Day 7 - Review by surgeon

A week after surgery I had to go back to see the surgeon, so he told me to shower and remove all the dressings before I left home. This gave me my first proper look at the wounds, and I was amazed at how extensive they were, in view of the minimal pain I had experienced. Again, please skip these photos if you think the sight of fresh scarring will distress you.


The remaining dressings cover the areas of rawness I mentioned earlier, where the surgical dressings were removed a bit roughly in hospital. You can see how far the scar extends around under the arm, because in fact the breast does go that far, so breast reduction can involve removing tissue anywhere between the sternum and the armpit.
As before, you can see how the clearance of the bruising is inhibited by the surgery. The scar marks the dividing line between bruised tissue and non-bruised tissue, whereas outside the breast the bruising gradually moves down the body and away.

The photo below also shows the “T-junction” in the scar at the base of each breast, which is likely to be the last area to heal. It is very common for this part of the wound to take several months to heal properly, even if the rest has healed perfectly within weeks. The reason is that 3 different parts of the breast and skin have been brought together at this point, so they have to make completely new connections of blood vessels, nerves etc. This is also the lowest point of the breast, so blood and other fluid is more likely to collect there, increasing the pressure and slowing the healing process.

At this post-op consultation with the surgeon, he felt there was a 50% chance that the haematoma would gradually dissolve. To my great relief, he also gave me permission to return to driving, and even said that I could return to the gym the following week, although of course I had to avoid upper body work and anything involving bouncing.

I immediately decided to do everything I could to help my body deal with this problem, so I went 3 times a week for a session of Manual Lymphatic Drainage. This is a specialised and very light form of massage which aims to stimulate the fragile lymphatic vessels just under the skin, to encourage drainage of the area. It is used successfully after mastectomies, when all the lymph nodes are often removed entirely, and the patient often has great trouble with fluid retention and a very swollen arm. I also tried to follow the same technique at home at least twice a day, for 15-20 minutes at a time.

I also drank copious amounts of water to help the body liquefy the blood clot, and as soon as I was able to return to the gym for some lower body exercise, I did so. Not only was this essential for my mental well-being, but by raising my heart rate with careful exercise I hoped to increase the flow of fresh blood to my breast and hasten the removal of the old blood.