How do clothes fit after DIEP?

jlstacey

I'm in wishful thinking land here. I'm hoping the tummy tuck part of DIEP means I might go down a size in pants? How much did your body shape change after the swelling went down?

LilacBlue

It does depend on how much is removed. I had terrible bruising on my hips (from lipo on revision) and took quite a while before the sensitivity of the 21 inch hip-to-hip scar from 1st. surgery to settle so that I could wear my jeans again. I worked on losing weight a month after my DIEP to give a "good canvas" for the fat grafting and lipo. I realized to see good cosmetic results (that I desired), I needed to do more than just depend on the surgery alone, so I did go down 2 sizes from a 20lb weight loss. My stomach is flat - baby pooch gone. My breasts are small, so nothing has changed regarding that.

jlstacey

Thank you LilacBlue for responding! What kind of pants did you wear in the interim? Yoga pants? I have a bunch of pajamas I got but I'm wondering if I should get some larger yoga pants for after surgery. Or perhaps all the fat being removed will even out with the swelling. Seriously, I think I've got enough material for DDs.

I have a nice muffin top going on here, and I'm hoping to go down a size once it's made into boobs! I am starting to work out and eating better and will continue after surgery on February 18th. I have been putting weight on like nobody's business and I think it is due to menopause. It has been a year since I had a cycle because of chemo. I'm never put on weight this quickly!

LilacBlue

Stacey you are correct, I wore high waist compression pants from Lucy Activewear. I had them already and there was no way a solid waist band could be against my healing scar. I also bought a pair of soft, tie waist Gapbody harem pants. For under compression, my PS wanted me to wear high waist shape wear (not a binder) so I bought that as cheaply as possible, at supermarkets or TJMaxx. Do buy those to start in a size larger than you think you need due to swelling. Buy everything on sale, as cheaply as possible because you are passing through this stage, although it did seem to go on forever. I did not pull the waist down each time I had to pee, I would pull the crotch fabric over to one side, and much easier on my recovering hips. I wore a stretch bra 24/7 for nearly 18 months for comfort. What my PS has said, if you have a great deal of stomach fat, they don't take it all, so you can look reduced but not by that much if one is truly overweight. This is after all, reconstruction not cosmetic surgery. If I were to present for tummy tuck cosmetic surgery, I'd be told to lose weight and keep a low weight during recovery to see the best results. Ihave had a C section, yet nothing prepared me for the hip-to-hip lashing. It was shocking (for me) in so far as scaring, how the deep red feathered out and I never had that recovering after birth. It's faded and smooth now and I'm coming up to four years out. I had only my left breast done and matching it has taken some revision-quite a bit of tweaking and tuning. Oh, it is so easy to put on weight during treatment and you have to work hard to get it off (under 1000 calories a day for more than a few weeks, less energy in, more energy out) yet, you seem very motivated and that is key. My thought was, like I said before, I wanted the best result overall (for both my breast and trunk), if I was going to go to the mat for this type of intense reconstruction surgery.