Shape of lumpectomy boob is changing daily, 2wks later?

tjohnson1971 · October 2011

Ok, I posted this on a previous post I had before my lumpectomy but thought this may be a better location, so sorry if you see this twice. I have a question about the healing of lumpectomy. It's been 2 wks now, and when I came home the look of the boob looked the same with some swelling , perhaps overall smaller, but same appearance as before. However, 4 days ago, I started noticing a sort of linear dent, adjacent to the 2 inch scar line, and each day the dent in moving and getting bigger. Now there is a 3 inch dent line the runs from near the scar all the way under my nipple now and heading towards the middle of my chest. My lump was supposed to be only 1.6 or 1.9cm and was told they were removing a golf ball sized chunk, but why would it be healing this way? This is not what I expected. I was thinking that near the scar, there would be a dent or shallow spot there, where they did the cutting. It seems weird. I do go to surgeon on Tuesday and hopefully she will have some great answer for this. I am bummed because I knew that already small boob would be smaller and mis-shapened but not deformed. I wish I could take a picture because it is changing daily. I'm scared there is something else in there.

CookieMonster · October 2011

My inclination is this:

When they do the lumpectormy they remove tissue leaving a void where the tissue was. Over time that void does not fill in, but instead collapses in on itself, which would lead to a dent in the surface.

I have a dent too where my lumpectomy was done, it's definitely noticable, but they removed much more tissue from me than from you, it sounds like.

ruthbru · October 2011

Give it time, you are just at the beginning of healing. It takes about a year for the fat to move around and fill in the gaps.

leaf · October 2011

I agree with ruthbru. Its perfectly natural to be concerned about changes in your breast. You just had surgery and are very aware of any changes. I'm sure that's how most of us were after our excisions.

But you don't have an undectected breast cancer that is visibly moving daily. Undoubtedly, there is swelling going on, and fluid could be moving. For example, in this study (DT means doubling time):

The mean DT for women with BRCA1/2 mutations diagnosed at ages < or =40, 41 to 50, and >50 years was 28, 68, and 81 days, respectively, and 83, 121, and 173 days, respectively, in the high-risk group. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18094417

In this 2003 model, they used the assumption that the fastest growing tumors doubled in size every 60 days. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12784329

In this small 1996 study, the mean fastest doubling rate was 51 days. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8826943

CookieMonster · October 2011

I should also add that my surgeon told me that it would take 6-12 months for my breast to reach its final shape after surgery, so things will shift around over time, what you see now is NOT what you'll get in the end.

sflow · October 2011

If you are having radiation, you may note some changed in shape as well.

Karmaguard · September 2013

I'm four weeks post-lumpectomy and feel like the healing process is still in initial stages. Still sore and painful and still shifting around going on. Assuming that it's just "nature abhoring a void" and have been told that any surgical site takes up to a year to completely heal. Know I'm responding to an old post and hope everything turned out okay for you.

Shape of lumpectomy boob is changing daily, 2wks later?

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