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darCraig
darCraig Member Posts: 87
edited June 2014 in Living Without Reconstruction After a Mastectomy

I had a right side mast. in 2006.  The surgeon did a good job - but she took everything!  I can see my ribs all the way to my collarbone.  My left side is fuller, and the prosethsis doesn't match at the top.  I'm told that no one else would notice, but I do!  I've considered reconstruction, but the pain scares me, the silicone scares me, and I don't know if I'd wind up even unless I have a bilateral anyway.  Or, I could have a bilateral and wear prosethsis that match!  Or, I can live with it,  Or, are the prosethsis that are fuller on the top?  Any ideas?

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  • darCraig
    darCraig Member Posts: 87
    edited August 2008

    had a right side mast. in 2006.  The surgeon did a good job - but she took everything!  I can see my ribs all the way to my collarbone.  My left side is fuller, and the prosethsis doesn't match at the top.  I'm told that no one else would notice, but I do!  I've considered reconstruction, but the pain scares me, the silicone scares me, and I don't know if I'd wind up even unless I have a bilateral anyway.  Or, I could have a bilateral and wear prosethsis that match!  Or, I can live with it,  Or, are the prosethsis that are fuller on the top?  Any ideas?

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  • darCraig
    darCraig Member Posts: 87
    edited August 2008

    Don't know why that went in twice - I'm not that forgetful!

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  • TammyLou
    TammyLou Member Posts: 740
    edited August 2008

    After bi-lateral mastectomy, I was also uneven.

    Are you wearing the same size prosthetics on both sides?

    Not me.

    I wore a 5 on one side and a 6 on the other.

    You may need to see a different fitter.

    Tammy Lou

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  • BoobsinaBox
    BoobsinaBox Member Posts: 550
    edited August 2008

    darCraig,

    You might want to look at our sister Barbara's site, http://BreastFree.org. 

    She and others from our community have written (and sometimes photographed) various types of forms.  I have found that the silicone forms sag to the bottom, while the less expensive Pals triangles (gel) have what I was looking for to fill in the upper reaches of my bilat mast. By the way, Pals come in pairs (so you could have a spare), but cost, beginning at $49.95 a pair and adding $10 for each new cup size, is much more reasonable than silicone.  Not everyone likes them, but I love mine! Good luck with your search.

    Dawn

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  • OLBinNJ
    OLBinNJ Member Posts: 236
    edited August 2008

         I'm in the same situation, with the surgeon taking everything.  I too can see my ribs all the way up to my collarbone.  I have found that wearing button down shirts is out as that accentuates the concave side.  Tee shirts seem to work better and let me look more even.  Bathing suits have to be high neck (Lands End work best for me, I sew in pockets).  I have tried many different forms and bras.  The ABC t-shirt bra for petites is the only mast bra that works for me.  I use either an Amoena 126 leisure form or an old Amoena contact lite form with the backing on (I haven't gotten around to getting a new form).  I honestly don't think there is a form out there that would go up far enough to replace all the breast tissue that wsa taken, other than the custom made forms.  Looking at mast bathing suits and reading posts about bathing suits made me wonder if I was the only one with so much tissue taken.  At least I know that I'm not.

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  • mthomp2020
    mthomp2020 Member Posts: 1,959
    edited August 2008

    I can't see my ribs, but my surgeon definitely took plenty of tissue almost up to my collarbone.  My breasts, now breast, are set rather high on my chest anyway.  I would guess that if your breasts are high on your chest, then you might run into this.  My form doesn't cover past a certain point on top, so to me it is rather concave.  None of my mast bras keep the form up against my chest completely, so I do have to be careful about wearing anything that gaps open.  I doubt if anyone really notices the difference, though I do, but I know it's there.  Under my arm it's actually a little fuller.  My lymph nodes were taken, and my surgeon said that I'd always have more fullness under there when I asked her about it. 

    I gather it's not so much the fullness of the form, but the fact that it doesn't come up high enough on the chest wall to make up for the tissue loss?  Maybe a teardrop shaped form might work better. 

    Always a challenge, isn't it!

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