PLUS-sized and 800cc implants too small?..need feedback, please

My plastic surgeon says you have to be under a certain weight, has anyone eles heard this?  I'm not eligible anyway because of past surgeries but just wondering if any other women have heard this. 

Well I found this thread about 5 days too late.  I had urgent surgery on 7/5 as my RT TE was leaking.  Being that it had been radiated, my doctor was concerned about my pocket shrinking.

 I was very happy with my TE filled to 750, frankly I was thrilled with them.  High, rounded.  I didn't get a chance to rest there, because the rt side would leak down. So the logical step was to go to surgery for the exchange.  They cut the bandages off the next day and my cleaveage was gone.  I have 2 flat pancakes that spread across my chest.  They don't look like breasts at all.  I'm discouraged.  I put up with 17 months of TE, painful torture instruments, and I'm just flat.  Flat.  I could have been flat without doing all this.  And what can you say?  Can I have my TE's back?  I was used to the rock hard stuff.  This is softer than the TE of course.  I'm sorry this just sucks.

 I keep reading references to wonderful photo albums.  I don't think they exist.  I had messaged every name I come across and never get any password.  I would have liked to have seen some before and after off the 800 cc high profile on a 250 lb 5'8" woman.  I might have made other arrangements.

I have a 800cc implant overfilled to 1020. My other breast is all me. I just had exchange and a breast lift a week a go and so far I am pretty happy with it.

 I was a 40DD at diagnosis. I decided to have mastectomy on the breast with cancer and keep the healthy breast. My general practitioner recommended a breast surgeon and she recomended a plastic surgeon.

The plastic surgeon reasured me he could do a reconstruction that large, but I would have to have a latissimus dorsi reconstruction and could only have a saline implant. And that is what I had.

The reconstructed breast is exactly what I asked for and it is the original size. The lifted breast is still covered with surgial tape and has yet to drop into it's final shape. Currently I am not allowed to wear a bra. And the surgeon tells me I won't have to. I can not imagine going anywhere without  a bra.

I am 5'10" and currently 278. My bust was a 40DD when I was diagnosed. I currently measure a 42DD, but the swelling from surgery is yet to go down. I think I will be about where I was before surgery once the swelling goes down.

I seem to have lucked out and gotten the best breast reconstruction guy in the area. 

Miss_Vesta 

Wow wow wow. I wish I'd found this sooner! That seems to be a common theme! I am a plus size woman struggling to come to grips with the inadequacy of 800cc implants

When I was diagnosed in July/14, my general surgeon refered me to a PS to help me decide if mastectomy & reconstruction were for me. I asked if there was more than one but she said this was "the guy" at my local Cancer/breast clinic. When I arrived at my appointment, I was surprised to find that the PS I was refered to was away for the summer & I would be seeing a locum. He was very nice & very reassuring, he told me he would have no problem getting me back up to my DD with a 600-675cc expander & it would only take 2 months!. I was thrilled! I used that information to make my choice & went ahead with the bilateral mastectomy with TE placement. By the time I was ready for my first fill, the surgeon I was refered to was back & the locum was gone. My new plastic surgeon immediately squashed my dreams. He said I would be lucky to get a C cup with the biggest implant available & it would take 6 months I was devistated. I've been reeling ever since. He's a bit of a hardass & I'm a bit of a hot mess but I tease him about it & we laugh. We've developed an enjoyably dysfunctional rapport. 5.5 mo PO, my expanders are filled to 775cc and I am ready to have my 800cc high profile silicone swap done.

Then came another kick in the teeth... After trying to decide on implant shape, (my PS recommends tear-shaped but I'm leaning toward round in order to get a bit more of the BAM I will be lacking from size). We had a brief discussion, (granted, I was the usualscattered & emotional) then he suddenly said he didn't think I would be happy with my results, got up & walked out. When I got home I emailed him explaining my feelings, that no, I won't be happy with the size but I don't blame him for that & since there's nothing that can be done about it anyway, I just have to struggle to come to grips with smaller boobs. I asked him a bunch of questions about shape to help me make my decision, asked him to please, don't give up on me & waited anxiously for his reply. It came last night. He very coldly informed me that he is referring me to a different PS. I am gutted. I don't even know what to do with this. I can't even call the cancer clinic because it's a weekend. We were so close to done!

The upside, I guess, is that I found this forum & it's given me lots of information, more than my PS ever gave me. Hopefully my new PS will be more open to discussing different options. I just don't know how I'm going to keep it together until then

I only have 600cc expanders because that's what the first PS put in. They are currently filled to 775cc.

I never even considered saline before reading the posts on this forum but I will definitely be discussing it with my new PS when I find one!

I am a plus sized girl too!  I was wondering the same thing so glad you brought it up!  I had a BMX on 12-1-14 with immediate reconstruction (TE's) to be exchanged for implants.  Around 7 weeks out from surgery I developed an infection (cellulitis) and was hospitalized.  My PS filled my TE's to 500cc's because I was able to have nipple sparing surgery.  Since then she hasn't done any fills.  She scheduled me for my exchange surgery last Friday, Feb 27.  I arrived at 6 a.m. and was prepped and ready to go to surgery (received antibiotics, bendryl and a patch behind my ear to keep the pain meds from making me sick) only to be told when the PS arrived @ 7:30 a.m. that they didn't receive the implants!  She was supposed to have ordered 800cc Mentor UHP and I found out that she had ordered 500, 550, & 600's.  The 600's are the ones that didn't arrive!  She asked if I wanted to just get the 550's and I told her no.  They removed my IV and home I went!  Disgusted!  She doesn't seem to care if I have any breasts after this procedure or not.  I too have been trying to see what 800's would look like on someone my size.  These TE's are so miserable....

Hi all...my first post. :-) I found this website/forum when I was newly diagnosed. Everything was such a whirlwind and I felt like my head would explode from all of the information. But I cannot tell you how much reading these forums and these posts helped me.

It has been a blur to say the least...I've had my double mastectomy with tissue expander's. I went in for a fill on Monday like I do weekly, and after adding up my volume, my plastic surgeon turned to me and said "You're at 840. We're done!" As he said, it both of our eyes went directly to my "noobs" (my nick name for the new boobs :-) ) and then we looked back at each other. I said it and he nodded… "They're so small!" He totally agreed with me. I am 6'1", 220 and my breasts were much larger than what I see now. I tried on a pre surgery bra, and they did not come close to filling it out. We briefly talked options, and then I set up a follow-up consult with him to really go over details. I already set my surgery date for April 16, but I'm rethinking it.

Through this process in my research, I knew I wanted to go with silicone. During my very first meeting with my plastic surgeon, whom I adore, he told me the same thing. He just does not like using saline. Monday, when we realized where we were fill/size wise, we talked about the fact that 800 mL is the largest silicone implant available. I just don't feel like I'll be happy with it down the road. I know I need to focus on the positive, that I received an excellent outcome from this whole situation...but in all honesty, I really do miss the size and was looking forward to getting back as close to normal as possible.

He said that in the past he has overfilled saline implants and could give me to probably about 1100. But again… It's saline. Not what I planned. So for the past couple of days, I've been wrestling with having 800 cc silicone breasts, or going to saline option and having them closer to my pre-surgery size

This morning, the nurse from his office called me and said that they found out, after calling the rep to see if they could get larger sizes, that the FDA is in the process of approving 1200 and 1400 cc silicone implants. But here's the deal...The reps have the prototypes and are ready to go, but they have no idea on a timeframe for final approval because it's up to the FDA. And on an interesting sidenote, she said that they are only approved for breast cancer patients...not breast augmentation surgery.

Some questions for you wonderful people if you don't mind…

1. Has anyone heard any thing about the "on the horizon" implants? I would be willing to wait, but not sure how long I'd be willing to wait. Also, I search the FDA website and cannot find anything. If anyone has any information or links are I would appreciate

2. In the research I have done, it just seems to me that saline is just not a great option for reconstruction. If you have gone this route and have any input, I am all ears!

Thank you in advance for your assistance. :-)

I just went for a second opinion on what type of implants would give me the most projection. I currently have 775cc in my expanders and have been told by 2 plastic surgeons now that 800cc implants will appear SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than my expanders because they aren't as hard. This new surgeon was very kind & informative but unfortunately didn't have any better news for me. She did however discuss & EXPLAIN more options which was a very nice change!

She said I can get something called a "Becker" which is a combination silicone with an adjustable saline inner lumin. They can be filled to a total of 1200cc but because they are softer than expanders they get squished by the muscle leaving a large, flat "pancake" appearance.

My new PS is looking into overfilling saline for me but at this point, if I can't find a solution that will leave me with breasts at LEAST as big as my expanders, I think I'll just keep them. They are uncomfortable and hard but at least I look good with clothes on. Hopefully the new larger implants will be approved in the next couple of years but until then, I'm not willing to walk around with pancake boobs or wear prosthetics over my reconstruction!

Is the saline implant heavy? Where are you located? I need a good plastic surgeon.

Hi Everyone! It has been a really long haul since my last update... I found ANOTHER PS and she had experience overfilling saline implants. I was set for surgery this coming July 2016. We continued to expand my 600cc expanders up to 1100cc aaaaand then the valve blew on one of my expanders! Turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it jumped me up the waiting list by 6 months WOOT WOOT!! I got my implant swap done Dec 14, 2015 and everything went well. I ended up with 800cc round saline over expanded to 1140cc. 2.5 months post op, they have dropped and fluffed & are starting to soften and I LOVE MY BOOBIES!!! I have projection, cleavage & a good size. In fact, I tried on my pre-mastectomy bras the other day and they FIT!! They are not as FULL as they used to be but they fit perfectly. Apparently I was much bigger than the DD I thought I was LOL!

I am soooo thrilled with the size & I am sooo happy I found this board & it prodded me to search for a surgeon who cared enough to try to give me the next best thing to what I wanted!

A couple of lovely ladies on here shared their pics with me when I was trying to figure out what to do and I would be glad to share mine with anyone else who would find it helpful.

I am booked for my nipple reconstruction in April 20th as long as my next post op check goes well and I hope to get my nipple tattoos done this fall by Stacie-Rae Weir. If anybody is interested, she has a super fun product for us survivors (she's a previvor herself), temporary 3D nipple tattoos!! They are sooo fun and look soooo real! Like, unbelievably real!! If you are thinking about getting nipple tattoos, check out her website nippletattoos. com. There's temporary tattoos to buy, pictures to see & some very informative blog posts about why you might want to consider using a trained tattoo artist rather than a nurse or plastic surgeon to do your tattoos.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Cheers!!

bumping this thread ... I am now at 800 in my TEs and will exchange to 800 silicone

1250cc was removed at MX, so PS has always been very upfront that I will be smaller and will need to do something with the native breast, but doing one thing at a time.

5'8" 200lbs was a 40D

Has anyone been happy with their 800 silicone...so many on this thread opt for overfilling saline, an option I have not been given.

I was a triple D before my mastectomy and I have a couple more fills to get to 800. I've been so down missing my boobs. 😞

You're not alone!!!

I am a plus size as well, 5'6 258. I had my exchange surgery May 19th 2017 with teardrop shape 750cc. I am not happy at all. I feel like I sage and my boobs look box shape. I went today for a second opinion. He made me feel so much better and totally explained to me where my first PS didn't. I think I am going to have another surgery and have 800cc round shape. He said there won't be much change in size but will be higher for the look I am looking for.

Question...has anyone else had another surgery and changed shapes?

I'm in the process of filling TE's and am wondering if having the implants above the pecs vs below will make a difference in projection and firmness? My PS uses silicone and fat grafting but I'm still not sure if the size will be enough. I am 6' tall and was a 42D pre mx. Does anyone have any experience with this situation?

I'm 5'11' but was a 34C pre BMX. I originally had subpectoral Natrelle 410's, 595 cc. I looked really flat....smaller than before the BMX. Recently I switched to prepectoral extra projection Natrelle Inspiras, 615 and 650 cc's. The projection is great and I'm now between 35 and 36" as I still have swelling. These implants will feel softer I think, and I did have fat grafting. I can't give more info as i'm just 15 days in with these.

If you go with prepectoral, you will need a lot of internal support from Alloderm or another dermal matrix. Mine are the largest I've read about that have been done prepectorally so far. You should talk with your PS soon about the possibilities.

Hope this helps a little.