Hardness in cancerous "breast" post-mastectomy?

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bluesfan4life
bluesfan4life Member Posts: 8
edited December 2020 in Surgery - Before, During, and After

I had skin-sparing bi-lat MX on January 17th. This was my 2nd primary Dx in the right breast. Never any cancer in the left. I will be having DIEP flap recon in May, so all that's remaining is the skin that used to cover my breast tissue.

Currently, my left "breast" is soft and saggy as you would expect, but my right is hard and much larger than my left. Has anyone had a similar experience? BS seems unconcerned, but it seems odd to me that the right "breast" would be 2x larger and that it would be so hard. Removal of drain had no effect on size. I've tried icing. I take ibuprofen daily. BS said it couldn't be lymphodema (which I had before MX due to lumpectomy in in 2017). I'm befuddled and would appreciate anyone's thoughts. I will clearly be following up with BS, but's a holiday weekend . . . Thanks!

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  • bluesfan4life
    bluesfan4life Member Posts: 8
    edited February 2020

    In the event that this helps someone in the future, I did get an answer to my question. The radiation treatments that I had with my first cancer had thickened my skin. I knew this but I did not know the extent of that thickening. After the mastectomy, it became clear. The remaining skin is so thick that it's almost as if I still have a (very misshapen and much smaller) breast there. My surgeon assures me that, when I have the reconstruction in a few months, everything will look normal again. Here's hoping! Right now, I am extremely lopsided. Lol.

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  • Lexica
    Lexica Member Posts: 259
    edited February 2020

    Hi, Blues - this is the case with me as well -it feels like lumps, even, but it's just hardened, thickened scar tissue.I had prepectoral implants, and the scar tissue is still there. I am looking into fat grafting to loosen it up, but I'm not sure if it will work.

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  • bluesfan4life
    bluesfan4life Member Posts: 8
    edited December 2020

    As an update, I had stage 1 of DIEP-FLAP reconstruction surgery in August and the radiated breast tissue looks and feels the same as the non-radiated breast tissue. My only problem now is that the radiated breast is about one-third larger than the other breast, both of which were reconstructed. My surgeon says that is unusual - typically the opposite is true - but we will be fixing it in the next few months with Stage 2 surgery.

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