areola skin peeled off

[babulu]

Dear Doctors,

I had surgery 20 days back,i had a very very big gynecomastia case, so incision ,lipo and skin tightening around the areola was done, very happy with the result except that the nipple on the right chest, the skin has dried and fallen, now you can see the pink skin underneath, while the left areola is intact, now what can i expect will the rest of the skin on the left areola fall of , will a new areola layer grow?, what about the colour change (from pink to original brown), please advice,

thanks

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

There appears to be some interruption of the blood supply to the nipple.  Recommend you return to your surgeon immediately ASAP to discuss.

Dr Jacobs

[Litlriki]

It does appear that the right side has taken a bit of a hit from the surgery, and this can happen at various levels, depending on the severity of compromise.  Sometimes, you just get blistering of the top layer of the skin, and as that peels off, there is a pink layer underneath, which will heal fairly quickly (within 7 - 10 days, typically).  If the compromise is deeper, you may experience full-thickness loss of nipple skin of the whole nipple or part of it, and this can leave a more deformed looking nipple.  In most cases, at this point, your best option is to monitor the site with appropriate wound care and see how it heals.  Your surgeon should guide you on the wound management and check on you with some frequency until it's healed up.

Good luck,

Rick Silverman

[babulu]

Thank you Doctors, if the skin is lost only on the surface level, will a new skin grow in it's place on top of the pink surface?

[Litlriki]

If you have partial thickness skin loss, then yes, the skin will resurface, though you may have loss of pigmentation, some or most of which will come back over time.  This happens with skin grafts frequently.  If you have full-thickness loss, they the site will heal in from the edges, leaving an irregular result, which will likely require revision in the future, the nature of which will be determined by what survives and how it looks. 

RS