Compression Garment

[snycs10]

Today is my first day without wearing my compression garment. My doctor told me last week that I didn't have to wear it all day anymore and just after I work out of at night. It was kind of my security blanket and I wanted to make sure all swelling was down so I wore for an extra week (4 in total/23.5 hours a day) I still have some tendernous in my chest, but I think I'm healing very nicely considering I quite a bit of breast tissue. I'm leaving for a cruise next weekend and I can't wait to really be able to truly enjoy myself. The feeling of fabric against my bear chest feels a little weird right now, but I can't wait to go shirtless on the beach!!

[lexuslexus]

congrats mate, im in the same postition right now, im 5 weeks post surgery and have been wearing my vest 24/7 apart from showering. im a little afraid of taking it off cos i love the results so far and dont want it to change.

i tried to put on a stage 2 vest but my shouders are to wide to put it on wihtout having 2 housemates pull it on and off me lol.

Thinking i might surprise my girlfriend by turning up to her house on firday wearing a tight t-shirt i brought earlier in the week lol, tho depends if i can work up the corauge to go a whole day without it lol

[snycs10]

I'm day 3 without the vest and it's totally fine. I get a little nervous of someone bumping into me, but that's about it. My great results haven't changed at and if anything it looks even better without all the lines all over me, plus my dry skin seems to be healing better since it's getting some air.

[lexuslexus]

awesome! well done mate.

i get a little worried because i have read things on here of people saying wear stage 2 for the second month 24/7, or wear the vests for 12 weeks. And with things like people saying how after a few hours their nips go back to being puffy, i guess im kinda scared of loseing what i have now lol.

[9Wolf]

I feel you... I'm wearing mine longer and I decided to add a stage 2 also just by reading posts. It IS crucial since the vest is not necessarily only for 'swelling', but more importantly for skin recontouring.

If you had a more severe case and you had more loose skin, you'll need to wear it longer. The vest's compression keeps that skin close to the body and tells the body to shrink that skin, otherwise the skin would sag and the body would just let it sag and it would never recover. You would need a tuck.

It's sort of the same thing with dental braces. When I was young, I was so excited to finally have the braces off, that I only wore my 'retainer' for not even half the time I was supposed to. And sure enough, the teeth slowly started deviating the perfect form they were in. Post-procedural maintenance is sometimes more important than the procedure itself! Hehe...

[snycs10]

I actually just started wearing mine to sleep in and it seems to wokr for me. I've opted not for the stage 2 garment.

[lexuslexus]

well at the moment im wearing my stage 2 in the day and then poping my stage one vest on it over night just for extra compression lol.

im almost 6 weeks post op, and my surgeon said i could take off my vest in the day now and just wear it in the night until week 7 and then only wear it when i want to lol.
tho im thinkin gof keepin git on until the end of week 8, as im starting to do some wieghts again and want to minimalise any swelling that could happen.

[snycs10]

Pretty much the same as what I was told....I haven't started lifting again yet. I plan on it though in the next few weeks and I'm sure I'll put my vest on upon returning from the gym. I'm fully confident that my gyne won't be returning and I love my results now so I've been able to let go of my 'security blanket'

[lexuslexus]

lol thats awesome to hear.
atm im only training arms, legs and shoulders (avoiding anyhting to do with chest), but on thursday im gonna start to do pullups again (which use your chest a lil i think), but bench press im gonna leave for a lil bit and still a lil sore to touch my nipples.

only problem is when working out with your compression vest, once you get 'pumped', you have a whole lot more compression to contend with lol!

[9Wolf]

Cool stuff guys! It seems like we're on almost the same timeline post-op.

I started working out again this last week... which was week 7. My doc had said it's fine to work out after week 6, and that when I do, to keep the compression belt on during the workout. I started with push-ups last week, and today was my first day with bench press... felt good to finally do it (other than being semi-irritated at losing so much strength over the last 2 months!)

When I go out, I put on my stage 2. When I sleep or am just chillin, I just throw on the belt over a tshirt.