Puffy Nip, 3 weeks out

[hopeful2006]

Hey guys great place....so glad its here.

I had excision and liposuction on Oct. 14th.
Im a muscular guy(ex college football player) and have large pecs, but had some fat and had the nice puffy nips to boot. So ive been wearing undershirts, pinching my nips to make them smaller, hoping that the water is cold when i go swimming...the whole 9 yards...dealt with it forever. Finally I had my surgery and was SO excited, SO excited. Well ive ran into a road block here. My left pec had swelled up quite large, about twice the size of the right...and I was becomign concerned, then it began to trickle some old blood (ya know the darker stuff) ...so i called the doctors office and the on-call PS that night told me to let it go ahead and drain and it should be ok. Well thats what I did..over the last 2 weeks Ive massaged about 2 1/2 cups of old blood, with a bit of seroma (yellowish fluid). It always feels much better after I drain it, but now the little spot where it was draining from has scabbed up, but my left nip is still quite puffy and irritable and feels/looks like it has a bit of fluid in it, its not as swollen as right when the swelling started, but my nipple looks just as bad or worse than it did PRE-OP. I saw my PS today and I hate it cause whenever im in the doc's office it is cold so my nipple shrivels up and he doesnt see what im seeing. But i explained this to him and he says with confidence that the swelling is causing the nipple(s) to puff out like they did before. My concern is did this hematoma/fluid cause my nipple to stay permanantly puffed out like this? I'm so worried about it. I know Im driving my fiancee nuts with this and i feel like im obsessing about it. I just pray that the nipple adheres back down and doesnt puff out --becuase thats WHY I HAD THE SURGERY, lol. Do hematomas and seroma cause permanant scar and tissue that will make the nipple puff out? The PS said he took quite a bit of gland out, so I know its not the gland...I can even feel the place where the gland is no more...just not sure what to do about the crap that is filling the gap in there...try and drain again? What about ice...does anyone ice for the swelling? Please help guys...

thanks!!

[daddynubbie]

Dont sweat it man, with having excessive swelling like you did it may take a couple of months for things to go down.

What happens when you flex, does your nipple push out or are you pretty flat?  I think that is a preety good way to tell if you are dealing with swelling or there is still fat/gland in there.
Swelling will dissipate some when you flex your chest ,fat/gland wont.

That is what i am hoping for me, my right side is real good but my right side is puffy. I am still a little tender and sore so i am pretty sure there is swelling there.

I hope that help some.

[sergeantpepper]

I have a similar situation. One side is perfect and the other is still a little puffy. I think it's probably liquid though. However I am almost 4 weeks out and I'm worried that maybe that's just how it's going to be. Is it normal to have significant swelling 4 weeks out? I'll try that flexing thing

[Pedro_portugal]

I'm also in that situation... I've performed the gynecomastia surgery on 5th september..  and today, 1 month later (precisely 5 weeks) I have a pretty flat chest. However I can notice a little edema (swealling) on my right side that makes my right ripple a little puffy (nothing compared with the pre-operation situation!). My right side is insensible to sensations like temperature, touch, pain, and I think that's a consequence of swealling.
My left side is ok, althought it has swealling too (almost unnoticeable), so my left nipple is not puffy and that side is sensible to those sensations I mentioned before.
I think and my doctor also said to me to be calm and patient and that I would see the final results in 3, 4 months.
I am still using the vest which I hate lolol... but it has to be... and I'll use it for one more week or two every day and after that only at night.  


--------------------------------------------
Pedro
(PORTUGAL)
pedropnf@hotmail.com

[hopeful2006]

thanks for the replies guys....heres what i did.....
drained it with a syringe....it felt and looked so much better, it was flat!....but the next day after not wearing the vest for about 30 minutes...nip puffs out again....but less than before...so maybe once this final bit of swelling goes down i will be flat!  should i drain again or just let the last bit of swelling in the nip go down on its own...will it?

justin

[nonini]

if its just fluid leave it alone the body will reabsorbe it sooner or later ur risking geting an infection. just be patient

[sergeantpepper]

Did you drain it yourself?? Geez

[hopeful2006]

yea i did.....i just hope the rest of it goes away on its own...  

[sergeantpepper]

It seems weird that one side would swell so much more than the other. That's what has worried me. The swelling keeps going up and down. It feels like it's just liquid in there, which is a good sign I guess but it seems like its been there a little long. Anyone know how long it usually takes to drain? I only had puff to begin with, no actual breasts. And on the other side one morning the swelling was just completely gone!

[nonini]

thats not strange at all. there are going to be differences go the way the sides heal because there were minor differences in the excisions.

[sergeantpepper]

Ok, I just noticed something. On the side that is still swollen I can feel some pretty hard tissue. Not really under the nipple but just around it. I know it's not gland or anything because it wasn't there before. Could this be swelling or a bruise? I don't have much sensation there except for a slight pain when I touch it. It just seems weird because I've never had a bruise or anything that hard before. And it's kind of around the nipple, not right underneath it. Any guesses?

[alteredbeast]

hopeful,
I'm having the same situation and It's only been ten days since the surgery.  My left nipple has a fluid filled sac behind it that's just come on in the last few days.  It's particularly noticeable when I raise my arm, definitely looks worse than it did b4 surgery.  I've been contemplating draining it myself with a syringe like you did - please keep me posted if you think that's a worthwhile strategy.

[alteredbeast]

BTW - what gauge needle did you use? 25 gauge with a 3cc syringe?  How much fluid were you able to drain?