I had a breast reduction on Wed, my mom said the surgeon removed 300cc from each side. My compression bra was throughly stuffed with gauze (no drain tubes). I removed the gauze Friday evening as I was told. Even after adjusting to make it tighter this bra seems like it might be too big. The office won't be open til Monday to call and it's 2am Sat. My left side hurts unless I use a pillow for pressure. Should I go ahead and seek a sports bra, or just continue to use a pillow over the weekend?
January 25, 2016
Answer: I agree that you would probably benefit from some additional compression Given that you are only a few days out from surgery, your bra seems to be too loose, and you are uncomfortable without good support, I tend to agree with you that more support would probably be best. My best advice is that, even though it is the weekend, most surgeons are either themselves on call for their immediate postop patients like you, or they have a colleague who is available to answer such questions. I would call the contact number that you were given by the surgery center for the doctor for after hours problems, or call the office to see if there is an answering service that can put you in touch with the doctor or his or her designated cross-covering colleague. I think this is an important first step, because most doctors want to give input into this kind of thing themselves at this early stage after surgery. In the event that you can't reach anyone from your doctor's office, my suggestion to you, and one that I would give my own patients in this situation, is to get a gently compressive sports bra that has good supportive cups for each breast (not a bandeau kind), fastens in the front, no wires, and nice soft "cottony" type fabric, and put that on until you can talk to your own doctor. Again, this is only a stopgap measure that I suggest in the even that you can't reach your own surgeon, as it's always best to first get your own surgeon's advice about things like this, but if he or she can't be reached, then take care of the problem yourself sensibly until he can. Good luck.
Helpful 2 people found this helpful
January 25, 2016
Answer: I agree that you would probably benefit from some additional compression Given that you are only a few days out from surgery, your bra seems to be too loose, and you are uncomfortable without good support, I tend to agree with you that more support would probably be best. My best advice is that, even though it is the weekend, most surgeons are either themselves on call for their immediate postop patients like you, or they have a colleague who is available to answer such questions. I would call the contact number that you were given by the surgery center for the doctor for after hours problems, or call the office to see if there is an answering service that can put you in touch with the doctor or his or her designated cross-covering colleague. I think this is an important first step, because most doctors want to give input into this kind of thing themselves at this early stage after surgery. In the event that you can't reach anyone from your doctor's office, my suggestion to you, and one that I would give my own patients in this situation, is to get a gently compressive sports bra that has good supportive cups for each breast (not a bandeau kind), fastens in the front, no wires, and nice soft "cottony" type fabric, and put that on until you can talk to your own doctor. Again, this is only a stopgap measure that I suggest in the even that you can't reach your own surgeon, as it's always best to first get your own surgeon's advice about things like this, but if he or she can't be reached, then take care of the problem yourself sensibly until he can. Good luck.
Helpful 2 people found this helpful
