Nipples Reaction to Stimuli after MX?

I don't have nipples but I am pretty sure they are for decoration only, there will be very little feeling if any. I am pretty sure that the "headlights will be off".

Mizmimi -

I had a skin sparing,nipple sparing, unilateral mastectomy with immediate DIEP reconstruction. I have no sensation in my spared nipple, HOWEVER it does respond to stimulation. My surgery was in January of 2012. I have no idea how long the nipple has been responding to stimulation as in years. It was not immediate. What I do know is that it does. If it had never returned - it would be what would be. But it did and I am thankful for that.

Nerve regeneration and such is interesting. One area that is not pleasant for me is having that breast pressured (for lack of a better word). I have some painful sensations deep in certain areas of that breast when squeezed certain ways.

Lord did I just write all of that? I guess I did. And since I did so with my thumb and forefinger on my smartphone - I'll leave it.

We all respond so differently to our surgeries and treatments.

Hope your surgery and recovery go smoothly. Most do. Hang in there.

Diana

Mine started off flat after surgery and then maybe 4 months or so after that started projecting again. I do have a bit of sensation in the nipple now (BMX was 2013), but it's a very different kind of sensation than it was before. More just I can feel if there's pressure, or some kind of touch whereas right after surgery I felt nothing.

Kendra

I have a bilateral reconstruction (DIEP and sGAP) with one side ns. I have no feeling in the spared nipple but it absolutely does respond physically to stimulation.

I think you have more of us whose nipples respond to stimuli than do not. So not a big "no" at all. We are a small sample overall so definitely not statistically significant. But most of the "nays" do not have nipples and are not able to speak to this question from personal experience.

Hoping all the best for you.

Diana

I do have a spared nipple on one side and have skin surface, i.e. I can feel pressure but no underlying sensation. My nipple is also not always headlights on, so it must be responding to some sort of stimuli, but I can't tell what that is. My other reconstructed breast feels the same way, but there is no nipple.so, in terms of sensations that I feel, well, there is little difference. Even with nerve regeneration, you're talking about the skin surface, as there is no underlying breast tissue left. Very few women, nipple sparing or not, regain sensation in their breasts. I hope you're in that minority!

MizMimi,

I had my nipple and skin sparring double mastectomy on April 28 th of this year. At about the 5 week mark my nipples began reacting to cold and touch. I have no feeling at all but they react as if they do. My ps said it could take up to a year to know if I will have any feeling return. I am expecting the worst so that I will not be Dissapointed.

I recently found out, at age 35, that I have the deletion in the BRCA2 gene. Still going through doctors appointments- doctors don't think I have cancer based on initial mammogram and clinical exam, but I'm going for a second mammogram and MRI soon. I'm definitely strongly considering the prophylactic Bilateral Mastectomy. Haven't met with the plastic surgeon yet, so I'm not sure what my reconstruction options are. Know anyone that had large breasts (34DDD and fairly droopy, but not down to my belly button) and got to keep their nipples? My cousin that has Breast Cancer (and started the ball rolling on finding out we have the deletion) was talking about not having nipples and I said, wow, I don't know if I would even elect to have nipples if I had the choice. Of course, now that I'm positive for the deletion and my breast surgeon said she doesn't think I'm a good candidate for nipple sparing, all I can think about is not having "real" nipples! Also interested if anyone knows someone that had reconstruction at MD Anderson/Houston. I literally just found this website/forum....and based on the number of discussions, I think it will take a long time for me to glean all the helpful info there is on this site! if there are other forums/discussions I should definitely check out, please let me know.

Thanks!

I suppose my experience was odd, but I had the "headlights always on" problem for a few months after my BMX. They were a pain to cover they stuck out so much. Now they act just like normal nipples--going up and down in response to cold or touch, etc. I have pretty good sensation, and my left nipple feels pain from a hard shower spray. My BMX was in April of 2014, so I think there's still time for continued improvement. I used to get those zinging nerve regrowth pains--and I was glad to have them. It's been a while since I've felt that.

So MizMimi, hope for the best!