Hi, I’m waiting for my surgery in the next few weeks. Because of the position of the tumour I’m having therapeutic mammoplasty in my left breast, it’s a vertical cut and nipple repositioning. I’ve been told about 2.5-3cm removal. Along with sentinel node biopsy. I’m interested to know if anyone else has been through this and their experience, how long it took to recover and how the breast looks afterwards? Thanks for sharing any helpful tips and guidance. X
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Hello, I had a very similar surgery in April. I had therapeutic mammoplasty with auxiliary node clearance as it had already been determined that at least one of my nodes was cancerous. Turned out 4 of the buggers were. I had a drain but not all hospitals use them so you may or may not have that. In fact possibly you won’t cos I think the drain was more for the node clearance. The most uncomfortable part was under my arm / side of boob where they did the node clearance. The drain was a bit sore where the pipe rubbed on my skin but it was removed after 10 days. Pain was manageable with paracetamol and ibuprofen and the occasional codine at nighttime. There was quite a bit of swelling which I hadn’t really considered so I had to get some bigger bras to accommodate this, mostly I needed a bigger band size. Front opening bras were good, primark & M&S have a few. I also got some stretch pull on ones from Amazon for sleeping in (I stepped into them). Take your time to recover. Everyone is different but never having had an op before I was surprised how long recovery took and how exhausted I was. Get a v shaped pillow for sleeping as this helps you stay propped up a bit and not turn over. And do your exercises! They will hurt at first and it might feel like your not doing much but it all helps and you’ll be surprised how quickly you improve. Once the swelling had settled (8 weeks ish, it takes ages!) then I was surprised how good my breast looked. I’m a B cup but it honestly doesn’t look much different to the other breast size wise. A bit smaller and I have a scar from under my arm running across my breast and around my nipple. So it’s an obvious scar but will fade. You said yours is a vertical cut & setinal node biopsy so a bit different to what I had but hopefully my experience can help you feel a bit more reassured. 
Unfortunately for me they didn’t get clear margins so after I’ve finished chemo they will have to do a re- excision to get clear margins. I’m hoping it doesn’t change the shape too much because I’m really impressed with what my surgeon has achieved.
Anything you want to ask please do so. X
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Thanks for your response and sharing your experience. I’m so sorry to hear that you have to go through another surgery, that’s hard. Do you know if you will have the same surgeon? I think that would help. Wishing you all the best for future treatments. Can I ask how large your tumour was? My surgeon says she wants to take 0.5cm extra to clear margins… fingers crossed it’s all cut out. I’ve bought a larger size bra from M&S and the lady who did the fitting said not to buy anything further until all the swelling has gone, so I assume this will be 6+ weeks… I will look at some softer bras/support tops, that’s a good idea. I’m currently a C cup so it will be interesting to see how I feel after the surgery on the left side and how much smaller that breast is after all the treatments, they’ve offered a reduction on the other side too, but honestly I can’t think of that and don’t know how I will feel until a long way down the road. I think I have to have radiotherapy after surgery, but that depends on the pathology results. Thank you for your guidance, I really appreciate it. All the best x
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Yes I’ll have the same surgeon and he’s really nice so I’m pleased about that. My tumour was 25mm but not sure how much they took out over all with the margins. Further surgery to make my breast symmetrical was mentioned to me too but as the are now I don’t feel I’d need it. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t match but it’s not such a big difference that it bothers me, especially in a bra. My BCN also said you get partial prosthetics to pop in you bra should you need it too.
Best of luck to you x
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Hi
I had therapeutic mammoplasty in May last year. I had a sentinel node biopsy.(clear) and I had a reduction in the other side as I did not want to look lop sided and wanted it all done and dusted. My tumour was 4cm and close to my breast bone. The operation was long, 6 1/2 hours. I had drains in both sides. I healed pretty well, they did give me antibiotics in case any infection developed. I wore front fastening post surgery bras. My drains were taken out after 6 days. I don’t recall much swelling and I didn’t have any noticeable pain. The scars are pretty much white and don’t bother me. The scar where the tumour was is more visible but again it does not cause me any grief.
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Hi @amafoss65 , yes i had therapeutic mammoplasty last year, sentinel node sampling was clear, plus contralateral reduction to match. I now have two uplifted nice shaped boobs. The hospital nurses gave me a very supportive front fastening bra and i bought one from Breast cancer research uk. I didnt have drains, but a pico compression dressing. There was a little swelling, but i did have a lot of bruising, particularly on the affected side, which was a bit alarming. I had two surgeons, one for each side and surgery took about 3 hours . The scarring has faded nicely. Ive got more of a notable scar from port i had for chemo. The v pillow was a godsend. I still get some discomfort in the affected side, but that may well be due to the radiotherapy. Keep up with the excercises. Good luck.
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Thanks all, I had my surgery today. So now I have a lollipop scar around my nipple and a vertical scar on my left breast. Along with a blue nipple from the dye… hopefully it will all heal well. My nipple skin does look quite dry and crusty, is this what I should expect? I’ve got a call with the breast nurse tomorrow so will check. Given you ladies have been through this, wanted to check in and get your views? Thanks so much x
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