29 Yrs Old, No Kids, Explanting 9 Yr Submuscular Smooth Saline Implant with Capsulectomy

I am almost 9 weeks post-op. My breasts give me little trouble unless I twist a certain way or pick up something heavier than expected. I'm about 85% back to normal day to day functioning. I am able to drive a car (since week 8) with minimal pain and the surgeon lifted all weight restrictions at my 7 week follow up appointment. My incisions are completely healed now, and really, they did not hurt at all throughout this experience. I still have random nudges of pain mostly on the sides of my breasts and under my arms. I can almost lift my arms up completely over my head. The compression bra is off and I'm enjoying not wearing a bra at all since my nipples once again line up and it's winter so really who's looking anyway. Truth be told I'm probably not gonna wear a bra in the summer either since they're very small and they've had enough trauma as it is. The brain fog that I had after the operation has lifted and it's easy for me to study and form complete sentences again. The tingling and numbing in my arms and hands was from the surgical bra cutting off my circulation so that situation has been remedied. My axillary lymph nodes (the ones near and under your armpit) are completely back to normal. I didn't even realize they were so significantly swollen until I looked at my before and after photos. Also the lymph nodes no longer hurt at all. What a sigh of relief! They were my major concern towards the end of my breast augmentation experiment since they hurt all day and all night. Also, sleeping feels great without breast implants! I can comfortably lie on my sides without bowling balls falling into my armpits. And I can comfortably lie on my back and take deep breaths without feeling like there's an elephant sitting on my lungs. I realize I still navigate the world like a woman with large breasts; I give lots of clearance between myself and walls/doors/people etc. Looks wise my breasts are...deflated. I did not consider my explant to be aesthetic surgery so I have very little concern about how they look. I explanted for long term health reasons. I explanted because I wasn't too keen on undergoing surgery every 10 years. And knowing how anesthesia effects me I'm glad I did. I had a really rough time waking up from anesthesia after my explant and it took me over 3 hours to come to. After the follow up surgery to remove the hematoma I definitely felt like I experienced some brain damage because I felt dumb and loopy for weeks; I had trouble remembering basic things and I was living in a fog. Like I mentioned I'm almost back to normal but I still tire easily. And what is normal for me anyway? I've had breast implant for 1/3 of my life so I will have to discover a new normal. I will update with photos soon.

A week ago I had my right drain finally removed after wearing it for a little over 2 weeks. Removing the drain itself wasn't painful at all but cutting the stitches that attached the drain to my skin was very painful. In my experience, real healing begin when the drains are out. Everything becomes a little easier, especially sleeping. My breasts are still very tender and my chest muscles are sore. However I can touch them now without horrible pain. The incisions are healing well and itching as they should. I have still been sleeping elevated on my back as I am a side sleeper and sleeping on my side is still painful. My right foot is still cramping and tingling and sometimes feels numb as it did after the first surgery. My arm and hands are no longer numb and tingling after the hematoma was removed. The swelling in my hips and torso has improved significantly but I'm still puffy looking. I feel like my recovery has been slower than some of the other experiences I've read because of my follow up hematoma surgery. I suppose 2 surgeries in the span of 10 days is difficult on the body and the nerves. In the last 2 days or so I've been able to do some light cooking and cleaning so long as I don't lift my arms over my head the pain is minimal. My husband was able to take off 2 weeks to help me and that was extremely necessary since I couldn't even pour a glass of water. As for the looks of my breasts, they have improved tremendously. The bruising on my left side is almost gone. Both breasts are the same size as they were before the BA, except saggier. There is still swelling between them where I am used to seeing my sternum. I'm still trying to take it easy because excessive arm movement makes me hurt at night and prevents me from sleeping. I haven't even tried to drive yet. I am instructed to wear the compression bra 24/7 and I am not to lift anything over 5 lbs. My next appointment is in 5 weeks, and I'm hoping things will return to normal by then. I will say the days go by incredibly slowly when you're recovering from the pain and stress of surgery. I am including a photo of the current state of things.

Wanted to write an update on the hematoma removal/evacuation surgery I had 4 days ago. My right breast developed a hematoma 2 days post explant, and I had to go back under the knife 4 days ago so the surgeon could remove the hematoma. The procedure was performed under general anesthesia and took about 20 minutes. The surgeon opened up the incision on my right breast and flushed out the hematoma using saline solution and antibiotics. Then he inserted another drain, luckily it is ready to be removed tomorrow. While under general anesthesia the surgeon also removed the drain from my left breast and "pinched" the skin on my left breast to remove the significant wrinkling in my breast. This is why you will see that my left breast is severely bruised in the photo. Honestly at the moment I look absolutely ghastly, but luckily I feel better than I look.