Expander questions...

Sally5

Dawne.Hope said:

I agree with everyone
I agree with everyone else.

I too am small framed and it is incredibly important that you take your fills slowly. My last fill was 20cc's and unfortunatly it was my last because my PS was concerned about thin skin and my scar being stretched too far.

I'm at 310cc's right now and my PS overfills ... so I'm looking at pretty small implants. I was a small C before surgery and I'm hoping to even make it to a B now.

My expanders are strangely spaced as well. My left 'breast' is too far over and feels like it is almost in my armpit. They look low as well.

I've never heard of capsular constriction happening with the expanders, but I haven't had radiation. Mine are hard as rocks. I take a yoga/tai chi class 2x a week and this past week was my first class with the 310cc's. They were in the way! And these suckers don't move. I do feel like I have rocks in my chest! I feel like I could use them as weapons! LOL! Hang in there, take it slow. I found muscle relaxers (Flexeril) to be very helpful with the pain after the fills.

It does come to an end!

Great to hear... I am not alone.
Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your advice. Dawn, you mentioned it is important to take your fills slowly. (If you know) why is that?

Dawne.Hope

Sally5 said:

Great to hear... I am not alone.
Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your advice. Dawn, you mentioned it is important to take your fills slowly. (If you know) why is that?

take it slow ...
Sally5,

I think the smaller framed a person is, the more imporant is the size and weeks apart for the fills. I started developing stretch marks because even 60ccs was a big deal for me. And the pain was excruciating! After one fill I had sharp, stabbing pains all down my left side for about a week. I didn't know at the time, but I could have gone back and they could have taken some of the saline out. It was horrible. It's better go slow and take all the time you need than to be in a hurry and get stretch marks and be in terrible pain. Make sense?

Take care, Sally. The 'rocks' are temporary!

Sally5

Dawne.Hope said:

take it slow ...
Sally5,

I think the smaller framed a person is, the more imporant is the size and weeks apart for the fills. I started developing stretch marks because even 60ccs was a big deal for me. And the pain was excruciating! After one fill I had sharp, stabbing pains all down my left side for about a week. I didn't know at the time, but I could have gone back and they could have taken some of the saline out. It was horrible. It's better go slow and take all the time you need than to be in a hurry and get stretch marks and be in terrible pain. Make sense?

Take care, Sally. The 'rocks' are temporary!

Thanks
Dawne,

I am medium framed but tall. So maybe this makes a difference. (I will be asking at my next appt. Wed) I had 100 cc filled at surgery and 100cc the next 2x. This past Wed. I asked for less (I only got 50cc) due to the discomfort.
Hey, I didn't want to be a wimp .... but now it does seem like a lot.

Thanks. I have great friends but I don't know anyone who can relate. Thanks Girls....

Momofgirls

jo jo said:

What i refer to as the pancake stage!
I had my expanders put in during my mastectomy also...i am also small framed and they started me out with 25 cc's each fill.
During my first fills they did go wide at first and i referred this to my pancake stage cuz to me thats what they looked like...i didnt think they would ever start going outward but they did. I was on my 6th or 7th fill when i noticed a big difference of it going out instead of wide.
I had a total of 400 cc's and for me that is pretty big...but not top heavy! They look like softballs and they feel like softballs. I believe them being hard as a rock is very normal. Hope your not a belly sleeper cuz its hard to lay on your belly with rocks on your chest.
Mine were very senstive exspecially when the nerves and things started waking back up, its like they are numb yet at the same time they hurt if they are touched...im still going through this and my surgery was in Nov, but its nowhere near as bad as it was in the beginning. My biggest problem now is hitting my boobs on everything cuz they kinda stick out there and since i dont have all the feeling back yet it smarts when they hit...going back to that sensation of being numb yet hurt to touch again.
Luckly the expanders are temporary and the implants are suppose to be nothing like the expanders...im excited cuz i get my implants on July 14th...and i cant wait!

You will love the results!
I had first surgery in October with expanders put in. They filled my expanders to 390ccs. I had the final surgery the end of April. My implants are 450ccs. I am small framed and am a full c cup. I thought when my plastic told me the implants would be 450s, he was crazy and I would look like I had my own personal flotation devices! He said that they had to be bigger than the expanders because there was more space to fill - above the expanders - to give that full, real boob look. He was right.
The tenderness will go away. I was really sore under my arms, and that has gone away as well.
Good luck with surgery on the 14th. You will love the results!!

Dawne.Hope

Sally5 said:

Thanks
Dawne,

I am medium framed but tall. So maybe this makes a difference. (I will be asking at my next appt. Wed) I had 100 cc filled at surgery and 100cc the next 2x. This past Wed. I asked for less (I only got 50cc) due to the discomfort.
Hey, I didn't want to be a wimp .... but now it does seem like a lot.

Thanks. I have great friends but I don't know anyone who can relate. Thanks Girls....

I know what you mean about
I know what you mean about the friends. My friends are all busy moms and while they try to understand, they have difficulty wrapping their mind around what I'm going thru.

You're no wimp! My last fill was only 20cc's. We can only do what we can do. It's not a race you don't have to hurry to get there, although we REALLY want these exanders out! Take care! And go at your own pace.

Momofgirls

Christine Louise said:

Yeah, the hollow spot
Sounds like we both have the crescent-shaped expanders that leave a "dished in" area on the chest. (Not all expanders are this shape, apparently.) My plastic surgeon uses them because he thinks it's important to stretch the bottom half of the pocket. With the teardrop-shaped implant, the top of the teardrop is tapered and thin and doesn't need a big area to fit smoothly against the chest wall, while the bottom is bulbous and needs a big pocket, if that makes any sense.

I shopped for a dress recently and found I can't wear even a moderately low neckline right now because of the hollow "shelf" at the top of each expander. I'll save the shopping for later ...

It will change
The hollow spot will go away. The implants will fill in the top of the breast without the fake boob circular look. Your implants will be larger than the expanders to add the fullness to the top. Just hang in!

Momofgirls

VickiSam said:

CVOLK821 .. thank you for the encouraging
words .. I can go back to sleeping on my side once the expander's have been exchanged?

I find myself wearing large blouses or shirts, as I can't find a proper fitting bra to keep my - expanded girls contained.

My filled up left breast hurts at night, and my right breast is not healed so we can do the exchange ..

Thanks for sharing your stories .. I am smiling ,cuz, now I know I'm not CRAZY.


Vicki

sports bras
Vicki,
I found some sports bras made by danskin that worked really well with the expanders. I also found that keeping them somewhat compressed kept them from hurting so much. I had fills every 3 - 4 weeks and they didn't seem to get so sore.
I had my exchange the end of April. I can sleep on my side now, and sometimes even on my stomach. You will love the implants!
Hang in, you will make it!

m-star

Hi Laura
I would def take those fills slow!

I had my BMx on Feb 16th and i have my final fill on July 15th. I had 60ml in at time of surgery,then 1st fill was 90ml then i've had 60ml a time ever since.
I am currently at 450ml.

Now i'm not sure if this helps,but my PS said the size (fill capacity) of my TE's is 300ml. Once you've reached your fill capacity,anything they put in after that is purely to gain projection. I has this strange idea that the more they filled me,the bigger my implant would be. But they can only match the width of your TE's so now i am just going for projection to give me a "bigger size".So until your TE's are at their capacity,they will prob seem to just grow outwards like mine did. Mine are now sticking out real nice! LOL

Mine too are rock hard! I have REALLY noticed the port through my skin since my last fill the other day. I make sure i stretch right after my fill~about every 20 mins~for about 24 hours after.It alleviates some of the discomfort.

I put a thread on with post mastectomy exercises on it on this forum somewhere if you've not already seen it.

I am sick to death of my TE's now and i want them out~but at the same time,i still want my next,and final,fill cus i want to get as big as poss with my implants. I know it wont last forever so i'll just put up with it.

Another site you may find very useful is :

http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/44/topic/691962?page=96

This will take you to a thread called "continued tissue expander pain!".

hoop77

Momofgirls said:

sports bras
Vicki,
I found some sports bras made by danskin that worked really well with the expanders. I also found that keeping them somewhat compressed kept them from hurting so much. I had fills every 3 - 4 weeks and they didn't seem to get so sore.
I had my exchange the end of April. I can sleep on my side now, and sometimes even on my stomach. You will love the implants!
Hang in, you will make it!

I to have found that sports
I to have found that sports bras or anything soft that fits tightly makes me so much more comfortable. The grazing of fabric across my chest is not unbearable now, just uncomfortable. Keeping everything tight really helps. I have found that i need to change clothes several times a day though because what feels great for a couple of hours tends to get sore and uncomfortable, then I have to look for something else to change into. Walmart has alot of cheap Danskin tanks with built in bras that work pretty well for me.

hoop77

m-star said:

Hi Laura
I would def take those fills slow!

I had my BMx on Feb 16th and i have my final fill on July 15th. I had 60ml in at time of surgery,then 1st fill was 90ml then i've had 60ml a time ever since.
I am currently at 450ml.

Now i'm not sure if this helps,but my PS said the size (fill capacity) of my TE's is 300ml. Once you've reached your fill capacity,anything they put in after that is purely to gain projection. I has this strange idea that the more they filled me,the bigger my implant would be. But they can only match the width of your TE's so now i am just going for projection to give me a "bigger size".So until your TE's are at their capacity,they will prob seem to just grow outwards like mine did. Mine are now sticking out real nice! LOL

Mine too are rock hard! I have REALLY noticed the port through my skin since my last fill the other day. I make sure i stretch right after my fill~about every 20 mins~for about 24 hours after.It alleviates some of the discomfort.

I put a thread on with post mastectomy exercises on it on this forum somewhere if you've not already seen it.

I am sick to death of my TE's now and i want them out~but at the same time,i still want my next,and final,fill cus i want to get as big as poss with my implants. I know it wont last forever so i'll just put up with it.

Another site you may find very useful is :

http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/44/topic/691962?page=96

This will take you to a thread called "continued tissue expander pain!".

M-star,
You are just a
M-star,
You are just a wealth of information girl! Thx so much, you have helped soooo many people get through this. Your answer makes alot of sense, guess I'm just wanting too much too soon but I already want these damn things out so bad, I hate them, but hate the alternative worse. I'm only at 180 cc's so I can see I have a long way to go. Guess I'll just have to hang in there and keep taking those valium! Looking forward to a long vacation with my precious family, so maybe that will give me some relief.

Love you!
.