#top surgery progress

[bijesperfahey]

Guess who’s one year post op!

I included a few pictures of the me shortly post op (7 days and 4 weeks) because I don’t have any of myself pre-op except for one or two in a binder to compare them to. And because it’s one thing to know that your body and results can change over time and another to see photo evidence of it.

So overall thoughts: I look good! My scars somehow stayed nice and relatively thin. They’re a little thicker on my right hand side (aka my dominant side) but not enough that they bother me at all. Scar care has been....entirely inconsistent, but I’ll be the first to admit that I like them, so I’m by no means bothered by that fact. I feel like my right side is also a little bigger than the left. It’s not noticeable at all except for when i lift my arms up and the left side dips in a little bit. I’m sure if I ever decide to get back to a gym or personal trainer that’ll go away.... I’m just not interested in that with the current state of the world.

My nipples! Both look great despite issues with my grafts and the bacitracin early on. Interestingly enough the left side is the one that had the most problems healing....And is the one where pigment has come back fully and it’s very slightly smaller. I’m hoping that my right side will keep filling in with pigment, but if it doesn’t over the next year or so I might consider tattooing to fill it in? The jury’s still out on that.

Technically speaking, I have dogears, I guess? Except I’ve also always been a bigger dude, I’ve always had fat at my sides and that’s not going to go away just because I got top surgery? Do not care about them. Not interested in any kind of a revision for them unless my general body shape changes otherwise.

Surgery was with Dr. Mark Davenport in Rochester NY, out of Rochester General Hospital. I cannot recommend him and his staff enough, he answered all of my questions, and the nurses I worked with post op were both incredibly helpful and responsive (and patient when it came to my concerns about everything).

For those interested, I had a $900 deposit for my surgery submitted to the hospital, that I submitted about a month prior to surgery (My deductible at the time +$150). I ended up paying the hospital $400, the surgeon about $100, $80 for histopathology samples taken....and anesthesia was free. About 2 months post op, I received a check from the hospital back for the full $900 of my deposit. Surgery was covered by Independent Health.

[vegan-sprout]

🌟6 weeks post op🌟

(They/them)

[bijesperfahey]

Oh hey!!! We’re officially two months post op!

I’ve been back at work for a few weeks and life is pretty rad. I’ve got some muscle pain on my sides, and the jury’s still out if that’s related to the surgery or generalized back pain-- but I think it’s probably the latter since it didn’t start right after I went back to work.

Anyways I am loving my results! I’m hoping that more pigment keeps returning to my right nip especially and that they kind of....settle out? My left is definitely visibly smaller but also more raised than the left. so if they don’t end up matching up better, I’ll probably look into tattoos to help even them up from the front, at least.

My left side is also a little bit smaller? It’s not very bad, and I definitely don’t notice it when looking at myself head on-- just when I’m looking down. I’m hoping as things settle down the rest of the way (and maybe if I put on a little muscle?) that’ll even out more.

[bijesperfahey]

We are officially 4 weeks post op!!! 

No big long post today, but I am feeling great! All the scabs are off of my nips and my scars. My left nipple still looks just a little wonky, but the graft has stayed and recovered beautifully considering my struggle earlier in the month. I’ve started doing (very light) scar massage with some cocoa butter and I’m hoping that on my 4-weeks post op appointment on Thursday I’ll be cleared to start up with scar strips too. And hopefully I’ll be cleared to head back to work next week too.

Top surgery was officially a success y’all! (And my surgeon was Dr. Davenport in Rochester NY)

[bijesperfahey]

One week post op baby!!! Drains are out, bolsters are off and most importantly- I could wash my hair this morning 🎉🎉🎉

[countdown-123]

123 days since my surgery!

I'm glad I looked at my countdown app today or I would have missed this!

I don't have crazy much to say about my surgery recovery.

I had my final check up w my surgeon and there's no concerns. I've been fully cleared for a while

however I was smoking a lot over the last few weeks and it was making my chest hurt (like the scars, not my lungs) so I've been cutting back a LOT

I keep either Vaseline, lotion, or scar tape on my scars as much as I can. lotion is nice cause it doesn't get on my clothes like Vaseline. the scar tape is kinda expensive (like 10 bucks per roll, a roll lasts me like 5? applications, but I could make it last longer if I didn't put it on my nipples too) so I only put it on if I know I won't need to shower for a day or so

besides that, I'm just so happy to finally be free

I saw the pics I took before surgery and it jump scared me so much!

I feel so hot now, and I take a many more pictures of myself because I like how I look!

I go shirtless around my house most of the time. I love just wearing athletic shorts with nothing else

what else?

my range of motion is still reduced but I really think it's a skin tightness rather than muscles? I'm getting a lot of stretch marks above my nipples because I think my surgeon pulled the skin too tight there (but I'd rather that than having loose skin or dog ears). I try to keep everything moisturized but I'm not sure its helping, or if there's something better to help it. but I'm able to do everything in my daily life, it's just lifting my arms straight up and stretching that's a bit difficult.

I'm so happy with my decisions and with my life. please, if you're thinking about getting top surgery, please do it. it's so freeing!

[lightwxrker]

Day 19 chest reveal:

I'm soooo happy with how all the swelling is going down and how it's making the rest of me look!!!! Like holy fuck!!!! That's ME!!!!!! Now I just need the 1995 Devy hair and we'll be in 100% euphoria zone 🥰

[bijesperfahey]

Beginning of Day 9 notes: Didn’t feel like taking a picture, but I do want to document some stuff while I’m thinking of it because I slept horribly and I will forget this in 2 hours

Skin has been a little irritated and a little itchy for the past few days. The worst of it is where the grafts/sutures/drain holes are so I’m sure that’s part of the general healing process, but definitely some along my back and abdomen that’s new over the past 36 hours or so. I’m hoping that changing binders will help today since the second one was just washed yesterday. The one I’m changing into is also a better fit, on the oft chance that has anything to do with it

Also giving my chest a little bit of time to breathe, no binder, no gauze or anything like that. It’s been about 15 minutes since my shower and as I’m writing this I am becoming gradually more hyperaware of the places that I don’t have feeling in my chest and it’s kinda freaky feeling. May or may not be due to relative inability to sleep last night? Will definitely monitor though. Numbness and tingling right now is moving down the chest/sides and towards my nipples along the front. Could also be a part of nerve reconnection? Might also just be because this is the longest I’ve gone without a binder since surgery and my body is adjusting. 

Also, also going to try to get on a tank top between my skin and the binder today. It’s loose enough it should go on okay....And the straps are a little bit ratty, so if I have to cut them some to make it easier it’s incredibly doable and won’t hurt my feelings any. I’ve got another 5 weeks in the binder, so it’s important we make this pretty bearable

So far nipples still look good. The left nipple has a small pinkish spot on it where it was a little flaky, but that’s normal and otherwise they both seem good. No unusual oozing or colors that make me concerned about infection, and I’ve been using non-adherent gauze pads instead of the ones the surgeon gave me to minimize additional trauma to the grafts. Nipple care is bactracin ointment on the grafts once daily until Monday (13 days post op), at which point if there are any pinkish/red spots I can continue for another week or stop if they’re looking good.

Scars are also looking good. Some scabby bits have started to flake off, but nothing seems irritated or anything like that. There’s a little bit of puckering/wrinklingish along the scar line, but it’s not bad, and likely only noticeable to me. Surgical results can take up to a year to totally settle, so I’m not actually concerned about it, I just know that in 6 months it’ll be good to reflect more on. The puckering is definitely worse along my sides, under my armpits, and the excellent news is that nobody, including me is going to see that very often, so even if that does linger, I’m not that worried about it.

An update: Stayed out of the binder for 25 minutes post shower. Tank top went on fine, and the gauze on my nipples stayed in place no problem. There might be a small amount of shift if I go to adjust the tank top without thinking, but I’m pretty sure I can minimize that by holding the binder a little away from my body when I do that. If the pads do shift any, I apply a little extra bactracin to them regardless so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but it’s good to avoid friction on the grafts anyways.