Worried, frustrated and want to cry!

Hi girls,

I saw my surgeon on Monday regarding my re-op for the 13th of August to go through what he is doing to correct my bottomed out implants. I have come away feeling so down about the whole thing I am considering backing out of the revision surgery .

I had an uplift with implants last February and straight after surgery and I mean that day I could tell something wasn't right as my implants were sitting low and nipples way to high. I have put up with them for over a year as I was told they needed to settle and MyBreast approved the re-op in Feb of this year. I thought there was a light at the end of the tunnel but after seeing my surgeon again on Monday I am now doubting that my problem is going to be resolved.

He has said that he is going remove some more excess skin underneath and re-stitch everything down which should hopfully push my implant up higher and bring my nipple down. However he says I may have oblong shaped breast for 4-6 months until they drop and hopefully round back out again! Then he follows on with but you have to bear in mind they may bottom out again because of how my tissue reacts ie he says my skin is so stretchy. I am so fed up with my body being blamed for how they turned out and feel like I am being warned they may still be sh*t after because of my skin to cover himself. He says looking back, he might have been over optimistic about the result achievable for me because of how my breasts were before he started! WTF -could have told me that before I paid all that money and gone through all this stress over the past year.

I feel absolutely rubbish and although I can't go on feeling the way I do about my breast as they are, are they going to be even worse after the re-op? HELP

Don't cry C'mere babe

When you're having a re-op through necessity and not through choice it's never that happy eager feeling you had when you had your first op... there's fear and dread that things could be worse and I think it's a surgeons responsibility to explain the worse to you and I know that might sound bad right now, but at least you're prepared each step of the way... Take a read through my diary sweetie (cookies journey) and you'll see when I had my re-op I was warned of all kinds of complications post-op and I was terrified of going into surgery, but I just I just couldn't live with my breasts the way they were, so I had no choice but to go for it and hope for the best and it turned out OK babe....

I totally understand your fears sweetheart, but take a deep breath and think further ahead to the possibility of having the breasts you've longed for and stick with that positive thought babe. I'm sure as much as your surgeon may have frightened you today, he'll also do his very best for you too on your day of surgery. xxxx

Aw hun I think cookie has said it all, I guess we cant take the nerves and frustration from you but we can be here to support you when you are really worried. Try to be positive hun, but dont be scared of writing your feeling down, sometimes it helps just to talk about it

Come 'ere

Okay, I know from speaking in the past you are in exactly the same position as I was xx Both sides bottomed out with ridiculously high nipples which look silly xx

It sounds as though you PS is going to do exactly what I had done by my man xx

I was told, that there is no doubt about it, that over time, I will bottom out again xx I was told that the only way to stop it happening again was to remove the implant xx I don't know if you can recall but that was the first option given to me xx

I wasn't warned that my boobs would be oblong after for a while, however they were flat along the bottom, I was very worried about it and was like it for a good couple of months xx

My PS said that due to age and the skin LOSING its elasticity etc etc that if a woman has bottomed out / had saggy boobs in the past that they WILL bottom out again.......it is inevitable xx I asked him how long they would last and he shrugged........He said, I have no idea xx Personally I couldn't live with them the way they were as they looked awful so decided to go for it xx One thing was for sure they couldn't get any worse xx

I had them done beginning of December 2011 and as I mentioned above they were odd shaped for a good couple of months however they have settled down and rounded out quite nicely now, looking back they had too I suppose, due to gravity xx but it is a bit of a worry to begin with xx

In bras and clothes they look great xx loads of upper pole and without clothes my scars underneath are pretty much hidden, as long as I don't wave my arms in the air xx

The biggest difference is that my nipples and areola are now central and I cannot tell you what a difference that makes xx they will never be the best looking boobs due to the old scarring around the areola and the fact they have been through too much, but they are so much better than they were and there is only the tiniest bit of areola that occasionally sticks out but this is because the scars are so wide and that side is slightly bigger than the other xx on the whole though I don't have to keep adjusting and 'tucking' them back in anymore xx

It has made a massive difference and I am pleased I had the reop xx I may in the future get the scars around the areola sorted as I think this would make them look even better as the old scars really are disgusting xx

I think what he has told you is fair comment xx Your boobs WILL look strange in shape for a bit but mine have rounded off now and no longer look strange xx Warning you that you MAY bottom out again I think is also fair, my PS went even further and said I would definitely bottom out again xx

I had exactly them same dilemma as you....will they be worse....will they be the same.....and so on and so forth and unfortunately there are NO guarantees xx The only advice I can give is that I asked myself the following;
Do I want to stay the way I am??
The answer was no x AND that's what I based my decision on xx

Obviously I trusted my new PS as well xx and I also got a second opinion so I would also say make sure you feel 100 % happy with the person that is operating and also ask the question as to what if it fails?? xx

Feel free to ask any questions hun and I will try to help xx I totally understand what you are going through xx

Thank you so much cookie, misf1 and Kay You have all made me feel alot better. It has helped to write it down on here and to get feed back from you knowing you have been through re-ops to. It has made feel much better about how my surgeon was with on Monday as well.

cookie, I will definately be having a read of your journey, thank you so much xx

Kay so pleased to hear that yours did shape up nicely after a while. I keep asking my ps about removing the implant but he says I will have no shape if he did that? size was never an issue for me as it was due to weightloss that I needed uplift etc. I take it you kept yours? I really appreciate your support xxx

Thats great advise Kay gave you there hun, you cant get any better then speaking to some one who has been in your shoes & come out the other side.......

Im glad you feeling better about it now

xx

Glad you're feeling a little better now too lovely - Chin and now babe and stay positive. :thumbs:

Big hugs xxxx

At first, the PS advised a complete explant of both sides, and I was pretty much resigned to it.....I cried on the way home and tried to convince myself that it would all be okay xx

Like you, I was happy with the size I was pre op and didn't want to increase in size, and in fact I originally only went for an uplift so thought that I would be okay with the explant xx

I googled lots of images of uplifted boobs without implants to try to give me an idea of what I would have and my PS was very clear that I would lose the upper pole that I had xx

No matter how much I told myself I might be better off, every time I thought of having the implants removed I got really upset......

What swung it in the end was the fact that I would have the explant and then have to wait 6 months before having a further full anchor mastopexy, so that the breasts had a chance to settle and the PS could get the draping of the tissue over the natural breast correct xx AND the fact that I would lose all the upper pole that I had xx the only time I actually liked my old boobs was when I looked down at the upper pole........So The way I fathomed it, an explant meant I was going to have loads more scarring and no upper pole and asymmetry once again.....back to where I began but with scars

So I asked about the option of leaving the implants in talked through that and decided that I would give that a go FIRST xx After all, if it didn't work, there would always be the very last option of a total explant.....

I am 3 years plus post op from my original op, and I just wasn't ready for an explant xx I was thinking that if the life span of implants is maybe 10 to 12 years in total anyway well then if I got another 7 years out of them I would be happy and then I could look at removal and uplift who knows xx

For now though I just wanted boobs that fit a bikini nicely, whilst I still can JUST get away with wearing one

I really do sympathise with your dilemma hun xx and what it will boil down to is personal choice and what you want now and possibly in the future xx An explant may the way forward for you xx I have seem some great results of lifts on without implants xx Your scars should heal really nicely as well as without the implant there is hardly any tension on them xx

Thanks crystal, again to you cookie and Kay xx. I would believe it or not like the implant out but as i say my ps is adamant they Will not look good so trying his way first! I have got used them being a nice round shape which i didn't have before so i don't want to lose that but if it meant nipple staying where it should be i was happy to lose the it. thanks again xx

Hi butterfly, If you can remember we had this conversation in dec last year, after I had been to see my ps who said mine had bottomed out. My ps also said it may not work, and wanted to wait a year. I went back to see him in the beginning of march this year, and a week later he re opped, the 10th to be exact! (so much for waiting a year, eh!) When I woke up he had changed my implants I had high profile in, and he has now put in low profile (he did this without consulting me). For the 1st few weeks they looked flat along the bottom, like your ps explained to you, and my nipples are lower (not happy about that!) The implants have dropped now, and they are more rounded underneath, and the scars are quite long, approx 10cms under both. To say I'm 11wks post op tomorrow, theyve changed loads, and they looked horrible BUT I couldnt leave them the way they were, and its making that decision. My ps also said, like yours, that if it didnt work, then explanting was the only other option, I was horrified!, the thought of going back to the way I was before and they'd be worse! My ps didnt say anything about my skin, only what he knows now, that not everyones skin isnt the same and others can stretch more. I just wish I'd heard of it before my ba, I might have gone smaller, but I was told I was having them under the muscle, and they were placed over, I always wondered if I would have been better off with unders, and I wouldnt be in the position I'm in now....
I totally know where youre coming from, being there myself, and other girls on here whos had to have some kind of re op, its so stressful and worrying and upsetting, our fellas and family/friends just dont understand fully and what were going through and the decisions we have to make...
Keep your chin up hun

Hi Chellemybelle, Wow you had them done already! so pleased it has gone well and they are settling. It's so nice to hear that so far so good for you and that they have rounded back out. It is so very stressful isn't it!

I had unders hun and it still happened so I think if you have the kind skin we obviously have it will happen regardless. I had a full uplift so my scars are already long and my ps says they will be even longer but to be honest I am not worried , I just want the nipple placement sorted.

Thank you so much for responding to my story it really does help to hear from other girls that have gone through it and come out ok, it's making me feel sooo much better xx

It's so good to read talking with others is making you feel better babe. You'll be surprised how much just writing things down helps. I used this forum as my therapist whilst I was going through my re-op, lol.

Do come and talk all you want sweetie, we'll be here the whole journey with you Xx

Thanks cookie, i was reading about your journey today hun, my god you went through it! So pleased it all worked out for you in the end. this forum has been a godsend and i think it would have been even harder to get through it all without it xx

butterfly7713 wrote:So pleased it all worked out for you in the end.

My journey is yet to be e finished hun, but thank you, I'm in a far better place now than I was I started my diary.

this forum has been a godsend and i think it would have been even harder to get through it all without it xx

This is also how I felt when I arrived here, I doubt a day goes by or will ever go by that I stop appreciating all BJSF has done for me. I'm just glad you get the same from here too lovely. x x

Wow hun, I thought you were all done but I only got up to page 5 so more reading of your diary tonight xx

LOL, grab yourself a large cuppa then babe, there's a long way to go in my diary! haha.

You really will get there Butterfly, I know it's difficult to imagine right now, but as time goes on and the revision gets done, after your healing, the fear and the worry will slowly leave you... for a small few of us a BA becomes a long, hard road, but there really is light at the end of it.

Argh Went swimming with the kids and Hubby this week and was sooooo embarrassed- kept popping out of swimming cozzy in the pool I can't wait for this to be sorted, I am so fed up with being so conscious of this blimmin happening Please please please let this work

This is obviously an horrendous time for you Butterfly, but its definately not always gonna be this way .

Stay positive sweetpea, the best is yet to come xxx

Thank you cookie, I hope so x Positive thoughts xx