u/brik03

I’m slightly disappointed my incisions turned out so A-symmetrical. I’m also disappointed that I have a little puckering in the center of my chest and a small dog ear on one side. Particularly because I wanted no chevron in the center and L shaped scars, and my surgeon told me that would not be possible if I wanted to avoid puckering in the center and dog ears. He was confident that if I let him do the incisions the way he did that I wouldn’t have any puckering or dog ears, so I trusted him, and I have both.

Other than that, I’m extremely happy to have a flat chest, everything else feels minor compared to that, it couldn’t feel better to wake up in the morning and put on a shirt without worrying about a binder.

Onto the advice I’m looking for, how are my scars looking? I’ve been massaging them twice a day with ceramedex lotion or a scar cream, I only occasionally wear silicone tape because sensory wise it tends to bother me.

Is there anything I can do to help my nipples heal with more dimension? Currently they are still pretty flat.

Does anyone know why my skin is still so red under the incision? Is that just from where my chest used to rest?

For the last week I have continued to care for my grafts in the same way I detailed in my last graft recovery post.

Now that I am at my 3 week post-op mark I have been cleared to stop using the emulsion gauze and bactracin. I was instructed to keep the grafts moisturized using vaseline from now on, and told that it is no longer necessary to keep them covered. I will begin doing this starting tomorrow. They still have some fluid that I don’t really want to get on my clothes so I am going to continue to cover them with a patch of regular gauze and some surgical tape until that has stopped.

Today (day 21) was the first day I directly touched my nipples while showering, I very gently washed my chest using just my hands. I was extra careful when washing my nipples, using only the tips of my fingers and being sure to not apply any pressure or move quickly. I still avoided the shower head spraying my chest directly and instead splashed my chest using my hands.

Overall I think they are looking way better than before, which is a huge relief, and I’m hoping things only continue to improve from here.

I’m totally happy with the placement or the shape of my incision, I feel like it’s maybe a bit high and the sides tilt down giving it a rounded frowny appearance when looking straight on, but I couldn’t be feeling better about finally being flat. Every time I walk past a mirror and see my chest is flat I can’t help but smile

I’m terrified of my nipples but the nurse said the color is mostly just bruising and they otherwise look okay, so I’m really holding onto that haha