Post surgery questions? Surgery on 2/25/10

[jencplvr]

I just had surgery last week, so perhaps my fear and anxiety is a big premature... however, it's there nonetheless.

I am early on as I said, but I am unsure of how this is going to turn out.  I am either really swollen or I have major internal scars or a combination of both because the area surrounding my nipple is very hard and almost feels like a tennis ball under my nipple.. the shape of my chest looks almost the same as before the surgery, however the complex is different.. before the surgery, there was a lot of lose gland and fatty tissue as opposed to now where the area feels relatively hard.  I guess my concern is internal scarring.. I realize that swelling will go away with time, but will the internal scars go away.. I feel like they've built this huge 'shield' and it seems like it could take a long time to go away.  The only time I can really see a difference in the shape is when I lift my arms above my head and my chest appears to show the 'balls' I referenced.

Also, my nipples have taken on a different look than from before.. the center protruding part of the nipple seems bigger around than before (mind you, I already hated the way they looked).. could this also be attributed to swelling?  I truly hope so, otherwise I will probably need to go for a nipple reduction procedure... My plastic surgeon told me before the surgery that my nipples could naturally become reduced in size due to the surgery.. this was after I expressed my dislike for their appearance.. I never asked if I should consider a nipple reduction surgery as he seemed confident that the original size would decrease.. however, they've only increased in size.

I know I'm probably being terribly impatient.. but, I guess I assumed there would be noticeable positive difference in my chest even from the beginning, however, the shape and and size of my chest seems the same and the nippled size has increased.

I will post pics soon to accompany this post... 

anyone have thoughts?   

[ddh]

I'm 3 weeks post op and I too have the hard areas you describe, but from day one, my chest is much, much smaller than before the surgery. However, I've never had the puffy nipple thing, just carried a lot of fat in my chest (even though I am pretty slim everywhere else). So my surgery was heavy on liposuction.

I have noticed that my actual nipples (not areolas) appear a bit bigger than before. I assume that it is just part of the post-surgery swelling.

I'd strongly recommend waiting things out for a while. Your body is doing a lot of healing right now.

Best of luck!

[ddh]

Your links or pics don't appear in your post.