Taking dressings off= Painful!

[Hope]

Did anyone take the dressings/ garment off them selves?? I am talking about the bandages.

It is PAINFUL for me and I have only taken some of it off and am taking a break!!

I am hairy so it does really hurt.

Has anyone got any tips to help taking it off easier??

[mrpower33]

No tips, just go REALLLLLY slowly. 

[GynO_DuDe]

Best to do it in the shower ... you'll have glue/residue left which can be removed with surgical spirit, so pop down the chemist when you can and get a bottle!

[Hope]

Yeah im just going to cut the padded part off and leave the glue part on and hopefully after a few showers it should start to peel.

I will get the spirit bottle tommorrow.

If I carry on taking it off slowly I will be there all day!!! Plus the pain is unbearable.

Thanks for the help guys.

[DrBermant]

Did anyone take the dressings/ garment off them selves?? I am talking about the bandages.

It is PAINFUL for me and I have only taken some of it off and am taking a break!!

I am hairy so it does really hurt.

Has anyone got any tips to help taking it off easier??

Removal of Gynecomastia Surgery Dressings depends on many factors best discussed with your own surgeon.  For select patients, we offer remote dressing removal where I am on the phone with the patient while they are removing the dressings themselves.  The unshaven male chest can result in major pain on dressing removal.  A small part of my Comfort After Gynecomastia Surgery involves shaving the patient's chest in the operating room over the zone of planned dressing application.  Shaving the chest the night before surgery really increases surgical infections.  For my patients then, they face only what hair has grown while the dressing has been in place. 

Solvents can be a bad idea as the solvent may loosen steristrips which may be component of the closure.

Making it less painful after the fact, is not easy.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Gynecomastia and Male Breast Surgery

[Hope]

Yeah thanks doc.

The hair that I trimmed didnt have the glue stuck on. Unlucky me...

I will just have to take it like a man.

[i_dont_know]

There's really no way around it, you kind of just have to suck it up and do it. I know it hurts... it wasn't something I'd ever want to endure again. That's for sure. But once it's done, it's done.

[Saitek]

How long have you left them on?

I'm 8 days post op and still have them on (I haven't seen my nipples yet!)

hmmm ...

[Hope]

How long have you left them on?

I'm 8 days post op and still have them on (I haven't seen my nipples yet!)

hmmm ...

I have left them on for 1 week as advised by my surgeon.

Everyone is different so you should ask your surgeon if you can take them off.

Good luck taking them off!!

[DrBermant]

How long have you left them on?

I'm 8 days post op and still have them on (I haven't seen my nipples yet!)

hmmm ...

For my patients, I generally recommend removing the dressing in the office at about 6 days after surgery.  When patients are using our remote dressing removal, where I am on the phone with them while they are removing the dressings, I bump that back to about 10 days so that the tissues can better heal before subjected to the potential additional trauma of a patient taking off the dressing.  However, timing can change depending on many factors.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Gynecomastia and Male Breast Reduction

[Hope]

I have taken them all off.

I played football and after the match I was sweaty and very itchy so I went home and I just pulled it off easily as a result of the sweat.

Pain free!!

I wouldnt advise playing footy as my mate mate ran in to me with his hand up right to my chest. Luxky for me he didnt put all of his force into it.