The good news is that things will get better! I have to admit that I'm a guy, so I haven't had breast implants put in myself; the real experts on this will be the many ladies you may know who have, or others whose experiences you read about here on RealSelf.com, who have had breast augmentation. However, I have literally done thousands of these procedures over almost 20 years, and at some point I have found that most people have very similar experiences with these things you're discussing. In speaking about my own patients' experience, I would say that over the next few months you will regain most, if not all, of your sensation, and the weird sense that you have something foreign in your body will slowly disappear. Much of this has to do with swelling and tension being placed on tissues due to the sudden increase in volume from the implants. As swelling resolves and tissues relax to accommodate to the new volume and shape of the implants, the nerves will begin to function more normally. Sensation will return in areas where numbness is now, and things like hypersensitivity and "pins and needles" (we call that "paresthesias" in the business - so there's even a word for it, it's not all that rare!) will slowly resolve. But, this all takes some time, and right now at 3 days post-op your swelling is probably actually at its maximum. The same thing goes for any mild differences in position of implants or other asymmetries. I actually joke with my patients and tell them we're not allowed to discuss those "un-mentionable" things until a sufficient time has elapsed - again, usually around 3 to 4 months minimum. This is because it just takes that long for things to get to a stable equilibrium. With regard to the sensory changes, one thing that I have found to be very helpful in my own patients is to steal a technique from my hand surgery days. When we had patients with nerve injuries who would experience the typical sensory changes like painful hypersensitivity, pins and needles, burning, and the like, we would do all kinds of "desensitization" training for their injured body part. Really it was more like sensory "re-education" for the brain. We might have them put their hand in water of differing temperatures, maybe some warm wax like you get with a pedicure, or have them rub their fingers across things like denim or canvas, or sift through things like sand, rice, or dry beans. All of this was to provide different sensory inputs to the brain and re-train it to get sensations more normal. This same approach works for breasts too, I have found. I tell my patients who have these issues to get some nice smelling body butter or oil and gently massage their skin (not necessarily the implants themselves, that's only as directed by your surgeon) just so that they get some sensory input to the areas of the skin with abnormal sensation on a regular basis. The last thing you want to do, in my own opinion, is to keep areas like this "cooped up" in a bra and never touched because they are too sensitive. That will actually make the sensory changes persist longer and delay the ultimate recovery of any normal sensation. Again, check with your surgeon before trying this, and be sure all wounds are completely healed first as well. The bottom line, however, is that it is very early, and things will definitely improve as time goes on. Best of luck to you.
