10yr Old Implant and Capsulectomy Removal with Mastopexy - Livingston, NJ

Some pics with the silicone tape.

Here’s more details about the actual surgery I had. I also attached photos from the day of surgery to around now-

I had my implants, capsules, and a breast lift done at the same time. My surgery was done at an outpatient surgical center. I think I was under for around 6 hours total. The surgery went longer than expected, but thankfully without complications.

When I first woke up from the surgery I was in a lot of pain, but I expected that. I also had drainage tubes- also expected. I immediately felt like my back was lighter. Once I wasn’t so out of it from pain meds, I honestly could already feel less “sick”.

Unfortunately the next day the pain was so bad, my body couldn’t handle it and I ended up in the ER. My heart problem, anxiety, lack of potassium in my body and a bad reaction to pain meds caused my body to freak out. I was given new meds and my body finally relaxed after hours of being in the ER.

My plastic surgeon was communicating with me the entire time, which I loved. He also stayed in contact with the ER while I was there. After I left the ER, I was brought to his office so he could see me and make sure I was ok, and I was ok!

The next day into the following week: was painful but the pain eased up each day. The first few days I was constipated, exhausted, in pain, and just overall out of it from meds. I felt like a truck hit me- even going to pee was a painful slow ordeal- but that’s normal after a surgery like that. The bruising looked crazy at first but slowly started to go away. By the end of week one I was only taking Tylenol for pain. I was also using nitro bid paste near my vertical incisions. My left breast was more swollen than my right and was taking a while to come down. I was able to walk around and do normal everyday tasks without much help at the end of the first week.

Week two through week four: was pretty easy. I had some delayed healing at the “T” on my right breast. I stopped using a surgical bra and started wearing sports bras. I had my drainage tubes removed on week 2. Getting the tubes removed didn’t hurt that bad at all. I didnt really need help showering or getting things anymore. I still had some pain and tenderness on the inside of my breasts but the bruising and swelling was going down, and my incisions were totally healed. I started using a scar cream. My left breast was starting to match my right a little more, haha.

Week four through now: My breasts are barely tender anymore. I’m almost at the point where I could lay on my stomach without worry. I’ve been using the scar cream and scaraway silicone tape as well. My scars seem to be slowly flattening and becoming less red already. My left breast is looking very similar to the right one! No more delayed healing anywhere! And also, my nipple eczema isn’t really bothering me! I feel like the implant removal got rid of a lot of the irritation I was having. Unfortunately I think I’m stuck with having numbness/lack of feeling in certain areas of my breasts and most of my right nipple. I already had some of the numbness beforehand from when I had my implants first put in.

Anyway, I can’t wait to see how much my scars improve. I hope my nipples stay “calm” forever. If I gain some feeling back in my breasts that would be sweet. I’m just really excited for my breasts to be completely healed :)

Hi everyone,

I’m here to tell my story about my breasts and all the changes they have gone through over the past 11 years.

When I was 17, I was significantly overweight. By time I was 18, I had lost over 90lbs. I lost the weight the wrong way and way too fast.
Due to my weight loss, my natural DD cup breasts “deflated” into B cups. My breasts looked like fried eggs nailed to a wall. Lol! Anyway, I decided to get breast implants because I missed having large breasts, and I felt like a part of me was now missing.

I had D cup saline implants put in via my areola’s and the surgery went well, as did my healing- minus some permanent loss of feeling in some areas of my breast, but that I hear sometimes happens and is normal.

But then months went by after I healed, and I started having weird symptoms that I never had before.

I first noticed my nipples were developing what looked like eczema. Sometimes they would actually bleed and ooze without me squeezing them. Then I was noticing that whenever I would put any pressure on my chest (scrubbing or even doing a push up) my right implant would crunch up and slowly come back down. That hurt.
Those two things remained with me the entire time I had implants.

Also after I had implants put in, I noticed my immune system changing. It was like I didn’t even have an immune system! I was getting sick a lot, and started feeling tired all the time. Then my stomach went haywire for 11 months- diarrhea everyday for 11 months while gaining weight.
It was like my body was going crazy and I had no idea why.

I ended up getting diagnosed with Epstein Barr virus at 21, and IBS-D around the same age.
I unfortunately gained a lot of weight back, so my D cup implants turned into G cups by the time I was 25!

I do not believe my implants caused my Epstein Barr or my IBS because well, that’s just impossible, but I do believe I had breast implants that my body was clearly rejecting exacerbated my symptoms!

During and after going through these symptoms, I did tons of research on why this was happening and if it had any correlation with my implants.

Also, I saw numerous doctors- including oncologists- about my nipple eczema. All tests that my insurance approved me to have came back normal. Pretty much all the specialists I saw had the same best guess. That this wasn’t due to any error on my original surgeons end, but that my body didn’t agree with my implants. My implants were irritating the inside of my breasts causing my ducts to become irritated and it showed through my nipples-
ie. the eczema and oozing.

This was all because my body didn’t want these foreign objects in it, and this was my body’s way of telling me.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do anything about it, as insurance saw my case- even with my symptoms- as elective. Life went on and I dealt with the uncomfort of my breasts, disgust of my nipples, inability to put any pressure on my chest for 10 years until I was financially able to do something myself about it.

On 10/2/17, I finally had my breast implants & capsules removed, and a breast lift done. I had my procedure done by Dr. Tutela in Livingston, NJ and I am so happy with the results. Dr. Tutela is an amazing surgeon. I’m so glad I found him.
As far as the surgery went, I won’t lie, the pain was 5x worse than getting implants put in- but then again I have some underlying medical issues and my body doesn’t do well with pain meds. I still have permanent loss of feeling in some areas, but that’s expected and I already had that from my previous surgery.
My healing is going well and I can’t wait to see how much more awesome my breasts will look once everything is totally healed!

To this day I’m 100% convinced I suffered from breast implant illness along with minor capsular contracture.

I uploaded the following photos.

1. Breasts after weight loss
2. Breasts after implants
3. Breasts right before implant removal and lift
4. Breasts two months after implant removal and lift