Exchange Surgery!

4 days to exchange surgery! I’m so excited to finally be to this step. Almost done! They will use the same incisions (under the breasts), so I won’t have additional scarring. They will remove the current tissue expanders. These feel hard, have rough, plastic like edges, and have magnetic ports in the center. They are filled with saline. My body has had time to recover and my breast skin and chest muscle are used to having a foreign body underneath. The cavities are adequately stretched and ready. A new, permanent (well, 10+ years) silicone implant will go in the spot where the expander was. I will have MRI’s every few years to check for implant rupture. They will need to be replaced when they “wear out”.

I had my pre-op appointment with Dr. Chen last week. We talked about options for implants. Apparently there are a ton of different types! First, I decided on round, rather than tear drop shaped. These can tend to not look quite as “natural” as the tear drop, but they also don’t have the possible complication of turning. Tear drop implants, if they randomly decide to turn or shift inside of you, require another surgery to get them back into their proper position. I didn’t want to worry about that. Round implants, if they turn, look the same from all angles. So it doesn’t create any problems. (Tear drops are the top implant image. I'm having the middle, round Inspira). 

Based on my body measurements, we settled on Allergan Natrelle Inspira High Profile 365cc Round Silicone Gel implants. I currently have 340cc of saline in each expander, but I still have a bit of loose skin. This is because of the last fill I had (where I expanded to 400cc) that I had removed, to take me back to 340cc. I’m much happier with this size (400cc was too big), but I don’t love that it stretched my skin out. So, by choosing implants that are just a slight big larger than the expanders, we’re hoping to diminish some loose skin. Because I have zero natural breast tissue left under my skin, there isn’t anything to fill out any space between the skin and expander. The silicone gel looks more natural than saline and is supposedly safe. If they rupture, nothing spills out, because it’s gel like, not liquid. High profile has to do with projection verses width. I am not wide chested, so my volume will project out (high profile) rather than being wide (moderate profile).

I will be given a card, similar to this one, after my surgery. It basically tells me exactly what is in me and has the warranty information.

If all goes well, I shouldn’t have to stay at the hospital overnight OR have drains! Yippee! There will be 3 layers of stitches (2 internal, 1 external), but that will be the worst of it, in addition to anesthesia side effects. I know this is TMI, but I’m not looking forward to the nausea, constipation, and brain fog that comes from anesthesia. I’ll be on lifting restrictions for awhile and will be in a surgical compression bra.

Grateful for wonderful doctors and hospitals! Grateful for an amazing husband who supports me. Grateful for my overall health. Grateful that I’ve made it to September!