Discover Top Posts Tagged with #double incision

finally made the shirt design ive had in my head for weeks

i cant be happier with the result, im definitely gonna make more shirts

pictures of the full shirt, ive got some uploaded on my vinted acc stu-dio, find me there or dm me if u want one and live in in europe

closup of the print, i used the werewolf from a design i made earlier, based on a harley poe song, he was too fun to only use once.

also this post got labeled as mature for some reason, oh boy i wonder why.

#punk diy #diy fashion #diy punk #punk #punk clothes #punk style #my stuff #queer punk #punx #werewolf #transmasculine #transmasc #transgender #transsexual #top surgery #mastectomy #double incision

Post-Op Top Surgery Tips (FTM Double Incision) That You Don’t Really Hear About:

(Tips in blue are things I thought of while healing, things in white are said by doctors but expanded on, anything in purple is when I’m adding to the a point after I wrote it, ex, “this happened when I did this”)

- When you cough/sneeze/blow your nose, hold a pillow to your chest, the counter pressure will prevent straining on the surgical site.

- They use a breathing tube so your throat WILL be hurting like a bitch. Swallowing anything hurts but it does get better, just be gentle, no big gulps of water. If you have good cough drops (I have medicated mucinex cough drops with me) that can help with the pain a bit, but sometimes you just have to wait it out. [Okay I can update now, so my throat pain was about half gone in four days and completely gone in seven days. So, yes it does take a while.]

- Also, with the sore throat, if you have some water right *before* taking a pill and then have water *with* the pill, it helps prevent your throat from hurting as much (Thank you to my mom for thinking of this). Oh and try to sit up when taking it, for some reason that also helps?

- I know it says don’t lift over two pounds in the first week and that is TRUE and you NEED TO LISTEN TO IT. Trust me it hurts if you try to do heavy lifting, again, just be gentle with yourself.

- “Let pain be your guide,” if you do something and it hurts, don’t do it. If you do something and it tingles, make note of that so you know where to stop next time.

- Anesthesia affects bowel movements, so for the first day to day and a half you might not be able to go, but peeing is still fine, also, don’t worry, you likely will still be able to go to the bathroom alone.

- Ask for help, you will need it and that’s okay.

- Eat easy-to-digest foods (try the “BRATTY” diet, B- banana, R- rice, A- applesauce, T- tea, T- toast, Y- yogurt).

- Recliner chairs are imo the best to sleep in, but if you have to push/pull a level to get the foot-rest up, ASK FOR HELP, since you will likely be using more than two pounds of force on it, which would strain.

- SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. I cannot stress this enough- your body heals through sleep. If you are even on the edge of considering going to sleep just go to sleep. Trust me.

- SET ALARMS FOR YOUR MEDICINES.

- Get a haircut pre-op, it makes cleaning/staying clean so much easier.

- Pajama tops (button ups) are awesome to wear afterwards, you can clip your drains onto them.

- Speaking of drains, they come off at different times from person to person, my doctor told me they usually come out at day ten but mine are coming out at day fourteen just because of scheduling issues. I will update on how the appointment goes when my drains come out (in purple).

- Follow the pain medicine schedule, it’s easier to stay ahead of the pain than try to catch up to it.

- Keep a barf bag (or whatever they’re called lol) near you, especially if you’re more pain sensitive, if your pain spikes you can get very queasy, so having something nearby can seriously save your carpet.

- Speaking of queasy-ness, I was given an an “Aethereo Stick Essential Oil Inhaler, un-nausea” by a nurse after surgery. It’s an aroma therapy stick and it’s helped me when I’m feeling like I’m about to throw up. You can put it in your pocket too since it’s the size of a chapstick. HOWEVER- this is not a full cure for nausea and if you are feeling like you’re gonna throw up you should still have a barf bag just in case.

- Ok so this one the doctors did talk about but for my fellow neurodivergent peeps in the crowd, when they say “no extreme arm movements,” just keep it at T-Rex arms. So, don’t lift your upper arm but you can move it from your elbow. No reaching high (no stretching 😞) just imagine if it moves your pec muscles you shouldn’t be doing it. Just keep your shoulders relaxed/down, try not to use your biceps.

- DON’T PICK AT YOURSELF! Hopefully you already knew this but if you see scabbing LEAVE IT ALONE. Not only will picking make it take longer to heal, it’ll also make scarring worse.

- Don’t be mad at yourself for not being perfectly healed, this stuff takes time and you’ll get back to your regular strength eventually.

- You can always reach out to friends, don’t worry, you’ll get through this part, you are loved, and you are strong enough.

*I WILL BE EDITING THIS POST AS I THINK OF NEW THINGS TO ADD TO IT*

MY CHEST SURGERY EXPERIENCES:

Rafe's FTM Page (GeoCities)

" My chest surgery in healing very well. I underwent chest surgery on December 1, 1997. I had the procedure done in San Francisco by Dr. Brownstein, my hero......hehe. I was pretty well-endowed before surgery, (38C+) so I had what some people refer to as a double incision procedure. That is where they make two longish incisions along the lower edge of the pec muscles and remove the breast tissue. It does leave some scarring, but it contours very nice and works out well for people who were pretty big before. My scars have faded considerably, even for having had surgery recently. Scarring depends so much on your own personal factors, like your age, skin type, how big you were, whether or not you smoke, etc. Fair-skinned people tend not to scar as badly. The following excerps are taken from my journal. They explain a lot of thoughts and emotions that I experienced around my chest surgery.

Sunday, November 30, 1997:

It is one day until I have my chest surgery. It is scheduled for 7:30AM. I have to be there at 6:30AM. Right now, I am feeling very alone. I am staying at a friend's house in San Francisco. I am surrounded by people, but still I feel alone. I feel like I am the only person in the world who would go to these extremes to be the person I truly am. I have often been asked, "Why do you always have to swim upstream?" Sometimes, I wonder this about myself. This is one of those times. But, dammit, I am who I am, and I have struggled hard to get to this very place in my life. And damn everybody who doesn't have to question such basic things as gender, and who just take it for granted. Yes, I am having a very alone moment. I am scared. I wish I had another FTM to talk to who has gone through all of this. Nobody told me that I would be thinking these thoughts before the long awaited chest surgery. They only talk about what a relief it is, and how excited they were. I don't even hate my tits that much, they just seem foreign to me. Maybe, I just didn't try hard enough to like them. What if this is all just a bad mistake. How come no one ever talks about that? Well, enough, I've got to try and get some sleep before this surgery tomorrow morning...........

Monday, December 1, 1997, Day of Surgery:

I went into the hospital at 6:30AM, who's idea was it to start that early anyway? Anyway, I filled out piles of paperwork and soon a nurse took me into a room to change into a hospital gown. "All the better to get at you", she said with a smile. I was wondering if they found her on the show 'Tales from The Crypt'. They came and wheeled me away to another room and I talked to the anesthesiologist for a while. I must have asked him two hundred questions. He was talking about sticking some big tube down my throat, so my throat doesn't close. But, by this time the good stuff was pumping into my veins at a very rapid rate, and all I could say was, "That's nice". I really don't remember much else that day..................

Wednesday, December, 3, 1997

I feel like a cyborg. I've got these gnarly drain tubes coming out my sides, and they are taped to my chest with big bulbs hanging down, filled with fluid. EEEEK! Gross!!! Too bad I'm not grossed out by this at all. It's neat. I'm so flat. The week before this, I had the flu and I was MUCH more uncomfortable then, then I am now. I am surprised it doesn't hurt any worse than this. It felt like a very dull ache the first day and a half, but now, I can barely feel it at all. Doc Brownstein says I can have my drains out Friday, if I'm a good boy. I can't wait to get them out. They actually hurt more at the openings, than the actual surgery did. The pain I felt the most from my surgery was that my back was really sore for lying in the same place on the operating table for about four hours. That is about how long the surgery took. I never even felt nauseated after I came out. The anesthesiologist said that it was because they have a new kind of anesthesia that they keep having to reapply while you are out, and they stop it about 20 minutes before you come out of surgery. He said that this makes 'coming to' a lot easier.

Thursday, December 4, 1997:

Today, I am a little uncomfortable. I think my vest is too tight because at first it felt like my arm was asleep, now it just aches and aches. It is my left arm and it is also painful to touch. I noticed a little black and blueness around the inside of my arm. I called Doc Brownstein, and he said that it could be a little blood clot, which I am pretty prone to anyway. He said I could come in tonight (it was eleven o'clock), or I could just wait until the morning when I would have my drains out anyway. I waited until Friday.

Friday, December 5, 1997:

He took my compression vest off today, in order to take my drains out. I got a first look at my chest. I was surprised it didn't look that bad. I expected it to be very bruised and cut up, afterall, they made two ~ 7 inch incisions under my pec lines, cut out a whole flap of skin, and took my nipples off and grafted them on higher up, and smaller. There wasn't a bruise anywhere. It just looked flat........and stitched together. I was still thinking about how wonderful it looked, when, out came the right drain. OUCHHHH!!!! It was a sharp pain that lasted about five seconds. Damn, that hurt!! Nobody told me about the drains. Then, the left one, the sore one came out. AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! OUCHHHHHHH!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEE! WWWWOOOWWWW!!!!! That was a big hurt. It actually hurt so much, that I was giggling out of nervousness. "Well, what do you expect when you pull something this big (he showed me the part of the drain that was inside me), out of something this small (I looked down at the pinholes at my sides)." I laughed. It was over.

Sunday, December 7, 1997:

It was stitches out day.......yeah! I don't have to be Frankenstein anymore. My arm is still a little sore from the compression vest being too tight, but the pain is going away. Getting the stitches out was easy compared to the drains, and pretty uneventful. But, it was the first time I got to see my new grafted nipples. They looked OK, not as scary as I had heard. I went to look at myself in the mirror, without bandages or stitches. Just me. It was wonderful. I was so flat. Now this is what I'd pictured I'd look like when I grew up. I could finally start owning my body, living inside my body as well as my brain. It was a trip!!

Saturday, April 3, 1999:

I cannot tell you how having my chest surgery has improved the quality of my life........It has been about sixteen months since I had surgery. I have been using this scar cream called MEDERMA to try and heal the scars, and my scars have faded to almost nothing. They are thin, skin-colored lines. Now I can feel the hot sun on my chest while I lie out on a sunny beach in summer. I can feel the cool wind blowing on my chest, making my little hairs tickle. I am more confident than I have ever been. I feel like I no longer have to hide this terrible secret. I do not have to try to prove who I am, people just see me that way. I enjoy the way my clothes fit me now. I feel a lot less shy, while being intimate with people.......now they are allowed to touch my chest. And don't forget some of the less obvious advantages that you would never think of: I can see my belly button now, I don't have to hold my chest down when I run, or go up and down stairs, no more sweat underneath your breasts in the summer, running doesn't hurt, and I can reach over my body and turn out my bedside lamp without having to rotate my whole body or push my breasts out of the way.

Tuesday, October 3, 2000:

My scars are barely visible. Now my chest hair growth has helped to cover them further. I will be going back to do a few little revisions on the sides under my arms. There is a little nip and tuck to be done. I now take my chest for granted. It is a permanent part of me and I forget that breasts were ever there in the first place. "

FIFTEEN MORE DAYS UNTIL TOP SURGERY HOLY SHIT

#trans man #double mastectomy #top surgery #double incision #transgender #transmasc #trans #trans ftm #countdown

12 weeks post-top surgery thoughts

most importantly, i’m absolutely fucking in love with how things look! it’s still not set in stone yet, my surgeon said i won’t really see the final result until up to a year after, but I’m so happy with it already.

my surgeon’s default timeline would’ve had me starting scar tape at 4 weeks, but i still haven’t started yet because some little scabs are still hanging around even though most of my scars are completely healed. my surgeon didn’t seem concerned about it taking longer than expected, she just said everyone’s body is different. given that i have a connective tissue disorder and skin that just hates being messed with at all, i’m not surprised that it’s been slow going and i’m just happy that the rest is healing so well. i just had another post-op today and was cleared to start using scar tape because the scabbing is so minimal at this point, so i can finally move on to the next stage of healing.

i can (mostly) lift my arms now! they still can’t quite go all the way up, but i have enough of my mobility back that the only things i really struggle with are super high shelves like the ones above my fridge, and things like the washer and dryer that i have to reach really far to get into. technically, i was supposed to wait six months before raising them because that’s what my surgeon usually recommends for aesthetic purposes, but i have to be able to raise them to do my job anyway so i’m not limiting myself beyond the natural limits of discomfort at this point.

my chest muscles are mostly back to normal too, but they’re still very sensitive. when i flex them, it doesn’t hurt or feel uncomfortable but i am a lot more aware of the feeling than i was before. they also still tire out more easily than they used to — i’m back at work now, and i’ve learned the hard way that i tend to favor one arm over the other for certain tasks because when i do any of them for too long, i start to feel it in that side of my chest. it’s not anything too bad, but i’m still making sure my shifts are spread out because i don’t want to risk overdoing it.

i’m getting used to touching my own chest, but being touched by other people still feels super weird and honestly uncomfortable at times, particularly when it’s my bare chest and not over my shirt. i’ve been touching it a lot to try to desensitize it since around week 3 or 4, and it seems to be working as far as my own touch, but other people is a whole other story — when my boyfriend is touching my bare chest and their hand touches the scars, it doesn’t actually hurt but i react to it like it does. i suspect it’s more of a mental thing than anything, that since i’m still instinctively protective of it and not quite used to how it feels, touches that i’m not in control of just automatically set off alarm bells. it’s also just a generally foreign feeling even without the weirdness of healing because my boyfriend never really touched my chest before surgery since i was dysphoric about it, so it seems to require desensitization on multiple levels. i’ve given them permission to keep touching it even when i flinch (unless i explicitly ask them to stop) because i want to make sure i start getting used to the feeling.

i’m also still very sensitive to pressure against my chest, especially the front of it. it’s getting easier to lie down on my side now but i’m still using my body pillow to take some pressure off of the scars under my armpits, because if i don’t i usually can only stay in that position for a little while. my boyfriend can mostly lay their head on my chest for short periods of time now, but the position matters because if the weight isn’t distributed evenly enough or if it’s on the wrong part of my chest, it hurts. that being said, less intense pressure on the front like a hug or holding something to my chest is pretty much fine, i’m just still more sensitive to it (as with everything). i’ve been able to lay face down on top of my boyfriend a couple times without discomfort too, but i’m still erring on the side of caution and not laying on my chest too much yet.

when i was around a month in and thought i would be starting scar care soon, i was really nervous about it — particularly about the scar massage — because of the state my chest was in. i still didn’t feel like i could press on it or move the skin around or pick it up with my fingers at all, and the scar tissue underneath was still really thick and firm. i assumed that all of that would stay the same until i did the massages to break down the scar tissue and loosen things up, but i can now confirm after another month and a half of doing nothing while things healed, my skin is naturally a lot more mobile and a lot of that really thick scar tissue has already broken down. obviously i’m still going to start massaging now because i want to give myself the best possible chance of healing well, but i wish i had known how much my chest would be able to bounce back on its own. in hindsight, i’m glad i ended up having to wait to start the massage instead of doing it back when my chest was much less healed, because i’m much more comfortable manipulating it now.

every once in a while, i’ll get sharp pains in my chest. they aren’t horribly painful, mostly just unpleasant. they feel a lot like the nerve zaps i was getting earlier in recovery so it might be another round of nerves reconnecting, but it also happens more often when i’m working so it’s hard to say if it’s nerves or over-exertion. either way, i always make sure to take it easy when i start to feel that, just in case it is a sign of me doing too much.

i typically almost never eat meat, but i chose to reintroduce it into my diet after surgery to get more protein, because i wanted to make sure my body had everything it needs to heal and protein is a huge part of that. now that i’m pretty much all healed skin-wise and just waiting for everything to settle, i’ve decided it’s time to go back to my usual diet of not-fully-vegetarian-but-pretty-damn-close. i’m sure the diet change wasn’t strictly necessary but i don’t regret doing it, though i am glad to be switching back now.

putting on shirts still hasn’t gotten old. seeing how they look over a flat chest honestly feels surreal, but in the best way. hugging people and being able to press all the way into it js also still such a great feeling. i’m far enough in now that i can do all of that stuff without worrying about it, but still early enough that it all feels really new and special, and i’ve been thoroughly enjoying that.

wearing a more genderfucky outfit out in public for the first time post-op was a fucking blast. my boyfriend and i went to a new year’s eve party, and getting to show off my chest through a sheer lace top and my facial hair alongside makeup was so much fun. it was the first time i’ve been able to go all out without the lingering feeling in the back of my mind that dressing up means inevitably being seen as a woman. i definitely didn’t look like a cis man to any of the people who saw me, but they could clearly tell i wasn’t a cis woman at the very least, and knowing that made me so much more confident.

i’m far enough away now from being in the trenches of early recovery that the reality of the fact that i got such a big surgery has started to fade. when i really think about the fact that my body went through all of that and about how hard early recovery was, it doesn’t quite feel real anymore. i’m starting to reach the point one of my friends told me about, where my chest being like this feels so normal that it’s just like “yeah, of course, it’s always been like this, right?” it’s wild, really, the difference a couple months can make — it wasn’t that long ago that i was exhausted and arguably depressed from the early recovery process, and now it all feels so normal that i have to remind myself it took all of that to get here. i never really doubted that it would be worth it in the end, but i’m still more sure of that now than i ever have been.

the last couple months have been a long road, but somehow they’ve also flown by. it’s given me so much appreciation for my body — its potential to transform and what it’s been able to withstand. i wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

#top surgery adventures #top surgery results #top surgery recovery #top surgery #double incision #trans man #transmasc