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Nipple reconstruction

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Comments

  • lahela
    lahela Member Posts: 145
    edited March 2014

    Thanks for that link to pinkinkproject, Vinnie! I'm 100% decided now - I'll get my skin graft nips without the PS tattooing first (she was planning to tattoo pink circles in my upper thighs then graft them on), then go to England for my tatts at Adrenalin Tattoo Studios! :)

  • sweetandspecial
    sweetandspecial Member Posts: 1,669
    edited March 2014

    Vinnie - a huge GOD BLESS YOU for the work you do!  I'm in west Michigan but my daughter moved to Maryland in October (California, MD to be exact).  That gives me a pretty good reason to come to your Baltimore location for my tats!  I have one more procedure (axillary tissue flap cleanup) before I'll start planning for the tats though.  You are quite obviously a wonderful man to use your artistic talents to this purpose.  Keep up the great work ThumbsUp!

  • Carrol2
    Carrol2 Member Posts: 1,477
    edited March 2014

    I really love the way my surgical nipples looked with the 3D tattoo. I am glad I did both.  I was luck both my doctor and Vinne did an amazing job. I can't really wear shear clothes anyway because my vmx scar would show but my nipples really don't show they are so small. I do go braless in my strapless dresses.

  • vinniemyers
    vinniemyers Member Posts: 58
    edited March 2014

    Iahela... Richard , my friend in UK is the one that will do your tatts... he is funny as hell and will make it fun and comfortable. GOOD LUCK with your up upcoming surgery... remember you do not have to do the grafting... the nipples look great without it... just a though but do what you want and think is best for YOU!!! That is the important thing!!!

    sweet... Thank you for your kind words... it has been amazingly rewarding to my heart and soul to help! I cannot believe I am on this path or how I got here but I am on for the ride now and love it!Hope to see you soon... V

  • Sharon1942
    Sharon1942 Member Posts: 96
    edited March 2014

    I love my surgical nip, as it matches my natural nip. The medical aesthetician at my PS office did a great 3D tattoo. I feel complete with my matching pair. 

  • lahela
    lahela Member Posts: 145
    edited March 2014

    My DIEP scar circles where my original nipples were are flat, so I will definitely go for the graft nips for projection. I've emailed Richard to ask how long I will need to wait before tattooing - got to plan a trip to England! Had scar revision on the noobs today so I can't measure the circles, but my PS feels they will be a good size and position for the grafts. I can't tell you how good it feels to have a plan... but I guess you all already know!

  • Stix
    Stix Member Posts: 610
    edited March 2014

    Thank you vinnie. I can't say how important that is. Yep.....I am the laser girls that emailed u recently from Michigan. When I was in the nip chair...I did think mine was too high a couple years back. .. he walked out and had his nurse or a practitioner 're measure....he walked back in and I still told him I thought it was too high....  he did the triangle story if I remember correctly...and  I believed him.  Now when I look at them. Guess what it's not only too high...but too lateral ....and all my. 2nd opinions said the same thing.  MY ADVICE IS TO GET THOSE STICK ON NIPPLES....NOT THE TATTOOED STICKONS AND PLACE THEM ON BEFORE U SEE THE DOC AND WEAR THEM IN.....LOOK AT THEM FROM THE SIDE WITH YOUR ARM BEHIND YOUR BACK PARALLEL TO THE BRA LINE..... YOU CAN TELL IF ITS TOO MEDAIL OR LATERAL BY dOING THAT.   VINNIE you can really teach a lot of doctors things...they need you...

  • Stix
    Stix Member Posts: 610
    edited March 2014

    Dulci girl..if they are not correct I would get it fixed to your liking before it is tattooed.

  • Dulcigirl
    Dulcigirl Member Posts: 864
    edited March 2014

    Thanks, Stix.

    I may have chosen to put them a tad lower, but not much. I'm quite satisfied and like them more each day. 

    At my nip appt the nurse did the triangle measuring then stuck round bandaids in place. Then my PS came in and they both stood back and stared for a while. (AWKWARD!!! Lol.) Then he told her to move one this way, one that way, etc. til he was satisfied. Then they left the room and let me study them. DH was there and thought they were good. So I feel I was given a lot of input. 

    The hard part was looking in the mirror with a memory (faded) of where my original nipples (which I liked) were, and acknowledging the fact that these new breasts are quite different from my originals and therefore it makes sense that the new nipples need to fit THESE and will be different. 

    Vinnie, I so appreciate what you do and your contributions to this board. Things are healing up well and I will be calling in the next two weeks to set up my MD tat appt. DH and I are making a mini vacation out of it...our first in years. And I may just wear my ridiculous pink heels to my appointment. (I got them on my way home from getting my diagnoses because I had never bought just-for-fun shoes and I decided life was too short for boring shoes. But I have saved them for my "I'm done" celebration.) 

  • Stix
    Stix Member Posts: 610
    edited March 2014

    I  plan on sending my PS a bill for corrections..... AND my name will be posted on it.   You really get to know your doctor when you don't totally agree with them.....

  • mamasixtaz
    mamasixtaz Member Posts: 156
    edited March 2014

    Thanks Viinnie for all the advise!  Wish there were more of you around, I just can't leave my DH as he is disabled,  but I was very happy with my PS.  He was very inclusive letting me put on "patches" (EKG patches).  Then coming in and making a few adjustments.  They have a mirror labeled just for him that they roll into pre-op.  He marked it and we agreed it was where we wanted them.  He agrees with you that more time is better so we will wait the 20 weeks for tattoos. I feel this is the last step in this journey and it is the decision for me. 

  • nihahi
    nihahi Member Posts: 1,068
    edited March 2014

    Honestly, I don't know which is the more challenging scenario......trying to match a uni mx, or trying to "place" 2 new nips.......there just is NOTHING easy in this is there!

  • Stix
    Stix Member Posts: 610
    edited March 2014

    Well ...it is so important to place the nipples correct and have a good tattoo on the breast...you ruin the entire presentation of a good well formed breast  if u screw the above up.  

  • Jeannie57
    Jeannie57 Member Posts: 1,314
    edited March 2014

    I am happy with my placement. My PS placed the crop circles very well so the nipples are in a good place. I love the current size but I know they will shrink. I wore various paddings for three weeks but got sick of feeling like a bandaged "patient" so I slept without them last night and went without them today. If the tattooing follows the edges of the crop circle incisions, the areolas will be bigger than the originals but I am okay with that, I think. My boobs are not quite like my originals, my nips are different, but I am thankful for what I have and I just want and need to move on. The closest 3D artist from pinkink is in Nanaimo, B.C., pretty far from me and in another country....If we drove, it would be interesting to tell the border guard that I was entering his country to get nipple tattoos....I was surprised there weren't any listed in WA or OR. We have some great tattoo artists up here, but maybe not with nipple expertise! Maybe I'll ask around. I have a photo of some large pink daisy tattoos in the nipple area if I don't like what I end up with. Winking

    Vinnie, I, too, want to thank you for what you've done for the world of breast reconstruction. You have played an important part in making women feel " complete" again.  Your pros/cons list will help many, I am sure.

  • aviva5675
    aviva5675 Member Posts: 836
    edited March 2014

    ekg patches- good idea to use as sample locaters

  • nihahi
    nihahi Member Posts: 1,068
    edited March 2014

    No further insight from my MT today.....turns out she is going for her tattooing this coming Friday. She is a young mother, bilateral bmx with implant recon. She did say, that she was very glad she did get the nip recon done as she already finds just the glimpse of a nip as she gets dressed/ showers, etc. makes her feel more "complete". Originally she had been pretty convinced she didn't want nips, but gradually changed her mind, as she became more accepting of her implants as "breasts". 

  • Stix
    Stix Member Posts: 610
    edited March 2014

    I majority  of the nips flatten.... The key is 3 d nipples..along with the nip reconstruct ion

  • Carrol2
    Carrol2 Member Posts: 1,477
    edited March 2014

    I agree stix i love the results from doing surgical nipples with the 3d tattoos

  • Moviemaniac
    Moviemaniac Member Posts: 242
    edited March 2014

    Jeannie, I am going to  Mary Jane Haake, at Dermagraphics.  She comes very highly recommended, ( others have spoken of her on other sites) you have to have a PS referral, and she bills insurance for you.  Still a ways out......will wait 3 more months......or longer...as I am not interested in giving any more time to this damn disease than I have in the past 15 months!Loopy

  • Jeannie57
    Jeannie57 Member Posts: 1,314
    edited March 2014

    Movie, I got my nip stitches out today and I'm waiting for a tattoo appt. for late May in PS's office. I am just going to have my PA do it. I love her, she has perfectionist tendencies, has done so many, I trust her and I just want it done. I am not very fussy as far as my boobs go anymore. I desperately need to be done.

  • ahdjdbcjdjdbkf
    ahdjdbcjdjdbkf Member Posts: 188
    edited March 2014

    I had my nipple procedure two weeks ago. I was initially ineligible because my skin was too thin, but then my skin broke down and my reconstruction failed. I ended up having a flap to deal with the failure, and then I was eligible. My resuls look absolutely awful. Nothing I can do now.

  • Dulcigirl
    Dulcigirl Member Posts: 864
    edited March 2014

    Maria, wow. You've been through so much!! 

    What is it that you feel looks awful? Mine at 4 weeks are finally looking better. Stitches, bruises, scabby stuff...yuck!! I still have two small areas in the last colors of bruising, but the stitches and scabs are better. 

  • ahdjdbcjdjdbkf
    ahdjdbcjdjdbkf Member Posts: 188
    edited March 2014

    Dulci, for starters my two boobs are 2 different sizes despite having the same size implant. The latissimus side doesn't have the greatest placement and didn't look great already. I considered not having the nipple procedure and trying to reconstruct that side again but my PS - whom I trust - strongly advised me against it given all I had been through. So I proceeded. I had a football shaped patch on my right side and it looks BAD. and then the procedure on top of that. It has about a 3 inch long scar on the football now. My non-radiated implant side actually looks really OK but the other side looks SO bad. They are day and night. My "cancer side" has just really suffered and doesn't look good at all. I've been hiding out from my boyfriend and now there was already a fight about it. Like I need that.

  • Dulcigirl
    Dulcigirl Member Posts: 864
    edited March 2014

    Maria,

    It's so hard to look in the mirror and not wish the scars away NOW!!! But they will fade with time. I know I am my own worst critic. I hid from DH for a long time. He finally saw them last week and laughed! Not in a mean way, but because I had made them sound "pretty scary" and they aren't!!  Why do we lose so much happy, loving time waiting/wishing to be perfect? (Preaching to myself, here.) 

    That said, if you truly can't move on with the way things are and don't believe that they will improve with time you may want to talk to your doctor again about your results...or seek a second opinion just for peace of mind. 

    Sending you a hug!!!

  • Stix
    Stix Member Posts: 610
    edited March 2014

    maria...i would seek a 2nd and 3rd opinion...

  • Sharon1942
    Sharon1942 Member Posts: 96
    edited March 2014

    Maria, stage 2’s &  3’s are to make things match & look good. My PS is not happy until you are happy. Sometimes it just takes patient tweaking. If your PS can't make you feel satisfied, get a 2nd or 3rd opinion. It can be fixed!

  • hopefulhealing
    hopefulhealing Member Posts: 581
    edited March 2014

    Be careful with the coding if you go to Vinnie.  I went and he did a great job but the codes he gave me were not accepted by my insurance.  I called their office 3 or 4 times to ask them to resend the invoice with the correct codes which I could supply them with and was told they were too busy to do that.  So I am out $600! So not holistic when it comes to the billing aspect and trying to help with the cost. All that was needed was to send a new form with the correct codes which I had and could tell them.  Nope too busy.

  • Jeannie57
    Jeannie57 Member Posts: 1,314
    edited March 2014

    hopefulhealing, so sorry!  I am surprised to hear that.

    I have a date for my nipple tattoos (not with Vinnie!), June 6th.  So excited, although I know I may be freaked out by the size of my areolas....the scarring from the crop circles is still lots bigger than my original areolas.  I kind of wish I could get some more fat grafting on the top of my boobs, but being in the OR is a big risk for me so I will settle for "restoration" and not "perfection," as a poster on another thread said.  I really just want to be done.

  • Sharon1942
    Sharon1942 Member Posts: 96
    edited March 2014

    Jeannie, I don't know if they even tattoo the areola as large as the crop circle, because that scar really tends to fadeaway. 

  • ahdjdbcjdjdbkf
    ahdjdbcjdjdbkf Member Posts: 188
    edited March 2014

    I'm taking a few paths. I'm going to start with my PS to see if there is anything not super invasive that he thinks can be done - like fat grafting. Who has done this? I made an appointment for areola restoration at The Whitney Center in May. Before I proceed with that, I'm getting a second opinion from a doctor who was recommended by other patients as the "fix it" reconstruction doc. My oncologist's nurse also recommended him based on all the stories she knows about. If there aren't great options for me, I will go ahead with the areola restoration.

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