UK: My Explant Under Local After 15 Years. Mr Nicholas Collis Newcastle, GB Lots of pics added

I know it's been a while, sorry. Here are the missing pictures from before and after. To be honest I'd completely forgotten about the surgery. I will post update pictures soon. Please ask if you need to know anything about any aspect of my surgery please just ask.

I did notice that a lot of Ladies have drains. My PS said he rarely uses drains (if I remember correctly). I didn't have drains either and I didn't have any problems. I also didn't have a binding wrap that many Ladies have just a front fastening post surgery bra. I will try and show these in the pictures when I manage to upload them from my old phone.

I really wasn't going to write a review as I tend to waffle and give all sorts of unnecessary details. But I have read so many reviews all written in different ways and they helped me so I though 'what the heck', it may help someone. Pictures added soon.
I am happy to answer questions so ask away but I will try and keep it short.
I had my implant surgery in 1999. I was an A/B cup and felt completely unfeminine. So I opted for surgery. I really just wanted a D cup but I woke up with considerably larger. Even after they settled down they were a good F and sometime even this wasn't enough. Needless to say this caused just as much if not more misery than have a chest I could cheat with and put chicken fillets in my bra for a boost, now I no longer had the option. Having much larger breasts than I wanted made them a more sexual object if that makes sense? I really just wanted to feel feminine but instead I felt self conscious at they jutted out and nothing could hide them. For the next 15 years I never went naked in front of my Hubby as it just felt odd. No wearing clingy or low tops. Always wearing a bra in bed as it was too uncomfortable to go without. No form fitting tops. No close hugs, no cuddles without feeling something came between us as they never really felt part of me. No high aerobic fitness training or jumping up and down without 3 bras to keep them from doing their own aerobics. This included running around after the kids. Having to wear bigger clothes and altogether feeling heavy and matronly. After my marriage broke down for some reason the need to have an explant became a priority. I needed to feel like me again, the real me. Time to research...
Here in the UK it seems most PS charge anything between £2,500-£5,000 to explant. This under my current or foreseeable circumstances was not an option. For a very long time I thought I would be stuck with my implants for the rest of my life. But then I found Real self! So I researched like crazy and read lots of reviews and happened to come across a UK review for a Mr Collis. What can I say but OMFG! gosh by the way. Really £1,300 to explant; now this I could afford. So right did it feel that I put the wheels in motion straight away to have a consultation.
Time for the first hurdles; time and distance. I have limited time off work and the Nuffield in Newcastle was a 700 mile round trip there and back! I live in the South East of the UK and Newcastle is in the North. A flight was going to cost 2-400GBP way too much on my limited budget. So next is the train. The Train Journey cheapest ticket was £140 return and would take around 6 hours door to door. This was the way I chose. Around 10 days after my initial email to Nuffield I was having my consultation with Mr Collis. What can I say.... What a lovely man. The best plastic surgeon you would ever wish to meet...... He is very open, relaxed, professional. He listens to everything you have to say, encourages questions, offers ideas (no coaxing or pressure what-so-ever). Mr Collis is calm, confident and honest in the possibilities of outcomes and the options available. All the while making it very clear that it is your choice. I feel my Angel guided me to Mr Collis as there really was no other way for me.
After my consultation my op was booked around 2 week later on the 21st August at The Nuffield in Newcastle. What a lovely modern, clean Hospital. The waiting was okay I was excited and ready. I could not be more ready. I had my moments of wobble but that was only when my imagination decided to imagine in too much detail the operation under local. I quickly adopted distraction techniques to cope with these lapses. This worked for me. I had two weeks booked of work from the 21st so I travelled up to Newcastle by Train straight after work on the Thursday as my surgery was booked for early the following morning. I travelled alone with no support. Only one person knew I was going up and having the op. This was my sole source of support... and of course Real Self which I read on the long train ride up. I had to get a Train then a Tube Train, then another Train and finally a Taxi. (Totally worth it). I arrived very late around 11:30pm. I stayed in a Hotel close to the Train Station and booked a Taxi for the morning. I ran the biggest bubble bath I have every had and took some final before pictures of the bane of my life. Time to say adios.
I arrived at the Hospital with suitcase still quite excited but now a little nervous. All the staff at the Nuffield are at the top of their field. Friendly enough to put you at ease very quickly but very professional with attention to detail to make sure everything was as it should be. You have to appreciate that; I did. After all necessary checks were made , I got into my gown and Mr Collis came to have a chat and take some pictures before I went down for my op. I was wheeled down in a chair (that felt a bit wrong ;-( 0 After more checks and an introduction to the Theatre staff I lay down on the operating table to be prepped, and prepped I was. This was all a bit surreal. I know some other reviewers have said they had valium or some other drug to calm them down but there was me cold turkey and natural with no drugs in my body. I was sanitised and covered with sterile blue sheeting. Everything was explained to me before during and after. Mr Collis explained everything that was going to happen, what I could possible feel. We also discussed what my pain word would be. As I was having a Local extraction I had read that other reviewers said they could feel certain things and that made me a bit anxious. With this in mind I asked Mr Collis if he could give me more aesthetic or numbing if I used my 'I can feel pain' word which was to be 'OUCH!' I loved having this in place as it was a short appropriate word which Mr Collis acted on Promptly the three times I used it. They were only little ouches but I'm a wuss. At the outer edges of my original scars seemed to be the most sensitive. These old scars were cut away to make new edges to sew together. As the op was in progress I felt a wobble coming on as I started to imagine what the Surgeon was doing. I had to shut the door on that image and concentrate on the music and the lyrics to take my mind off it. The whole process was over in around 40 minutes or less start to finish in theatre. I felt a little odd after but that was to be expected. I was put into a wheelchair and rolled out to the recovery and checking area where my blood pressure was checked before being take back to my room. In my room I relaxed and dozed until a lovely nurse came in to do some more check and fit me with a post surgery bra that they supplied. I ended up with a 34C. Interesting. I was given some Ibuprofen and Paracetamol before I went home. Instructed to wear a post surgery bra for 3 months and a sports bra for another 3-4 months.
I travelled home by Train on my own. I had my friend at the other end of the phone if I needed her but I really had no one else so I didn't have an option or a back up support. It was a full Train and I was very lucky to get a seat but other than that it was straight forward and without problem. Over the next few days I forced myself to relax and literally do nothing. I read books and lounged about feeling a complete fraud. Only because to be honest I didn't feel like I'd had an operation at all. It just felt like any other day (pre implant). Apart from my now flat chest. Who would have thought I'd be so very happy to have a flat chest. Right off the bat it felt good to me natural me. I looked so much slimmer I was astounded. It looked as though I'd lost a stone overnight.
When I plucked up the courage to look at my new old breasts I was quite a mused to feel how soft they were. How odd that we accept these tennis ball implants as being a normal feel for a breast when the real thing feels so much nicer. Flat as a pancake but all mine. I don't care how they look it feels good. Yes my breasts look a bit sad but so would you be if you had to live with a lodger for 15 years and you had no say in in it. I have not massaged or put creams on. I have just let them be. I have found a Marks and Spencer's Sports Bra with a zip up the front to be the most supporting and the most comfortable so far. I am loving my new shape. I will be happy no matter what they look like. I have already worn string vest tops and this I have not felt able to do in the last 15 years. That small change in itself is priceless.
Feel free to ask any questions. I will be posting pictures soon but I have just changed phone and they are on my old phone at present.
All I can say is if it feels right for you in your gut, go with it. That's what I did and I can honestly say it has changed my life. A big thank you to Mr Collis and his team. Without the a very reduced cost for the service he offers I would have felt like I was in a kind of prison for the rest of my life. What kind of life is that if there is always an elephant in the room that only you know is there. Take care all x