Hi all, i had my nipple reconstruction on the 21st of Jan, when i went to see the surgeon a week later, he took the dressing off and at least 25% of the new nipple has died, i am going back next friday to have the stitches out, does anyone know how long it takes for the dead skin to go? i think my surgeon just wants to let my body ingest it. any advice would be welcome
Alisonxxxx
Hi Alison
You are welcome to give our helpliners a call they are specialist breast care nurses and they will be able to offer you information and support. The number is 0808 800 6000 Mon-Fri 9am-5pm and Sat 9am-2pm.
Best wishes
Katie
Hi Alison
I just wanted to bring this back to the top as I was wondering how you are getting on the your recon nipple and the dead skin. Has it started healing now? I am having the same thing on 2nd April, so am interested to know what stage you are now at.
I hope you don’t mind me asking you, and I hope everything is going ok.
Love Deborah.
hi Deborah, of course i don’t mind x the bottom half of the nipple looks really good, the whole thing looks really good except for where the dead skin is, at the moment its a bit scabby and crispy looking, and bits fall off, i don’t touch it at all and i am very careful not to get soap or shampoo on it when i shower (no easy feat!!!) it does take a while for the body to ingest the dead skin, but it won’t die off anymore than it has, and it will eventually just look like i have a little bit of an inverted nipple, once its tattooed i think it will look as near to normal as it can, and please, don’t think just cos i have had this problem that you will, i am 45 and an ex ish smoker, so thats why mine has probably died.
lots of love
Alisonxxx
ps, any questions you have then please just ask me xxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Alison,
Bless you- I was gagging to reply to your post to ask if you were still smoking but I didnt want to offend you or for you to think I was judging you- not sure if you remember but I gave up for 2 weeks prior to my mastectomy op last year and stayed off them for 3 weeks until I deemed myself fit and recovered enough to start puffing away again. Anyway I am hoping to have my other side done this year and now I have finished treatment and have started running again, have once again packed them in in preparation for my next op and hopefully for good this time.
Wishing you all the best
Katyx
Hi Alison, I have emailed you last night, Hi also LilyO
I read your posts with interest over the smoking thing, I am so sorry Alison that you are worrying your smoking is cause of the nipple problem, i was a smoker for 30 years during which i had 4 major abdominal surgeries and never had a problem with any of them. Of course smoking as we know is bad for you and i would never advise it but also thinking things are your own fault is also bad for you. Please do not either of yourselves beat yourselves up about it, what is done is done and you will never know for sure what caused the nipple problem Alison. From postings you will know that i gave up smoking 3 1/2 years ago and when i had my mastectomy and implant put in had terrible healing problems leading to Septicemia, and i certainly was not smoking!
I do hope for your own peace of mind that you will succeed in your efforts to stop smoking and lilyO like you said it will be for good. My poor husband is having a terrible time with trying to stop, he has two medications for high blood pressure and one for high cholesterol, is 25 stone and only 5’ 8", he worries me to death about his health as he is 45 and his own father died at 42 from a massive heart attack. He wears nicotine patches day and night and the doctor even gave him that Chapmix to help but nothing has worked, he cries every time he succumbs and has to go outside for a fag and that is when he is at home with me, it is even harder for him at work. I would pay any money for him to stop but the addiction is too great.
Put into the pot the stress of recovering from BC and no wonder it is hard to give them up, you want to rely on something to get you through, these are the times i wish i was not teetotal. My best friend used the excuse of my BC to start smoking again! Said the worry of me being ill was too stressful for her! Imagine what it was like for me without smoking and not liking a drink either!!! I have been sorely tempted many times to have the odd fag to help me out, so far have resisted, i think it is the terror of my smoking police daughter which puts me off!
I do remember when i eventually gave up it was those ghastly patches which burnt a square in my arm, i had massive lumps down each arm, tried my legs as well and then finally my rather large backside, big mistake i could not sit down for a couple of days, had to sit on a rubber ring and people thought i had piles!!!
I also did something different at the times i used to have a fag, first thing in the morning i had a coffee instead of tea, when it was mid morning i went for a walk up the road with a bottle of water instead of a coffee, but basically changed my whole routine, i remember the doctor had told me that the craving would only last a couple of mins and he was right so by distracting myself it did go. This was going on while my husband was still puffing away!
Eventually though one week turned into one month and that turned into one year, after about 2 months i stopped thinking about fags altogether, i was amazed after 34 years of smoking! I must admit at times of great distress like when my father died 2 years ago i was desperate for a fag but that also passed once i focused on something.
God this is turning into a sermon, sorry, just wanted to give you some encouragement! Also stop you worrying.
Good luck to both of you
Suzzanne
Hi All
I gave up smoking 3 years ago on the 19th March after smoking 30 a day min boy was I in a bad way. I had hypnosis which cost me 250 pounds (cant get the pound sign to work) but from living for a fag and it being the first thing I thought of in a morning. I had been through a stressful time nursing and losing MIL from bc, losing dad 3 months later from a heart attack and then looking after FIL which was really hard work as MIL had pampered to his every wim and thought that we should do the same plus having 3 children of my own the youngest being special needs who is very demanding. I decided that I didnt want fags to conrol me anymore and after my hypnosis session it was like I had never smoked and it had been wiped from my memory. I have not had a ciggarette from that day or have I craved one. It may have cost me a lot of money at the time but it was the easiest think I have ever done and I had tried every treatment known to man. The one think I would say is that I believe that you want to stop for it to work.
Hope this helps sending hugs
Karen
XXX
hi everyone, only just caught up with this, been to me hometown over the weekend, goodness, i have to say how great i think Suzzane and Karen are for giving up the evil weed, i have never been a heavy smoker, (never any more than 10 a day), and yes, i do still have the odd one or two, i know i shouldn’t, and i had given up prior to diagnosis, the best of it is though, had the hysterectomy and the scar healed up so quick i was amazed, same with the scar on my back where they took the muscle, and under my armpit, just this bit around the nipple area then the nipple bit itself, oh well, at least i have something there, thank you all so much for your support, you’ve cheered me up no end xxxxxxxxxxxxx
lots of love
Alisonxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx