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• Posted to How did you treat chestwall hematoma after breast augmentation? on 1 Sep 2010

  I also had breast aug under the muscle with saline implants. six days post-op I discovered a tight burning feeling and contacted my PS. The nurse said I was having a muscle spasm and to take one of the pills they prescribed and to call her back in half hour. When I called her back and to tell her it was getting worse she continued to tell me about the muscle spasms and to grab onto the side of a wall (corner) and stretch out my peck muscles. After following her advice the pain kept getting worse. That evening my PC contacted me and said it sounds like a hematoma and to make arrangements to drive to his office. My husband and I loaded up and drove 1 ½ hours to his office on a Friday night and he my doc assured me it was a hematoma. He said to take a deep breath and he was going to try to “Tap” the hematoma. Meaning to extract it with a very large gauged syringe. No numbing meds or pain kills, it was just time to deal with the pain. No success. He hooked up a bag of saline solution and once again tried to dilute the hematoma hoping it would brake down better. Still no success. He said the hematoma was so thick and about the size of a softball and I would have to under go emergency surgery since it was between my clavicle and implant and to close to my heart and lungs. My PS warned me that there could possibly be a chance on ripping the implant. At that point I was in so much pain it didn’t matter to me if it ripped or how much this was going to cost. Off to surgery again and he went thru the same incision. He said he simply drained the saline, removed the implant and he found the hematoma. My peck muscle was ripped six inches long and this was one of the biggest hematoma he had seen. He was able to replace the implant and fill it back to the same size. Recovery was much easier the second go around. Although I was not sent home with the “Pain Pump”, he had stitched a drain underneath my arm pit to help extract the natural fluids. 3 ½ years later my sensitivity is not the same as the “normal” one and my implant had dropped dramatically compared to the other. I still do not feel comfortable in tank tops with built in bras or swim suites. My “normal” breast is pointing down and the “corrected” breast is sagging at the bottom. I was a very small B with some sagging to begin with and now I’m a DD with two completely different looking breast. My husband has given me the “OK” to have them fixed, however I know I will have silicone ones next time. My advice is not to wait if you start to experience something like this. Seek medical attention ASAP as you would rather be safe than sorry.