't like that at all, but now she says she feels weird when she isn't wearing it.  Her biggest complaint right now is sleeping.  She is uncomfortable sleeping flat on her back, and sleeping on her side bothers her internal sutures.  We have tried propping her up in the bed, but that hurt her back.  So, she has spent most nights in the recliner, which have helped, but still it isn't the same as sleeping in your own bed.  Nonetheless, she is very happy with the results.  She likes the size and how they sit on her chest.  Her first reaction was that they were too small but I assured her they were plenty big enough (she went from an A to probably a D) and they would likely get bigger as they settled in.  We were afraid they were going to be too wide on her chest and give her a matronly look.  However, the PS was able to bring them in a little without making the nipples look cockeyed.

Anonymous

Sounds great!! I spent about 2-3 weeks in the recliner after exchange also. Reassure her that it gets better! I'm happily sleeping on my back or either side now. I really, really missed side sleeping throughout the recon process!!