BREAST IMPLANT SIZING 101
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Deborah - I am deeply grateful not only for this important information - but especially to you for taking the time yet again to provide an explanation. I feel much better-armed going into this convo with my PS thanks to you and this data. You rock : )
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Happy to help Sara!
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whippetmom: I need your input please. OK today was my last fill. My PS is still not telling me much, preop is in a month. I am 153 lbs now, hoping to get back down to 140 asap. I had a 32 in rib cage I think. I was a 36DD before my bmx. Now I am filled to 695cc. I am feeling pretty sore as the day goes on. One side is higher than the other but he says he can bring the low side up for me since i like the high one better. I told him I wanted to be more rounds and not so hamburger bun looking and he said we would probably want to use a high profile but then when I said i was more concerned about upper pole being there and was concerned about excessive droop he said maybe moderate profile. so i am confused now. I am going to rest now I will try to post some pics later. I have some up there now but none from today yet.0
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Carrol: Well, I think you are just about where you need to be with fills. I want to see your photos, because I will tell you it is much easier to lower the IMF than to raise it. But let me know when you have posted new photos.
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thats funny the nurse said it was easier to make the low one higher than the other way. but my PS still has not told me the bottom line yet specifics yet.
just took a hydrocodone i hurt
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Kenneth Shestak, MD who wrote "Reoperative Plastic Surgery of the Breast, Chapter 8, P389, states as follows: "Correcting an IM fold that is too low is more difficult than correcting an IM fold that is too high." His premise is that the IM fold that is to low, "occurs because the IM fold is transgressed during the mastectomy.". I think in your case Carrol, the one TE has migrated a bit superiorally - and this might be more of a mechanical issue than an IMF issue. If a TE is going to migrate, it is nearly always going to migrate upward or outward. I think you like this because you see it as more "upper pole fullness", but I think I see a little step-off on that side. However, the opposite side is pure perfection, to my obviously untrained, but rather astute beady little eye. I could be completely off the mark about this, but I just wanted to share my thoughts.
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whippetmom yeah you are right of course. I think i just like to see them high as opposed to the droopy boobs i had before BC. The side that is high has a little capsular contraction that my PS said he can remove during the exchange. He did say I would end up with a more natural looking slope more naturally. I am thinking this will correct the step off your talking about. He said the implants will naturally settle lower so they look more natural, his goal is to make them look as natural as possible. He also said they would be more round, not so hamburger bun looking. Oh and that he would be releasing something on the bottom that is holding the fold in place i believe. The lower side does look a lot like my pre bmx boobs. I guess I just wanted to be better than that somehow.0
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They WILL look better than your pre-BMX "maternal" breasts. Never fear. Those droopy sad-eyed, pointing south puppies are gone for good!
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I know your post was a while ago, but I just came accross it - my first time on the site and I'm due to see PS today for first post op appt. I had bilateral Mastectomy last Tuesday, and hope to get drains removed today (I have 4, I hope he removes them all). I wish I knew in advance to ask about size of TEs. And here I thought I asked everything! They seem to be sticking out of my skin on all sides. Thanks for all of your advice and info. I feel better informed and have more questions to ask. I am open to any advice or suggestions thanks. Rochel
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Rochel: Read the header at the top re: what I need if you want help with implant sizing.
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Ok whippetmom and anyone else who is interested. I posted my last and final fill on the forum. I am now at 695cc. That is as big as my PS says he can get me. So I am overfilled my implants will be smaller. I think I am ok with that. I was a DD and now probably more like a large C small D. I am so lopsided I can't try on my old bras to see how they fit. NOt sure how this will look in the end. I am at his mercy. I think he is doing good by me so far though. I told him I am posting pics online so he is interested in the feedback I am getting.0
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I did. Thank you! That's what I was responding to. I will Give you all details soon. Need help measuring rib cage - noone available now. Thanks again. Rochel
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Carrol2 - Maybe in your case, but it is NOT necessarily true that "So I am overfilled my implants will be smaller." I was 'overfilled' to 310cc's and received 325cc implants. Remember that the TE is a whole different monster than the silicone rounds.
Also ... I've told you this before that my TE's were uneven and I couldn't fit in any bra (wore shelf cami's) and everything was fixed at the exchange. Definitely what you have now is NOT going to look the implants at all. xo
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Whippetmom, I am 5'11'', weigh about 165-170, my rib cage measures 301/2'', and i have Mentor TEs. I don't know what type they are, or their capacity. I'll ask the PS at my appt. They just feel so wide and seem to be protruding through my skin. I'll ask about that too. I do trust the PS. Thanks. Rochel
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Carrol -- love the new picture! Look how long your hair has gotten -- and thick! You are totally adorable.
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Thank you "WhippetMom" for being here for all of us!
Rochel, I am exactly your size except I weigh 155-160. I had my exchange on 7/15. I was filled to 750 and the implants are 800. I am wearing my old bras-38D and that is what I wore when I was "fat" before and when I was "skinny" I would wear a 38C. This seems to be a good size for me and if you did not know they were foobs and I was not so proud to tell everyone in hearing distance the I was a SURVIVOR, you would never know.
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Great info thank you so much.
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wan2bwell, Thanks for your post. It's amazing that we are so similar in size, BUT I was a B before the surgery. I will probably aim for the same now. I'm so glad to hear that they look so natural and that you feel back to yourself, and that you can wear your old bra, AND that you're so proud to be a survivor!! Thanks, Rochel
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Dawn-Hope thanks for the encouragement and living up to your name ! My PS did tell me he overfills so I am expecting to be smaller. How much smaller I don;t know. He is trying to get me as big as he can. He said his main goal is for them to be as natural as possible.
Lilah aww shucks thanks. Gotta work with what we got even though I hate it I am trying to embrace my new look. I went to an event saw lots of people I had not seen since before DX and they all thought I got a makeover lol.
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I'm stage 3 and have a mastectomey the week of the 22nd of Aug, 2011. I have an appointment with a plastic surgeon today at 11:30. I have to let the surgeon know if I want expanders, as it's my ony option for reconstuction because I'm also having radiation and I don't have enought fat to use my own tissue. Any advice on the success of expanders and then radiation and the success of implants afterward. I heard there was a higher rate of infection and failure of the implants for various reasons, so I'm curious as to what women's experience are with them and what they look like etc. Thank you for your help.
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I've hd my appt with my PS and it went great. I left with all my questions asked and answered. The best part of it all was when I asked about doing TRAM. He said "lets trial this first, then if in a year or two you don't like it, we can go for an autologenous flap"
I felt so good! He did say that doing a tram would not give me the size I was before as it would take to much tissue. Acknowledging this made me feel like he is taking everything into concideration and is respecting my choices. He will wait a year for the nipples as he wants me completely healed and all scarring settled down before he willput nipples on. He says that he doesn't want any shifting and having to correct nipple placement. He does this as he don't have to go back and correct his work. Have I said how much I love this PS! My sister is going to have a referral sent to him to get her recon done as the Olympics put her Vancouver based PS (McAdams) a year back on "non-cancer" breast recon.
As it is he will come to our local hospital to do the procedure as a day surgery, that means I can recover and come right home (5 minutes from the hospital!).
Andre deGreef is one of the most compassionate docs I have ever met. I wish everyone could have him as thier PS.
Whippetmom: He is going to do fills up to 600 if the skin can manage it (which he thinks it can) and then put in the 500 - 550 cc. Also he is using mentor smooth silcone (not high prifiles though). I can't wait to post new pics!
Thanks everyone for sharing my journey!
Patti
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Pitpat -- I see that post!
Carrol -- aw sorry you hate it... that short hair really becomes you!
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Carrol2: I'm in the same boot with the hair. Everyone says I rock with short hair. I prefer longish hair. I see you went dark!..I will say that having seen your pics at the beginning of this journey that you rock both looks, but go with your gut and go back to what you feel is "you".0
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Lilah: I wrot e post yesterday but I think I failed in the execution and didn't hit send...I edited my last post to recreate the post I thought was up there. Doh...brain cells are still misfiring!0
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Goldielocks: I think that the rate of infection whether rads is administered before or after reconstruction is probably pretty darn close to being equal. I have seen both scenarios and the risk of complications or successful results are neck and neck. I just talked to your friend about this and told her that I am a strong advocate of the PS employing fat graft transfer with any patient who undergoes radiation, because stem cells transferred along with the fat can enhance the integrity of the skin - soften the skin - change the texture of irradiated skin. I feel that fat graft transfer to the tissue expanders after rads and before the exchange is the start, and another FTG at the time of exchange is the second recommendation. Changing the skin integrity is key to success and also could lower the risk of capsular contracture - another complication of any implant-based procedure, but higher with radiation exposure. In this thread I posted some links which probably are defunct, but someone else has kindly posted updated links, so read through the posts.
http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/70/topic/744891?page=1#idx_9
Deborah
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Goldielocks: Deborah's link is: http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/70/topic/744891?page=10
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Patti: Sounds good to me! I look forward to following your progress!
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Lago -- if Whippetmom is the "breast whisperer," then you are the "link guru"
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Lago: How funny....I was going back in there to fix it while you were posting it correctly. You have done this for me previously, you little tinkerbell, you!!! Fluttering around, being the Link Guru! Good one Lilah!
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"Links by Lago"!
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