Starting to feel a bit more pain?

[Enmend54]

I'm About 5 days post-op and I'm amazed at how fast the swelling has decreased! I'm healing very well but lately my nipples have been hurting alot? Is it because the swelling is decreasing? because I wasn't even able to feel or get any sensitivity in them at first.

[Litlriki]

There are a number of reasons why you may have pain at various points after surgery.  Typically, however, a decrease in swelling is associated with decreasing pain.  More likely, you may be taking less pain medication as the days go by, since you may have less pain overall.  Also, you may be more active, which can cause some increased pain. Alternatively, the nerves that get cut or beat up during the surgery are a little "out of it" early on, and as they wake up, you'll have some associated discomfort.  These things are normal and of little concern.

On the other hand, pain associated with increased swelling, redness, or other signs of infection or tissue damage may need to be addressed by your surgeon.  From the rest of your description, however, it doesn't sound like a problem, but rather just the normal progression of things.

Rick Silverman

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

Totally agree with Dr. Silverman.

After surgery, there is typically numbness of the skin of the chest and the nipples.  As healing progresses, the sensory nerves awaken and the ones that were cut begin to function again.  The result is all sorts of eerie feelings such as tingling, itching, soreness, fast sharp-shooting pains that quickly disappear, etc.

All of this is normal and will slowly disappear over time.

Dr Jacobs