61 Yr Old, Having my Hardened Silicone Breast Implants Removed 23 Yrs Later! - Santa Clara, CA

Hi ladies! How're you all doing? I check in now and then, but thought I'd update this time. Well, as some of you know, I have had days when finding a comfy bra or even going without one was very difficult. Up until about 4 days ago, that remained to still be the case. Fingers crossed, I seem to have less discomfort now. I don't know why I've had some pain almost every day for 5 months after explantation. Some days I'd feel fine, then others, I'd feel more discomfort or irritation than I think I should have! Everything LOOKS fine, but when I wear a bra, the band feels like it's cutting me in half, even though it's very loose! Then, when I didn't wear a bra, my breasts felt very achey and uncomfortable. This has been pretty discouraging for me. It doesn't matter what kind of bra I wore. My breasts aren't big and heavy, so I don't understand why I've had such a long time of discomfort. Nothing PAINFUL, but uncomfortable and kind of irritating. I know that it can take up to a year (approx) to heal completely and I am fine with that. I have some tingly, stinging sensations, but those are something I expect and can accept. They are just a part of my healing process. No big deal. I just thought that I wouldn't still be having a hard time wearing a bra or going without one by now. Sorry if I sound a little confusing in my explanation! Anyway, as of about four days ago, I'm feeling much more comfortable. I'm still happy I had the implants removed. I have yet to go out to find a really comfortable bra. I have looked, but I haven't found anything that doesn't cave in on top. If I were thinner, I know my search would be much easier. I'm having a hard time finding a smaller cup with quite a bit of padding. There are some specialty shops about 30 minutes away from me that I'm going to try, next time I decide to go bra shopping. I'll let you know how it goes! I'm updating some pics of my incisions. They are much lighter and looking better now. Yay! I've been thinking of you all. It's kind of funny how we used to check in several times a day because we were hungry for any new info we could find. Now were all healing and have moved on. Well, that's a very good sign of how well we're doing now. We can finally stop thinking about our boobs and how unhappy we were and move on! Yay for us! I don't sound like a 61-year-old, do I? LOL! ;-)

Hi Everyone! I'm sorry I haven't taken the time to update my profile recently. I have been reading your updates and comments sometimes, but didn't feel up to sharing anything new. I was especially moved by one of your updates, so I replied to it and I've decided to just copy and paste it again right here. I'll update again in a few days...I had written something to ALL of you who have been with me along this journey, but I accidentally deleted it. I'll re-write it again in a day or two. I'll be posting some updated pics today too. Okay, here's my latest news! Soft hugs, ladies!!
I've had a LOT of ups and downs, some of which I've updated along the way, but lately I haven't. I REALLY wanted to remain upbeat and positive about my post-op results, because I AM glad that I no longer have painful, hard foreign objects in my body. I had mine in for 23 years and somehow, some way they never ruptured! I am glad I had my silicone, capsular contractured implants removed because they hurt, it was embarrassing to hug people with hard boobs and I was always worried what damage they may be doing to my body. So, yes, I'm glad they are OUT! But, at this point of my healing, I do get depressed about needing padded bras again. I have one breast that's sunken in on top, so that is harder to camouflage and it makes me upset and discouraged. I miss the normal-looking boobs I felt I had with implants, because they looked sexy in a bra and I felt womanly in my clothes. Mine were the perfect size for my body type. They never felt heavy and they didn't look fake. I still have more pain than I ever expected at this point. But, the pain isn't constant and it's pretty tolerable. I've had an abnormal amount of trouble trying to find ANY bra, sports or otherwise that felt bearable around the band. I attribute that to being overweight, though. The band always rolls up into the crease of my breasts so it irritates my incisions. I still can't find a comfy bra, not even a sports bra. The problem with being overweight, is that every store, online or not seems to think if a woman needs a 44 band size, then she has BIG breasts and that's not the case with me! I need an A/B cup size, especially because the right breast is dipped in. After my explantation, I woke up with nothing binding my breasts even though my PS said he'd put on Ace bandages. Since I didn't have any wrap or some kind of support on after surgery, I always felt like my breasts weren't bound up, so how could the chest wall heal together again? But, nothing wrapped around me felt comfortable at all or not for very long. I still only wear a bra for a few hours, then just go braless when I'm at home. But, I feel as though my breasts should have a chance to knit together and if I can't wear something kind of tight around them most of the time, then they're not going to. If I lift my right arm up to reach for something high, I feel a strange tugging feeling inside as if it's got a pocket in there and it feels like I'm pulling whatever is healing inside apart again. I have no problem with that on the left side. I have twinges in both breasts or a stinging/ burning sensation too. I know a lot of this is the nerve endings hooking back up or just healing. I have a pain on my right side, kind of by my ribs but higher up that feels like a sharp stick poking me. That's been the most irritating part for me. Some days it really hurt a lot and made me very cranky!! Just ask my husband! For about 10 days that pain disappeared and I thought that it was gone, at last. Well, it came back again and it's still with me. I don't know what the heck it is or if it will ever go away. I have read other women's profiles who had surgery before I did and I know it can take at least a year before everything is healed. So, I'm just trying to be patient. At this point, I don't think my breast shape is going to change, nor fluff up any more. The left breast is definitely smaller than the right one and it has a dent in the bottom of it. I don't mind that part so much, but the fact that my right breast has a big scooped out look to it does bother me. It's funny, because my left breast was the one that gave me the most pains when I had implants and it was harder than the right side. So, I expected my left breast to be the more "mangled" one! Very strange how that turned out! Maybe I'll just have to go get some kind of mastectomy bra because one side needs to be fuller than the other. I don't really want to have hot, heavy forms or cutlets on my chest, but I'm not having any luck finding bras that are padded enough in my size. I'm like you...I feel as though most ladies on RS had better results, but my natural breasts were always kind of a "triangle", funky shape to begin with! My nipples were always placed low on the breast, so that's how they are now. Yep, a lift plus a fat transfer would have probably fixed everything, but my insurance wouldn't pay for that and I wasn't sure I wanted to put my poor boobs through any more torture. Well, I didn't really want to spend any more money on surgery, either. I hope that my chest wall does find a way to knit itself back together eventually and that my side boob/rib pain goes away for good. IF I can find a padded bra that makes both boobs look even so my blouses look better on me, I'll be happy enough. I still think we all are better off with soft, natural breasts, even if we're not as happy with the post-op results as we hoped to be. At least I know from this point on, I don't have to worry about what may happen to my implants in the future. They are GONE and I don't have to think about them anymore!! That's a very good thing. :-) If you take a look at my pics, you'll see that my breasts are uneven and one is thinner than the other. I think my breasts are much smaller looking in person, especially from the top view. The upper pole area is very flat, even in a bra. Not great looking at all. But they're soft again and they're mine. The hard, painful rocks are gone at last. That's all I can say and I think having the silicone and hard, painful implants out of me is definitely worth it. :-) Good luck on your healing. I know it's not easy and the way our breasts look after surgery may not be the way we want, but at least we are implant-free and that's safer and healthier than the way we were. I know that may be small comfort if you are really unhappy about your results. I understand, because I feel the same way. Some days I feel okay and some days I don't. But, there's a lot of support here for you on RS. You can be honest and open about your feelings. There's NO need to pretend everything is fine if it's not. I know the other ladies will be here to talk to and to be supportive of what you are dealing with, physically and emotionally. That's what's so great about this site. They have been here for me and I don't know what I would have done without them, especially before the surgery. The info and encouragement they provided gave me the strength to get rid of those foreign objects and I'll always be thankful for that. I have no regrets.

Hi Everyone!! Well, yesterday, the 11th was my one-month post-op anniversary! I can't believe the time has passed so quickly! One thing I want to say is that each day is different after the surgery, for sure. Some days the discomfort will be very light and other days you'll be thankful for your pain meds or a lighter form of pain management. Once in a while, even after four weeks, I'll have to pop about 800 mgs (or less) of ibuprofen! But that's usually only on days I've been really busy and have done too much. Yep, we never know what we're going to get when it comes to our post-op results! My left breast had a slight indentation on top that fluffed up and is now gone. Right after surgery, my left breast looked normal at the bottom, but now it has a slight area that has pulled up a tiny bit. Sigh. It would be nice if that would go away! My right breast had a larger indentation on top and it's still there. I must have had more scar tissue in that area that the doctor had to remove. I don't think it's going to change. The one thing I've noticed is that I seem to have more firmness in my breasts than when I was younger. Imagine that! Maybe it's just scar tissue that didn't harden as much as the other part did. It feels like a normal firmness, which is nice! The firmness is consistent on both breasts and not lumpy or anything like that. So that part is kind of cool! Yesterday, even though it was Mother's Day, I decided to cook an easy, early dinner for my mother-in-law, my husband and grandson at home. My mother-in-law has dementia, so going out in public is too confusing for her. So, I kind of overdid it a bit and last night I was really uncomfortable. I was hurting almost as much as I did right after surgery, in fact! But, I took my 800 mg of ibuprofen and two hours later I was feeling fine. Today I feel perfectly fine again. I do wish that both of my breasts looked a bit better, but I do not regret having my implants removed at all! I can't wait until I reach the six-week mark and I can wear a regular bra again. Once I can wear a bra with some padding, I will feel happier, because right now I am pretty flat-chested if I'm just wearing a sports bra with a blouse or casual top. I knew I was going to be pretty flat-chested after surgery, so that's not a surprise to me. I'm just happy to have it over with and am being patient with the healing part. Everything seems to be right on track with healing. I should probably take my four-week photos, too. However, I don't think I've changed much from the last photos I posted. In person, I think my breasts are smaller than they look like in the online pics. You can't really see the indentation on the top of my right breast, nor the "pulled up" area underneath the left breast. That part isn't too obvious, anyway. The incisions are looking better now. Before, they looked a little bit like round, ropey shoelaces, but now they are flat and smooth. Some days they are slightly red and other days they aren't. But there is no irritation or infection at all. So, I'd say things are looking pretty good, overall and I'm glad I am now implant free and continuing to give a lot of soft hugs!!