capsular contracture

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  • voicewriter
    voicewriter Member Posts: 51
    edited March 2012

    They may be, but I would listen to what your PS says.  Try not to worry about it, as long as it doesn't hurt or is warm to the touch.  Mine was warm to the touch, and I spoke with my surgeon today, and she said there was some fluid in there, so I'm glad I got it changed out! 

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  • lago
    lago Member Posts: 17,186
    edited March 2012

    Fearless my PS told me if I were to get CC (knock on wood) that he would either remove it or "break it up" . At least that's what I remember. It seems like such a long time ago when we talked about it. Almost 2 years this July.

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  • Fearless_One
    Fearless_One Member Posts: 3,300
    edited March 2012

    Lago, that's what confuses me - once they "break it up" (which is still surgery under general anesthesia), whats to keep it from forming another capsule?  

    Anyways, you didn't have rads, right?   I think you are pretty low risk of developing it :-)  

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  • lago
    lago Member Posts: 17,186
    edited March 2012

    No I didn't have rads and I do agree that I am low risk. But we didn't know when I first met my PS if I would have rads. At the time they thought MX with rads. Ended up BMX without rads. But I was also told I was low risk for LE since only 10 nodes taken, thin and no rads. So much for low risk, I got the LE. Actually my risk for breast cancer for my age was less than 2%. I also got that rare nail lifting from taxotere (in a major way). Now I always want to know about plan B just in case.

    Yes there is a risk that it could come back but I think I read that they have pretty good results. Even if it does come back it depends on  how bad. Sometimes it's very minor. I have also read that capsular contraction is thought to be caused by infection but again they don't know for sure.

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  • thatsvanity
    thatsvanity Member Posts: 391
    edited March 2012

    I had mild capsular contracture and the surgeon removed the implant made a larger breast pocket and it looked good.,he did it fast in about 25 minutes. The breast pocket was too small.

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  • Fearless_One
    Fearless_One Member Posts: 3,300
    edited March 2012

    Lago, interesting....I was not aware of the infection theory.   Yeah, it sounds like the doctors themselves don't know much about cc.   Glad to know it's treatable, though.

    Thatsvanity, also interesting about the pocket!  Makes sense that a too-small pocket might cause cc.

    I am very glad to know it can be treated in a 25 minute surgery! 

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  • tstrou
    tstrou Member Posts: 1
    edited March 2012

    As far as I know girls who get BAs and do not have cancer, have complications with CC, etc quite often.  It's not covered through insurance though, so they have to pay for it each time.  

    I don't understand how you can say that their reasons are solely for vanity purposes....aren't ours for vanity purposes as well?  I mean, you want matching breasts so that you look and feel beautiful right? If that's not the reason then why not just get both of your breasts removed and be flat chested? 

     My sister never had cancer and she got a BA, but she was a AAA or an AA cup (I can't remember exactly, she was really flat).  She's now a nice full C cup and looks great.  They look very natural on her.  Why should someone like her NOT elect to have surgery? I mean, one or two breasts, we all want to look and feel like beautiful women....I think it's fair to want to have breasts - cancer or not.

     I'm just saying it's not "vanity" purposes....it is about being and feeling confident in your own skin, and no one is forcing you to go through this crappy process. 

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  • lago
    lago Member Posts: 17,186
    edited March 2012

    Not all folks that get CC will be able to have it resolved. There are some women, even after they try to remove it  or break it up will get it again. Granted that isn't the norm but does happen.

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  • geewhiz
    geewhiz Member Posts: 1,439
    edited April 2012

    Lago, You are right about the "infection" theory. I have read quite a few studies on it. One showed that women pretreated with an antibiotic prior to surgery had statistically significant lower rates of cc. I remember that from when this process started a few years ago.



    I agree we all have the right to feel good about ourselves tstrou...but it is really hard for me to compare someone who was flat chested wanting an augmentation to someone who has been dealing with a life threatening disease process that leaves them with a port scar, mastectomy scars across her chest and no nipples. Add to that little cocktail rads that burn and disfigure the skin and chemo that slows the entire healing process. I had revision surgery and fatgrafting so I could simply close the back gate on my minivan and so I could put my arm around my child. i could no longer do these simple things with scar tissue, so it's a little more than just being comfortable with a flat landscape. Trust me, given the two circumstances, make me cancer free and AAAAAAA.

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  • voicewriter
    voicewriter Member Posts: 51
    edited April 2012

    I agree with geewhiz, difficult to compare someone choosing to have breast reconstruction because of losing your breasts with someone who wants larger breasts.  You simply cannot compare the two.  Having scars running across the middle of your chest, probably no nipples, is a far cry from a simple breast augmentation.  And after going through what I've been through, problems with capsular contracture and the other one dropping -- things that can happen with breast augmentation -- I say why fool around with mother nature when you're perfectly healthy.  That's all I was saying.  I understand about vanity, believe me.  It's my vanity that is causing me anxiety even now, because with the new reconstruction, now the right breast is higher than the left, because the pocket was so thin that my surgeon had to tack it up.  I am quite unhappy with it all, and am going for a second opinion.  It all sucks.  I would do anything to go back to my 56-year-old saggy breasts any day of the week than what I've been through the last year. 

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  • LIFEISGR8
    LIFEISGR8 Member Posts: 8
    edited April 2012

    Help,

    8 weeks into implants and I look horrible.  I only have 1 PS in a 200 mile radius who takes my Ins. I waited 13 ms for her.  I had expanders for 4 months.  I have never had so much pain in my life. I went from no chest obviously to Double D expanders.. 3 weeks after they were put in.  I slept sitting up for the entire 4 months my skin was so tight my right side never healed right.

    My implants are only a large B.  My skin on the right side is sagging, I don't even feel like I have a inplant.  My left side is high and round. The muscle graph that was done twice had to be scraped?? that isn't even the side I had the cancer (original surgeon took too much tissue I was told) so I have a hole in my left side. I look horrible.  I do not want to even think about tattoo's if I am so uneven.  I need larger implants to fill in the skin that is hanging.  I see her tomorrow finally; she is out of the country alot doing charity work.  Any suggestions are open.  She has no personlity and I'm afraid she is going to say there is nothing more she can do.  I have a settlement coming in 2 months (I was fired the day after diagnosis)  Will I have to pay for implants?  Do I have to go in thru my scars or can they slip them under like a woman who never had cancer gets implants???

    Thank You ,,,I haven't been on here since diagnosis.  I really had a melt down with the cancer on top of the divorce.  But I'm back!!! And life is grea8Smile

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  • lago
    lago Member Posts: 17,186
    edited April 2012
    LIFEISGR8 many PS do work with out of town patients. I would get a 2nd opinion. Ask Whippetmom on the breast implant 101 thread. She is from CA and will know of others. Also you might see if  some of those PS that are out of network but close to you may discount for reconstruction. Some do.
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  • Hindsfeet
    Hindsfeet Member Posts: 2,456
    edited April 2012

    Could you explain a little more about CC. My implants are almost 2 weeks old and it is extremely tight and hard. The one I have is like a hard ball. I have tried aggressively massaging it a lot. It hasn't helped. I feel the hard edges of it in my chest. I tried taking a muscle relaxant pill in hopes it would help. Nothing :(  Mine are slightly larger than I asked for. I am seeing my ps this morning.

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  • Snipper
    Snipper Member Posts: 3
    edited May 2018

    I had a double mastectomy March 1/17 with tissue expanders with chemo & radiation which I finished end of October/17. I was waiting and waiting for my reconstruction surgery and the side I had the cancer started feeling very hard and began to affect my neck back and shoulders. It was so painful it hurt to scratch the skin. So I just had the reconstruction surgery last week and the side that was hard was capsular contracture and the surgeon said there was some cc as well as the expander became hard and had flipped causing more pain. I’m just learning about this as well but I’ve been told to massage regularly which may help prevent cc from returning. Hope this helps. Good luck

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  • thebrave5
    thebrave5 Member Posts: 12
    edited September 2018

    thatsvanity....can you tell me what you mean by making the breast pocket larger?


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