Hello, my name is Jackie and I am 45 years old. I would like to share my experience with my breast reduction and lift surgery that I had on April 9th, 2015. Before surgery, I was wearing a 36H/I bra. Finding a bra that fit right and was comfortable never existed. I always had neck and shoulder pains, especially the muscle running from my neck to shoulder. Sleeping sucked too, because I am a stomach and side sleeper, and every time I would turn at night, my back would hurt and would wake me up. On April 9th, the morning of my surgery, I was very nervous, as I have never had any kind of surgery before. I was admitted into the hospital at 6:00 a.m. Everyone there was super nice, which helped greatly with my nerves. I got undressed, which I was allowed to keep my underwear on, and they gave me a backless gown that hooked up to heating, which was very warm. They also gave me a pair of socks to wear. They took my blood pressure and started my IV. Next, my doctor came in and drew all over me and explained where everything would be when finished and told me that I would be a solid C when finished. Then, they put electric compression boots on me and rolled me, in my bed, into the surgery room around 8:00 a.m., where they gave me anesthesia. I don’t remember anything after that, because I opened my eyes and it was done. I looked at the clock across the room and it was 10:20 a.m. I did have a burning pain in my breasts, which they immediately gave me a couple of Norco. By 10:45 a.m., I was released and on my way home. (Don’t forget to bring a fluffy pillow and sunglasses) I took Norco for pain during the first couple of days, which caused major constipation, even when taken with Colace Stool Softener. I quit taking Norco and the worthless stool softener on day 3 and started taking Ibuprofen 600mg instead. Also on day 3, I started drinking a hot cup of organic Nettle Leif tea daily, and this has cured me of my constipation. I started taking Bromelain 500mg on day 4. I have also been eating a bowl of pineapple every day since surgery. Pineapple/Bromelain helps with healing quicker. I am now 1 week post op. I have felt pain this week, but I think a lot of it is mental, as I am always worried about my stitches. My front zip sports bra is uncomfortable and feels like it is pushing and rubbing on my stitches. I have been taking it easy all week and drinking lots of water. I have developed a rash on my shoulders, upper arms and stomach this week. I’m wondering if my doctor put something on my skin before surgery and it caused skin irritation. Also, my stomach feels and looks bigger than usual. But other than that, I’m doing great, lol. Well, this has been my 1 week post op experience. Each day seems a little different with the swelling and how I feel. I haven’t had the energy this week as I usually do, but I’m sure that’s normal after having a breast reduction. Tomorrow, I go see my doctor for my boob checkup; I hope all is going well. I am sooo looking forward to getting back to my regular routines and start working out again, but I know that it will be a little while from now. Talk to ya later ?. Updated on 17 Apr 2015: Today, day 8 post op, I went to my doctor's appointment, and he took off my tape. While taking it off, a small area, the incision going straight down from my nipple started to bleed, so he had to apply more tape on that area. Other than that area, all my tape is gone. It looks kind of freaky to me, but I need to just get over my self. It will heal :) Anyways, the doctor said that I am doing great. And, by the way, don't worry after your surgery if you have a little spotting of blood on your bras. I had a little bit all week, and that is okay and common. I think my sports bra just sometimes rubs on my stitches and irritates them. Updated on 23 Apr 2015: Well hello there, I am now 14 days post op and feeling better. My second week of healing started out with me starting my period on post op day 9. Wow, did my boobs feel weird, irritated and painful. I'm sure starting my period aggravated them quite a bit. But, now that it's over, they are feeling a lot better. I have been trying to find a more comfortable bra. I have bought 7 total, and they all seem either too constricting or not enough support or the band keeps riding up on my stitches. But, I always find myself running back to my beige Playtex front zip bra. I'm not giving up though, I have 2 more bras being mailed to me, lol. On a good note though, the rash I had last week on my shoulders, upper arms and stomach are gone. The bloating I had last week is gone also, even though I was on my period all week. My energy is so much better this week too. My boobs still look kind of freaky to me and my nipples are constantly erect, but they are looking a little better each day. I don't think I have ever had this much feeling in my breasts; I have not lost any sensation. I am very glad I had my breast reduction. I can't believe I can now wear button-down shirts :) Updated on 30 Apr 2015: Hello, today I am 21 days post op. The third week of my breast reduction recovery has been good. I still feel sensitive and sore though. I quit taking Ibuprofen this week. I figured that I took enough pills the last couple of weeks; it’s time to stop. I’ve noticed during the last couple of weeks that my skin feels unusually dry. I normally don’t have to put lotion on my body, but I have been lately. Weird, huh, perhaps my body is focused on healing my breasts. I have also noticed this week that I feel kind of blue. I am so ready to get back to my normal life!!! I need a good workout!!! Hopefully, when I go see my doctor on Monday, he will say I can start to work out again. But, at this point, I can’t imagine running or doing anything bouncy. Hell, just walking or driving on bumpy roads makes my breasts sensitive. But, other than that, I’m doing well. I think a lot of the sensitivity is all in my head. I have this nightmare that when I unzip my bra, my nipples are attached to it, hahaha. Well, anyways, I figured out what bra I am most comfortable in, and that’s the Genie bra. I have the large, xlarge and xxlarge. I just zip them up and slip the bra through my feet and pull it up; I find that easier. I have also become quite the bed maker. My side and my husband’s side are so much different, as I have an inclined pillow and feet and calf rest on my side and his is all flat. I can’t believe I have been able to sleep on my back this long. I still am glad that I had my surgery, and I am happy with the results, BUT HURRY UP AND HEAL ALREADY!!! (lol) Updated on 7 May 2015: Hi there, today I am 28 days post op. My fourth week of recovery has been my best one so far. I am feeling a lot better. I still am sore, but I am improving each day. Every once in a while though, I get this tightness feeling in my breast almost like a mild muscle cramp. It’s hard to explain the feeling, and it usually happens to one breast at a time and lasts for like a minute or so. My breasts have also been looking pretty dry lately, so a couple of days ago, I started putting an organic lotion on them and this seems to have helped a lot. I saw my doctor a few days ago, Monday, and he said that I am healing very well and that I can start to work out again. I have been working out every day since Monday. I am starting out easy with stretching, elliptical machine, light weight lifting and long walks in the park. It feels good to get some normalcy back in my life. My doctor says that in about 4 more weeks I can start swimming, yeee-haaaw. That’s right, I am starting to see the light and excited about getting all of this behind me. Updated on 14 May 2015: Hello, today I am 35 days post op. The fifth week of healing has been good. I feel better than I did last week, but I still am soar and a little uncomfortable at times. This week, I started to get that itchy feeling, which I am sure is a great sign of healing. I still am sleeping inclined on my back. I tried sleeping flat and on my side, but I was uncomfortable and not ready for that yet. I have been working out pretty much every day since last week. I am still working out light, as I don’t think I am ready to lift heavy weights, and my doctor thinks I should wait until around 8 weeks before going to heavy workouts. So, I am slowly transitioning from light to moderate to hard workouts. I don’t want to do anything stupid to set me back from my healing progress. I don’t really know what cup size I am, as I am still wearing my front zip Genie bras. I still seem wide on the sides. I tried on a C cup bra that I bought before my surgery, and it was not wide enough for me, at all. Perhaps I am a D cup, who knows. I need to go try on bras at the store, but I got a feeling that I am at an awkward size right now, and I probably won’t find anything that fits. Updated on 21 May 2015: Hello. Today I am 42 days post op/6 weeks post op. I haven’t had any new symptoms this week; everything is getting better. I still am a little sore and not my 100% yet, but each week, I feel closer to being able to do everything I used to do. Updated on 27 May 2015: Hello, I am now 7 weeks post op and feeling good. I still am a little sore, but I have been working out 5 days a week and feeling sooo much better and more like myself. I went to see my doctor a couple of days ago for my last appointment with him. He says everything is looking great, and it's now time to start massaging my breasts. I have not lost any feeling in my breasts; they actually have more feeling then they did before my surgery. My doctor also said that all restrictions are off, and I can go back to my normal routines. I still don't feel comfortable sleeping on my stomach or side yet, so I am still sleeping on my back. The sleeping situation is starting to get uncomfortable for me, but I guess it will be a good thing to get in the habit of sleeping on my back, which I never really could do before. It will be good for preventing wrinkles on the face and chest. But, ooooo I am feeling stiff laying there like a corpse all night. Updated on 1 Jun 2015: Updated on 1 Jun 2015: Updated on 3 Jun 2015: Hello, I am now 2 months post op and feeling more like myself. I still am a little sore and cannot wear an underwire bra yet; they are just too uncomfortable still. I haven't had any new symptoms, if anything, my previous symptoms are now going away. I still am sleeping on my back. I tried last night to sleep on my side, and I did for like 2 hours, but when I moved to turn over, holy crap did that ever hurt. Oh man, my boobs hurt for like a minute or two really bad. I guess I am not ready to sleep on my side yet. So, sleeping kind of sucks, but somehow I manage. Clothes-wise, I am having a lot of fun shopping and buying things I could never really wear before. It's amazing that now I can even go braless. Feeling good :) Updated on 1 Jul 2015: Hello, tomorrow I will be 3 months post op. This past month, I have noticed a lot of changes in my breasts and nipples. I think they are now done settling and softening. My nipples are now less hypersensitive too. My breast still seems a little wide, and I am not sure if they are going to get any smaller. Trying to find a bra at many different stores was hard because I assumed I was a D cup. But the D cup was not wide enough. I tried on a DD and it fit better. I added pictures of a couple of bras that I bought that are comfortable, wireless and with good support. My breasts do not hurt anymore, but my incision lines feel like a combination of itchy and burning. Also, my incision lines underneath my breasts feel really tight. It feels tighter than it did last month. About a week ago, I was lying back on a stability ball doing chest flies with dumbbells, and I felt like a rip underneath my right breast. And, sure enough, when I took off my bra after working out; there was some blood on it. So, I am putting on some antibiotic ointment underneath my breast and chill-in out on the chest flies and shoulder press for a while, at least until it heals up. It is funny how before I had my surgery, I always read that after 4 weeks you can go back to your normal routines. I do not think that is the case, at least for me. I still wouldn’t want to go running, hahaha. I am happy with my results though and very glad I had the surgery. Updated on 10 Aug 2015: Hello, I am now 4 months post op. I am feeling a lot better. The incision lines and nipples are still a little sore, but are improving each month. I feel like I am in an awkward stage though. My nipples were very hypersensitive after surgery, but now they are relaxing and looking different because they are not always erect. The coloring of my nipples are looking different too. But overall, I am feeling much better, and despite the occasional spitter (internal stitch coming through) I am healing well. I started getting spitters around 2.5 months post op. I read that they can continue up to around 9 months. I just take care of them as soon as I feel them. I do have one coming through in my nipple area that I need to take out. Hopefully, I wont get any more. My incision lines are healing in a mixed style. Some areas of the incision line is completely gone, some areas are lightening and some areas are getting redder. But, everything is good and I am happy :) Updated on 8 Oct 2015: Hello, I am now 6 months post op breast reduction. I am feeling really good. My incision lines are still a little sore and I still feel kind of tight, but I am slowly improving each month. I was hoping that by 6 months I wouldn't feel any soreness, but I still do. I am sleeping in all positions now without any problems, and I have not had any more spitters (internal stitching) coming through, thank God. Updated on 12 Jan 2016: Hello. I am now 9 months post op breast reduction. I am feeling really good. I have not used any scar reduction creams or silicone scar sheets; I have only been using organic creams on my breast. There still is some tightness and a little soreness in the incision lines, but nothing holds me back. Life is completely back to normal :) Updated on 13 Apr 2016: Hello. I am 12 months post op breast reduction and feeling good. My incision lines still feel a little tight, but everything is healing up good :) Updated on 13 Apr 2016: Hello. Today I am 1 year post op breast reduction. I would like to show you my before and after photos. The first photo is the day before surgery, which I was a 36 I bra size. The second picture is the day after surgery. The last picture is 1 year post op at a 36 DD bra size. It's been a crazy journey, but I am glad that I did the surgery. I no longer have that neck and shoulder pain :)
I am 42 yrs old, 5'0, 140 lbs and I had 34DDD breasts. I had C cup breasts before I had my 2 kids and through the years, my breast size increased. I tried losing weight but my breast size stayed the same. 2 yrs ago, I decided to get a BR as soon as I can come up with the money. In July, I was having neck pain, back pain and my shoulders were red due to my bra straps. I e-mailed my OB-GYN (to shy to discuss this with my male primary dr.) and she referred me to a plastic surgeon. As soon as i found out that my insurance will pay for the surgery, I talked to my husband and decided to go for it. My surgery was scheduled for Aug 22, 2014. Updated on 12 Sep 2013: The day before my surgery was a bit scary for me since I have not had a big surgery before. I decided to write cards to my husband and to my kids because I was really scared of what might happen during the surgery. My husband thought I was being silly. Writing those cards actually made me feel better knowing that if something happened to me, I did say goodbye. I was scared to death but I knew that getting my breast reduced to normal size would make me happy. I am so sick of buying a large blouses just to fit over my big boobs and I'm sick of men looking at my chest when they're talking to me instead of looking at my face. Some of my girlfriends were envious of my large breasts. I wish that I could've donated the tissue that was removed from my breasts to each of them. In the morning of the surgery my husband had to drop me off and had to leave because he had to go take my kids to school so I was there all alone waiting for my nurses and my plastic surgeon. But this time I was confident and I was ready to get my best reduction done and could not wait for the end result. After the nurse placed my IV, I have met the anesthesiologist and then came Dr. Kim and drew lines all over my breasts where the cuts and sutures will be. Then, I was wheeled in the OR. I was given Versed to relax me and then they placed the oxygen mask over my nose and that was the last thing I remembered before I woke up. The nurse was calling my name and I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was this tan colored tube top (made of compression material) that they placed on me and ice packs on top of my chest. And then the nurse asked me if I was feeling any pain and I thought I did so then she gave me some pain medication thru my IV 3x because I was complaining about this pain that was right below my chest area and I realized that when I got home the pain that I was feeling was actually from the ice packs that was touching my skin. My husband tried feeding me and then after I ate, he gave me my Antibiotics and my pain pills and two minutes later I was running to the bathroom and I threw up. After five minutes I tried taking my antibiotics again because I know that one of the capsules went down the drain. I rested after that and the following day I didn't feel any pain at all I felt that I was compressed in that compression material that they placed on me but I was surprised I had no pain. At around 9 o'clock we had to go back to the hospital for the doctor to remove the compression material and he placed a sports bra on me and that was the first time I saw my new breasts and I was happy. Updated on 12 Sep 2013: Updated on 13 Sep 2013: It's been 22 days and I feel worse than the first week. I saw my PS today and he told me it's normal for everyone heals differently. I will be posting my photos and they are numbered per post op day. Every morning, getting out of bed is a chore. My right breast is still very swollen and some days it feels so tight and heavy. Some mornings, I cry of discomfort but I have to take my daughter to school every morning. I don't want to bother my husband bec. he works fulltime and gets out of work late at night. The areas under the breasts where I have my stitches are sore, too. I keep on pulling my sports bra downwards, it keeps on resting on the stitches. I asked my PS about how the scars will look later because I look like a rag doll stitched together :(. He said that the skin will eventually flatten itself when it's completely healed and I may not see that until the 6th month. I have to be more patient. Updated on 13 Sep 2013: Updated on 13 Sep 2013: I started draining more on the right breast so I padded my bra with a panty liner to catch the yellowish red fluid. The sutured areas feel numb to touch. I saw my PS again regarding this and he said that the amount of drainage is normal. He also told me not to panic in case the stitches break and more fluid come out. He told me that I can always contact him (phone or email). By the way, he's very prompt on his communication. Updated on 16 Sep 2013: Getting up this morning at 6:30 am is not as painful as before. My Left breast is still swollen but not as bad because I can feel that the skin is not as tight. The bruises all around the breasts had turn grayish green. The tissue under the breasts are starting to heal but there's still some drainage. I removed the panty liner that I use to line my bra to absorb the drainage hoping that the tissue will heal/dry faster. Will post photo(s) later today. Have a great Monday, everyone! Updated on 16 Sep 2013: Updated on 18 Sep 2013: Right breast swelling is worse than yesterday (not sure why). Took photos of the bottom of each breast. I still have some pus (L breast had more than the R breast) that I cleaned with hydrogen peroxide. Updated on 25 Sep 2013: Good day all! I've been feeling down this past few days due to the pain around the breasts and the scars. I even missed a few get-togethers with friends due to my pains and depression. The wounds under the breasts are finally healing. I try to sit and walk straight with my shoulders back after realizing that I've been sitting and walking with my back hunched over because the skin around the scars feels tight...they hurt with even a slight touch or rubbing against the lining of the bra. Updated on 27 Sep 2013: Good morning! So many life stresses this week. I feel overwhelmed at times and I cry...I cry a lot. I try to stay positive but it's hard to be at times. Anyway, this morning, I am seeing my PS for a post op visit. I'm worried that my Right breast is still swollen and looks bigger than the other. It also feels firmer and has some hard spots and still looks bluish gray because of the bruises. My scars under the breasts looks ropey and still sensitive to touch but the PS says they will flatten "in time"(wondering how much time is "in time"). Updated on 27 Sep 2013: I saw my PS this morning. He advised me to massage the hard spots on my breasts because sometimes the hard spots can calcify so they need to be massaged and he added "just not in public" hahaha "as if!!!" He has a sense of humor but he looked serious when he told me. Anyway, he also told me to take ibuprofen to help with the swelling. Updated on 17 Oct 2013: My bruises are completely gone and the hard spots are getting softer. I still massage daily and take my ibuprofen. Sometimes, i see my scars rip a little and bleed but gets better after 2 days. I think it's been 2 months or maybe almost but I just found a suture material under the skin and I pulled it out. I love the shape and size of my breasts. Updated on 18 Dec 2013: It's almost Christmas! Merry X'mas everyone! I still get the shooting pains once in a while. My scars are sensitive to touch still (achy). Other than that I don't have any nerve damage around the areolas and nipple area. I can't wait for my scars to get lighter in color and the slight pain to go away. Here's a photo :) Updated on 25 Jun 2014: Visited family in Canada and I was told that I look like I lost some weight. No! Just breast size haha! Only my niece knows about my surgery. My complaints now are itchy scars and dark colored scars. I can't take off my bra without feeling self conscious. Small problem really compared to what I had before.
