excess skin & ugly scars after bilateral

I have pretty much the same situation and the same questions.  My bilateral mastectomy was seven weeks ago.  My surgeon has had me come in a couple of extra times to have fluid drained. I have another appointment later this week.

I also wanted to say that I have stretch marks on the underside that are more apparent now that the skin isn't stretched out. Those too, can be taken care of with a revision.

My scars are ugly also and i have dog ears n both sides.I thought i was going to come thru surgery looking like a boy,and i was ok with that since i had always been big breasted.Instead i have all these fols,lumps etc,and at this point and this age (71) i decided i can live with it.Don't want to have any more surgery,even though i was told i could have it and the insurance would pay for it.I told the dr i was finished having kids,didn't plan on going topless dancing or anything like that,so i'll stay as i am.Mine is not noticable,and i wear a sports bra all the time,even though i have prosthesis.

So i think it depends on each individual person about down what road you travel,what ever makes you happy!!JMO

Kathi

I chose a bilateral simple mastectomy, without reconstruction. I thought I would have symmetrical, smooth scars, with all breast tissue removed. This surgeon did nothing to make the left and right sides look symmetrical and doesn't seem to care that there's excess breast tissue left on both sides when she knew that I have the bad gene mutation that makes it likely that I will get breast cancer again.

I have a large, pointed, breast-looking/tumor-looking growth pointing out to the left side (the cancer breast) of my chest. My arm hits it every time I move. The cancer was stage 1 and located in the 9:30, middle of my breast, so there's no reason that side should look so deformed. The incision on the deformed side looks pretty good; smooth, without roping. However, I am going to have a revision to get rid of that lumpy deformity, so that will also remove the nice incision. On the non-cancerous, right side, there is excess breast tissue above and below the incision that looks like someone with palsy used the scalpel. She started the incision in the center of my chest and went upward, then downward, then upward, on and on where it finally ended with a huge dog ear that she folded over and hid under the steri-strips. The zig/zag scar is ropey and one spot has a large keloid that looks like she slipped on one of her upward scalpel movements. The dog ear at the end of the left incision also ends in a dog ear, but she left so much excess breast tissue around it, the dog ear just follows the breast tissue/fat upward and ends in a point, like a little mountain. Her report states that she "corrected" the dog ears. What a lie! She did nothing to either one. At my last post op visit with her she asked me if I wanted a revision and I said, "yes". I already had decided that I would never let her near me with a scalpel again, so I plan to find a plastic surgeon to do the revision. Please don't allow a surgeon who did a bad job the first time to operate on you again. They should have done the surgery well in the first place, and a bad surgeon isn't going to get better the second time around. I also thought my chest would look like a young child's anatomy, without nipples. Instead, I look mutilated. I tell everyone that it looks like Dr. Frankenstein did my surgery. There was no attempt at symmetry, complete removal of breast tissue or skilled use of the scalpel to lessen scarring. I'm am now afraid that I will get a recurrence of the breast cancer because she left so much tissue behind. I feel a constant pressure across my chest, like a rubberband is stretched tightly across my phantom nipples. Under the scars, I can feel random indentations and hardness. I'm 65 years old and not interested in a sexual relationship, but I feel so sorry for young women who want to look good for their partners. I'm sure this surgeon has done the same sloppy job on most of her patients.