Do your implants feel uncomfortable?

I am only 3 weeks and a couple of days post op. I have saline round 350s that are overfilled a little. Mostly, they are comfortable. They don't feel, or look ( thank goodness) anything like my TEs. lf I lie flat on my back with no pillow they feel kind of uncomfortable, like something is stretching. So I still sleep with a couple of pillows at night.

I had my exchange in December 2009 and have 800 cc silicone implants.

My reconstruction was delayed and I was fully healed from my bilateral mastectomies. At the time of my reconstruction, I was back to working out and had regained chest muscle strength and flexibility.

There is a problem after the mastectomies of that feeling of numbness in the chest area as there are numerous nerves that were disrupted during the surgeries. It takes a number of years for the areas of numbness to go away as the nerves repair themselves. Of course, the TE placement and exchange surgeries also caused more nerve numb areas that need to heal.

During my TE placement, my surgeon did plan on using alloderm to fill any gapes in the pec muscle coverage of the TEs. He found out that I had a anatomical anomaly on the left side where I was born completely missing one of the smaller pec muscles. He made me a new one out of the alloderm. This also lead to a feeling of tightness on my left side.

From my experience post exchange, it is very important that when the surgeon gives you the go ahead, that you develop a routine of strength building (I am not talking heavy duty weight lifting but things like planks, free weights, etc)) to develop upper body strength and to do exercises for flexibility.

At this point, my implants are a part of me. They are soft, I have a bit of mammary crease under each, and even have a bit of jiggle if I am bouncing around in Zumba. I do credit my routine of exercise for the way I feel. And yes, when I slouch off because of vacation or illness, I definitely feel chest tightness creeping in and pressure on the implants from the tightening muscles within two weeks of my last workout.. It certainly is motivation to start stretching and strengthening again.

Misty879,

For about a week post BMX, I felt like I'd been kicked in the chest too. Consider that you have had MAJOR damage done under your skin. The process of removing all of the Tissue between your muscles and your skin is akin to being filleted. I've heard the same "kicked in the chest by a horse" comment from many other women in this forum. My kicked chest pain was intense for about a week. In my case, I also had one of my 4 drains rubbing directly on a nerve on my rib. The pain with that was a searing stabbing pain that sent me back to the emergency room one day after the BMX. I eventually found a position that helped ease the irritation to the nerve and my pain subsided.

If your pain is not improving with meds or in a few days, or if you are running a fever, you should discuss it with your surgeon immediately. The pain you are now feeling is likely the worst you will experience in this process. I'm sorry you are having to go through it. I am glad you have found this site. There are many women in here who are sympathetic to what you are feeling to be sure! Hang in there!