Hi. I had a mastectomy last year with no reconstruction. We have booked a beach holiday in May but I can’t wear any of my old beach clothes. Any recommendations for where I can get swimwear and beach cover up clothes. I have looked into mastectomy bikinis but they are very expensive. Any suggestions of where I can get these from? I have seen some places do bikini with removable padding. Would that work and I could put my softie prosthesis in one side and remove the padding for the other.
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Hi Rosa
They are expensive suppose to be vat free but very costly , I bought some in Asda’s
and Sainsbury’s online which were under £15 pound , I also scour the sale section on the other mastectomy company’s I have got a few good deals .
I use knitted knockers aqua prosthesis which you can swim with they are made to measure so fit nicely into the pockets in swimwear. Hope you have a great holiday x
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Dr liz oriordan is on youtube and instagram. She is flat & swims. She had a few videos last year recommending swimwear.
May be worth a look.
Good luck
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You can get decent swimwear from Nicola Jane. They are expensive but they often do offers and sales. If you don’t want to use a prosthesis try unobra https://www.unobra.co.uk/ These are very expensive though. You can get a free NHS silicone prosthesis for swimming. Have a great holiday !
I bought the mastectomy swimwear it was so thick ,it took so long to dry .
My scar line area stayed wet .
I look for normal swimwear that I can open on the side to get prosthetic in .
I buy tankini so I can change the tops.
So much better .
I do the same with bras ,so to stop softie moving I added Velcro.
Hi there, I feel your pain! I took this into my own hands and did what someone else did, cut a hole in the lining and popped my swimming boob aka pru the prosthetic in. A little bit of sewing tidy up stopped it from fraying. I had a few costumes and bikinis that I didn’t want to get rid off so thought this a good option and totally free. As for a cover up, I’m going to start looking as just want something short, not a great big kaftan type thing, if you find anything, let me know. Hope you have a wonderful holiday, lots of love xx
Hi. Along with all the other booklets they give you from the hospital, there was a catalogue for Nicole Jane, a company who do a range of bras, breast forms and swimwear and offer a free post surgery fitting (this in UK). Haven’t used them myself yet, but have made a fitting appointment at my local Cancer Hub in April as needing new bras. It might be worth a look - nicolajane.com tel. 01243 537300
Nicola Jane or Amoena - sale because the full prices are extortionate. The pieces are very well made (you can see the engineering in them - as it were!) and last a long time but I think all these shops have a captive audience so price very OTT and a lot to fork out in one go. I’d say Amoena has the best range. I tend to buy their bikini tops and get plain bottoms to match from the high street.
I have an aqua prosthetic but also bought a ‘made for swimming’ foam one as the aqua one is heavy in luggage when flying. The aqua one is better - the foam one looks OK but the water flows out of it and I end up having a squeeze to get the water out.
Beach cover up - I use the same stuff I had before my mastectomy. I certainly don’t buy special stuff.
Have a fab holiday.
I love swimming and after my double mastectomy was disappointed with cost of specific swimwear and prosthesis however I use the M&S soft prosthesis a lot for all sorts including swimming which are just £10 and also Asda TU or M&s post surgery swimwear is good I also have swimwear with removable soft pads and they’ve been great too so have a look for those
Amazon seem to have some good options but I’ve not tried them myself
I did buy a specific one from Amaeno a specialist but only in the sale nothing special I preferred my Asda one
Good luck and happy holidays
I got a few bits of swimwear from asda and they have been great xx
Hi Rosa,
Try www.braveladies.co.uk
They have bikini’s from about £20 and swimming breast forms at £9.95.
They were set up by a lady who herself had a mastectomy and found it so expensive to buy swimwear and prosthetics. The photos on their site are mostly of real women who have had surgery, wearing the swimwear. I was a bit apprehensive at first as they were not professional ‘touched up’ photos of the swimwear but I ordered a black swimsuit and breast form and they are amazing. The swimsuit looked amazing on and fitted perfectly. I ordered a large breast form and then had to reorder an extra large ( saving the large one for when I lose weight!) my bust size is a 34F to give you an idea of sizing of the breast forms. Good luck and happy swimming xxx
Hi @rosa1 - I bought high neck, gorgeous tankini’s on a site called WalkonBeach https://www.walkonbeach.co.uk/swimsuits_filter_neckline_high-neck_p_4/
I replaced the cup padding with some I bought from Amazon as the ones in the swimsuit weren’t great. Quality was good though. Allow 2 weeks for delivery as they don’t come from the UK and the fit is quite true to size. x
And here’s another tip - I have a silicone reconstrcution, so when lying face down I placed a travel neck pillow under my reconstructed breast - took the pressure away and oh so comfy xx
Hi Rosa, lots of swimwear has a little pocket in the breast. I found a couple very reasonably priced in Matalan. I bought a cheap dome shaped sponge which I put into one of the breast pockets and leave it in there. As I get out of the water I squeeze my arm against the sponge and it is practically dry and works very well. I hope you have a lovely holiday . Best wishes, Jane xx