Scar revision, treatments and strategies.

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LRGO2016
LRGO2016 Member Posts: 242
edited September 2016 in Surgery - Before, During, and After

I'm inviting everyone who has gone through any surgeries and had to deal with scaring, undergone scar revision, found good scar minimizing treatments and strategies, or simply has questions about scar treatments and behaviors, to post. I'm hoping to bring our concerns about a good and pleasing outcome post mastectomy or lumpectomy together where we can share what works to reduce or mitigate scaring issues.

I am one week out from my BMX. My breast remnants are really puckered, wrinkled and generally quite unattractive at the moment. I have chosen to reconstruct with TE's, and silicone implants beneath muscle. I would love to hear from anyone who can give me hope that the fill process and fat grafting step will eliminate the "grand canyon" creases currently positioned where my boobs used to be. Also I'm looking for suggestions on how to minimize my scars. I tend to keloid a bit so any ideas you have to help me achieve a "barely there" scar set would be wonderful to hear!

Please share your success stories or similar concerns ladies......

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  • LRGO2016
    LRGO2016 Member Posts: 242
    edited May 2016

    So far no responses. I'm sure some of the people in this forum have experience dealing with scars, please share your knowledge. I really want to hear from you!

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  • suems
    suems Member Posts: 133
    edited May 2016

    I would be quite interested in hearing what others have encountered. My scar is an absolute mess after 15 months. I was diagnosed as Stage 4 de novo, so did not see the point of reconstruction.

    However, what most people call dog ears, I call Mount Kyle. This is a huge lump under my affected armpit, which I estimate to be a decent B cup if it was on my chest. Kyle was the idiot surgeon who did my mastectomy - on a Friday afternoon just before he raced out of town on holiday. My drains were removed too early, resulting in a large haematoma under the scar and a large seroma above it. Both of those lumps are still there. I have long-standing random nerve pains in the entire area, and lymphodema in my arm and mastectomy area. Part of the scar opened up after radiation,

    I think I will start the process of laying a complaint and demanding scar remediation. My Medonc put in a referral for plastic surgery, but it was declined - partly because I'm terminal, but partly because he has never seen the mess left by the surgeon, so couldn't possibly describe it.

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  • LRGO2016
    LRGO2016 Member Posts: 242
    edited May 2016

    I'm so sorry to hear about your botched results and diagnosis, suems. Your surgeon should be required to address his results. You should be supported in finding relief from the pain and disfigurement, no matter the prognosis.

    I'm not familiar with the medical establishment in NZ. If there are no laws requiring proper revision, are there any advocates for this sort of thing in country? If not, does anyone know whether BC.ORG can help you find a solution or place for to start looking for help?

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  • suems
    suems Member Posts: 133
    edited May 2016

    There is no way on this earth I am letting that man anywhere near me ever again - and I have that on my official record! But my Oncologist says I am entitled to get it fixed.

    Now that I am on chemo and bald, I feel I have entered the "don't give a sh!t about being polite" mode, so next time I visit the hospital, I am going to demand a referral to a surgeon for revision. I don't much care what it looks like, but Mt Kyle is causing me pain and distress (my mastectomy bras all try to squash it or cut it in half), and now enough is enough.

    If I can't get any joy from the hospital - all treatment here is free under the public system - I have private medical insurance which covers reconstruction. I'm hoping I can talk them into fixing this.

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  • LRGO2016
    LRGO2016 Member Posts: 242
    edited May 2016

    I'm glad your medical system supports revision and that you are proactive. Stay insistent and keep trying to achieve the comfort and result you are looking for. No one should have to live in pain. And any Dr. Willing to leave you or anyone with a terrible outcome and pain, should be reported. I wish you the best of luck in finding relief!

    LRGO

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  • farmerlucy
    farmerlucy Member Posts: 3,985
    edited May 2016

    After four years my scars have faded nicely. There is some indentation along the scar line that my PS said she could fix with fat grafting, but it doesn't bother me at all. I never used any special scar cream at all. Good luck with your fills!


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  • mccormcindy
    mccormcindy Member Posts: 4
    edited May 2016

    hi again LRGO, sorry took me a while to get back online.

    i had gone to my Onc, said that i was doing good. that the incision area would all soften up. was still in a lot of pain, like really tight rubber bands, and he offered to give me Tramadol 50mg, which works great! finally able to get a good nights sleep now.

    the surgery area actually is looking a little better too. still got deep craters near the underarm and swelling/tenderness in the underarms. i got an appointment with a lymphedema physical therapist wednesday. and next week, i have to start another round of chemo, this time will be going stronger with AC. he felt that i probably had more infected lymph nodes since the 2 observed as diseased were quite visible. and, i just told my job that i can come back to work....not sure how long that will last now.

    didnt read about whether pics of incisions were ok or not as of yet. check back into that topic later.


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  • LRGO2016
    LRGO2016 Member Posts: 242
    edited May 2016

    Hi mccormcindy,

    I'm glad to hear from you.

    I too have the tight rubberband feeling. More so on the right breast. My right side is not stretching uniformly so the TE on that side is expanding in two separate areas, leaving a low spot in the middle. Think squeezing a baloon in the middle and watching it expand on either side of your fist.

    My three week old incisions which I called the "Grand Canyons " are starting to be less indented as we fill my TE's. They are still a bit puckered but I expect that appearance will change as the Te's fill up. If not, no worries since they will open the scars up at exchange and will have an opportunity to remove or fix any remaining wrinkles and puckers.

    I'm very allergic to surgical glue so that may pose a scarring challenge for my PS. He will have to perform a miracle with tiny stitches to minimize my scarring. I'll be asking him about what he plans to do at exchange.

    Do you still have drains? I do and am getting increasingly worried about infections. These buggers are still draining more than 30 mils daily. Will this never end!?


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  • lionessdoe
    lionessdoe Member Posts: 780
    edited June 2016

    I was just searching on line to find out if scar revision works on radiated tissue. I had a lumpectomy, and complete axillary lymphedectomy. I am 8 years out from treatment. Had all my mammograms as scheduled. I remain cancer free.I am constantly concerned about scar tissue beneath one of my incisions that just keeps getting larger and more painful. Like others, it's not the appearance, (the puckering of my breast) that is bothering me. What is bothering me is that it is very painful. Any and all attempts to minimize scarring have failed, including self administered scar massage. I'd like to know if scar revision is usually successful in relieving this type of pain or not. I also have lymphedema and Radiation induced Brachial Plexopathy. There is no cure for either. But if I could have some measure of cure over the painful scarring in my breast, well at least I will only be managing two pain conditions instead of three. That would be so awesome for me. So I am very interested in this topic as well.

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  • LRGO2016
    LRGO2016 Member Posts: 242
    edited June 2016

    Boy lionessdoe, I don't have any experience with your situation. My surgery was only 7 weeks ago and I have not had time to see what my body is going to do with my implants. I hope someone with more experience can answer your questions or offer you some ideas that help.

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  • ABeautifulSunset
    ABeautifulSunset Member Posts: 990
    edited June 2016

    lioness, based on what Ive been told, you could try a scar revision, but no guarantee it won't heal the same way again... Or worse? Maybe it would buy you some time before it hardened up again. I struggle with it everyday, and haven't given up on giving it "one more try".

    Radiated tissue... The gift that keeps giving.

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  • lionessdoe
    lionessdoe Member Posts: 780
    edited June 2016

    Thanks for your concern! Maybe it would buy me some time before it starts all over again. I guess I need a PS opinion. And I agree, radiation truly is the gift that keeps on giving more than any other treatment I've survived! And I wish it would knock it off! LOL



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  • Ssd
    Ssd Member Posts: 11
    edited August 2016

    Not sure if this is on topic but I've recently discovered hair growing along my almost 3 month old BM scar. Is this normal? Should I be concerned?

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  • ravzari
    ravzari Member Posts: 277
    edited August 2016

    Ssd, sometimes--as weird as it seems--the body's response to physical trauma is to grow MORE hair (additional or entirely new) around/along/near the site of trauma or just in general.

    After my BMX, I grew a whole mess of new lower chin/upper neck hair that hadn't been there before; it's being removed via electrolysis that I was doing anyway due to PCOS giving me me a lovely beard in my 20s, so not a big deal for me. The lady who does my electrolysis commented on me having "a pretty good crop" after my 2 week hiatus after surgery. Since I've been doing it for several years due to the PCOS beard, we'd been down to around 40 stubborn neck hairs that just refused to die, and after my BMX it shot up to 150 hairs in the same area! They can't grow back in dead follicles (which is what electrolysis does: kills the hair follicle), so that means the new hairs grew from hair follicles that hadn't been active prior.

    I also sprouted a few hairs near the incision lines on my chest and around my nipple grafts; haven't done electrolysis on those yet as I'm not even 2 months out from surgery and want to wait until it's more fully healed, so for now they get to stay.

    I know a few people, men and women, who've had knee replacements and, after the surgery, the affected knee grew thicker, more dense hair than they'd had previously and that was thicker and denser than their leg hair overall.

    The human body is weird sometimes.


    Just to keep it on topic on the scar thing, I'll be starting to use NewGel+ silicone strips (the tan ones, not the clear ones) on my scar lines once they arrive on Monday. A friend of mine who had a mastectomy recommended those and said they did wonders for fading her scar.

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  • ChiSandy
    ChiSandy Member Posts: 12,133
    edited August 2016

    In my mid-20s I once got a nasty second-degree burn after I accidentally spilled piping hot coffee on my thigh which (it being the mid-‘70s disco era) was encased in polyester knit pants. Once it healed and new skin regenerated, a thick patch of hair began to grow on it--the only visible hair on either thigh. It grew as robustly and rapidly as the hair on my scalp. Only years of menopause finally caused it to stop growing, and my last shave of it was four years ago.

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  • Ssd
    Ssd Member Posts: 11
    edited August 2016

    Thank ya'll so much ChiSandy and Amw . And thank you Lord I'm not the only one! You guys don't know how much I appreciate your response. Thanks!

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  • LRGO2016
    LRGO2016 Member Posts: 242
    edited September 2016

    Hi Ladies,

    Just posting that I had my exchange and prior to entering the surgery, I asked my PS to remove the small dog ear pucker that was present on my right breast. He did a great job revising the scar and now I have two darn "good looking" seams beaming at me where my nipples used to be. After 4 surgeries, I'm sporting about 18 separate scars on my front torso now. Some small, some large. Some have faded, some are hard, thick or red, years later.

    Has anyone found a good method to soften, and fade the stubborn ones?

    I'm trying massage and vasoline for now. Cheap and easy to do...


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