Hi SuzyB And Juliet, I had a skin sparing mastectectomy with permanent implant under the pectoralis muscle a year ago.With a bra on the recon looks great but I don’t really view it as a breast with my clothes off as it is very firm & much higher than my other breast. My skin sensation is still pretty numb but I hope this will improve with time. I don’t have any shoulder probs but I did see a Physio for a few months to improve the range of movement, & worked hard on excs at home. The thing that I find the hardest ( that no-one told me) is that because the implant sits under the muscle, when i do some arm movements the muscle squeezes the implant & the implant pulls towards my armpit. It doesn’t look very nice & i do feel a bit self concious of this in vest tops. I wish someone had told me this when I was deciding what to go for.On the positive side, I haven’t got lots of additional scars (just a tiny one where the port was which i had removed 5 months after the original op as a day case).
If you could meet someone who has had the op & would be prepared to show you, it would be a real help. Do PM me if you want more info. Good luck in your decisions, it’s so hard. Rosie