Capsular Contracture Puns

Hello ladies and gents. I was diagnosed with stage 3 grade 3 PR/ER+ HER2+ IDC in February 2020. I am 32/F. I was given the works for treatment and was given the all-clear from my oncologist this past May. Now that I am not actively in treatment, I have had time to digest some of what I have gone through. I didn't once cry or mourn while going through or treatment - it almost felt like I was witnessing a stranger or a movie character go through their ordeal. Now that I have had time to ponder, I realize that I am deeply unhappy with my left breast reconstruction. I had a bilateral mastectomy in August 2020 with immediate latissimi dorsi reconstruction with implants. I had it removed prophylactically. I have developed a capsular contractor (which my plastic surgeon has been avoiding label which I can only imagine is for egotistical reasons). My breast is nearly rock hard and painfully darts out to the side of my chest. I have been offered a revision by the same surgeon and have an appointment on August 19th. I am so frustrated that I am considering going flat. I don't know if I can make a clear-headed decision anytime soon. I was so busy surviving this past year and a bit that nothing phased me before and now things seem to be hitting me like a shit ton of breaks. I don't know what to do.

I have capsular contracture on one breast which makes my nipples look really wonky and has created a “band” near my armpit. My surgeon said I could try massaging. I’ve tried a bit but it hasn’t helped. Has anyone had success with massage or another option? Is there something specific you did? We are talking about another fat transfer in a couple of years but I would love to try to help it in the meantime. Thanks!

P.S. I’m not sure if I needed to, but I just noticed I didn’t specify this is a result from breast implants!

I am 3 months Post BA and my surgeon just diagnosed me with Baker Grade III Capsular Contracture in my right breast. It sits about 2 inches higher than my left breast, and sort of bulges out but is not hard to touch. Honestly I still mostly love the way they look other than the asymmetry and don’t feel any pain, and I am reluctant to undergo surgery again so soon. However, I do not want to harm my health or suffer further aesthetic complications down the line. My surgeon recommended trying to massage the right breast daily for 2 months and checking back in to see if it improves. Otherwise, he will give me a quote for revision surgery.

What should I do? I honestly would rather not have a revision BA unless the capsular contracture is harmful to my health. How bad is Capsular Contracture for my health and do I need to undergo revision?

I can't do this story justice without it being long.

Please, Please, Please, practice good breast implant maintenance. They aren't lifetime devices. This means Scheduled MRI's and Mammograms. You may not notice when your body starts having a reaction to the implants. I didn't. It can be a long gradual progress that you attribute to something else before you have issues with pain, fatigue, capsular contracture, swelling and more. I had all these issues and still didn't attribute them to the downhill trajectory of my overall health over a good portion of 2020.

So, I wasn't expecting to feel any different once the breast implant issues I was having were resolved. As bad as I had been feeling for months on end, I hadn't even considered that my sagging health, fatigue and depression might be directly related to the problems I'd been describing to my IU-health doctors while asking them for help. Despite my hard and swollen breast implants may be a sign that my body was having a reaction to the implants.

Finally, getting nowhere, I requested a mammogram.

My Primary Care Dr. at IU-Health for more than a decade responded by telling me in writing that he wouldn't stop me from getting a mammogram but he wouldn't provide a referral for one. When I questioned this decision he claimed there was no medical evidence to support the need for mammograms for Trans-women. When I pointed out this was outside the guidelines from Fenway Health, Callen-Lorde AND others including the WPATH guidelines that they claim to use. He also responded by telling me that the WPATH "Guidelines" were just that --guidelines. For the record, I should mention that he had provided two mammogram referrals since 2017. Neither of those referrals I could attend due to GRS complications. For me, this sudden change in mammogram compliance by my PCP came out of nowhere --and at the worst possible time.

Once he invalidated me as unworthy of a mammogram, I went into advocate mode. I found the peer-reviewed research that was more than adequate to justify the evidence-based need for a Post-op, 56 year-old Trans-woman who has been on HRT for the last 18 years to have her very FIRST mammogram. Plus I had to get angry about it. This is the state of my LGBT/Trans-healthcare at IU-Health in Indianapolis Indiana. The saddest part of all of this nonsense was all he had to do was look and feel my breast to see all the evidence any physician would need to see why a mammogram or an MRI was necessary

Hello,

My fiance has recently began noticing one breast grow and become firmer. It seems she is having another capsular contracture, her last one was roughly 2 years ago and had the implant replaced which until now fixed the issue. She initially had the surgery about 5/6 years ago. After speaking with her surgeon in Czech Slovakia he has recommended trying a Bio Lamp by Zepter; he says that if the issue has occurred for less than a month then there is a chance to heal the breast just buy using this. Wanted to know if anyone from this forum knows of or has used this product and knows whether it actually works?

There’s been a very large shift away from implants recently due to attention being drawn to BII on social media and women coming out with their horror stories about implants. I would like to know does anyone have any positive stories? How long have you had your implants? Are they fake looking or natural? Thanks!

I recently had my breast augmentation done by Dr. Chettawut. I am a week out of surgery and very pleased with how things are coming along, my standard of care in Thailand and the Dr. himslelf.

My only issue has been with the instructed breast massage routine. Dr. Chettawut has advised I do a routine that includes placing both hands over my breast and leaning with my body weight against a wall for five minutes of continuous pressure. I am then to change sides and repeat and do this over and over for 30 mins. He has instructed me to do this three times a day for a total of 90 mins of massage and to continue this routine for a full year before slowly decreasing it.

I am finding this routine is extremely time consuming, painful on my hands and exhausting on my legs. I have looked around at advice for breast augmentation massage and it seems that every source I can find on the topic advises a much less rigorous, much less time consuming routine.

I am deathly afraid of risking capsular contracture. And I am willing to tough it through the next year of my current routine if that is the only way to prevent my breast implants looking horrible.

But I was wondering if anyone had any information of Dr. Chet's process. Does he use a different kind of a implant that required this rigorous process? Is it absolutely necessary for ensuring my breasts turn out okay? Are there any better routines? For other than have had a breast augmentation with Dr. Chet what has your experience been like?

I have recently had a bilateral mastectomy and tissue expanders put into place. I am worried about capsular contracture on my breast that was previously radiated. There are already spots that are indented and very hard in that breast only a few days after surgery. Is there any way to reduce this risk and/or reverse it?

Anyone have experience with (what appears to be) a minor capsular contracture? Sub-Muscular Silicone (Natrelle Inspira) will be re-done but it will need to be above the muscle now (or so I’m told). Who’s been through this and what’s the outcome. Love them now but they need repair 3 years later.

Hi everyone,

I had breast augmentation surgery 1,5 years ago and it feels like i am developing capsular contracture in both, but even more so on the right side.

so my question is for those who experienced the same:

what were the early symptoms?

what did it feel like?

is it possible to develop it in both breasts?

what did you do to fix the situation?

Thank you! :)

To start from the beginning, the office performed a 3d scan to help visualize the results they were aiming for, sometime between this and when they said they would send me those visualizations they somehow misplaced or lost the files, and when they called me to schedule another session and I complained miraculously they found them within a day. My first surgery resulted in a bottom out, which when I complained that my nipples were basically pointing upward rather than outward and the implant had dropped several centimeters below the incision, first his staff misdiagnosed the other breast as perhaps having capsular contracture, and when I finally made them actually see me for an appointment, Dr. Ellis agreed it was a bottom out, but spent some considerable time trying to say it wasn't that bad and I should consider living with it, when I asked if it would continue to drop and if we could repair it, he didn't give a clear answer and instead attempted to pass me off to another surgeon at the practice, who when I asked if she could repair it said "I don't know but I'll do my best" which wasn't very reassuring.

It was around then they told me the surgery they got 100% pre approved and covered, was now not covered at all because apparently they have a department who's only job is to change the codes they got pre approved, and they forgot to submit the paperwork saying the surgery itself was medically necessary (which it was and was the whole reason I went to them in the first place). So now I had to navigate their billing department to avoid a 7 thousand dollar bill, and also continue to advocate for my own care. After several months and escalating to the practice manager that was resolved and he attempted to repair the work he did the first time, which was going well until I suffered implant exposure. During this entire time also re navigating their billing department because once again the team had changed all the codes they got pre approved and now I was suddenly on the hook for over 20,000 dollars for a surgery that was supposed to be completely covered.

I went it on a Friday to get the implant exposure diagnosed and while he agreed it needed immediate surgery for whatever reason we couldn't do it that day, so I was sent home with an open hole in my breast for an entire weekend, but assured me we would handle it Monday. Come Monday morning when I show up for surgery like they told me to, I was somehow not actually added to the list, and they weren't even s

Recently since October I had gotten BA and I was happy with the results, however my surgeon didn’t tell me getting under the muscle could affect what exercises I can do in the gym & didn’t really explain to me well the things like capsular contracture.

I know this is very specific but I heard from anecdotes that working out shouldn’t be a problem, and the statement of “after 6 weeks you should be able to return to regular physical activity” but from others saying you should avoid strenuous physical exercise, or you should never do chest exercise with them as it can cause animated deformity of the breasts. I’m unsure if regular physical activity is physical training that isn’t deadlifts, squats and bench press, Olympic movements, CrossFit, etc, or if it’s going to work. And from the crowd that’s saying chest exercise, what about exercises where the chest is activated with other muscles (shoulder press, pull-ups, certain core exercises, etc)

I took a 3 year break from going to the gym since my transition and my body is taking a toll. If any of y’all got sub-muscular what do y’all recommend to work with it?

I agree with the rules that we shouldn’t make fun of anyones plastic surgery choices but I do think it’s helpful for us to discuss complications that can happen. A lot of women don’t understand certain things are quite common and some surgeons don’t discuss because they want money. Earlier I saw a post about Lexi Deyoungs implants that I am quite sure got deleted by mods. She absolutely has capsular contracture. It’s when the your body forms a capsule that hardens and contracts around the implant. It eventually will become painful. I don’t think we need to make fun of her for it because it’s beyond her control and she needs a revision done. It’s all in how your body reacts to the implant and won’t go away without a new set of implants.

If anyone has any questions they would like me to ask Dr.Elist let me know. I have my final appointment with him today at 1100 PST.

Had another post op appointment the other day. They were placed under the muscle. Noticed about a month ago that you can literally see a bold outline of my implant because its dropping too low behind my breast tissue. Its making me look like i have two breasts on my left breast and it looks really bad. No capsular contracture at all but I’m afraid this needs to be corrected surgically. He told me to wear a support bra and that I’m steal early in healing and my skin still stretching. I’m too insecure to even show my partner my boobs cause they look bad.

Can anyone shed advice on this?

When people end up looking too unnatural, how does that happen? Do they ask for too much from the surgeon? Are the surgeons just cheap or bad? As far as injections go, do many people try DIY?

Edit: Thank you everyone for your answers and for sharing your personal experiences. It was all very helpful!

To start from the beginning, the office performed a 3d scan to help visualize the results they were aiming for, sometime between this and when they said they would send me those visualizations they somehow misplaced or lost the files, and when they called me to schedule another session and I complained miraculously they found them within a day. My first surgery resulted in a bottom out, which when I complained that my nipples were basically pointing upward rather than outward and the implant had dropped several centimeters below the incision, first his staff misdiagnosed the other breast as perhaps having capsular contracture, and when I finally made them actually see me for an appointment, Dr. Ellis agreed it was a bottom out, but spent some considerable time trying to say it wasn't that bad and I should consider living with it, when I asked if it would continue to drop and if we could repair it, he didn't give a clear answer and instead attempted to pass me off to another surgeon at the practice, who when I asked if she could repair it said "I don't know but I'll do my best" which wasn't very reassuring.

It was around then they told me the surgery they got 100% pre approved and covered, was now not covered at all because apparently they have a department who's only job is to change the codes they got pre approved, and they forgot to submit the paperwork saying the surgery itself was medically necessary (which it was and was the whole reason I went to them in the first place). So now I had to navigate their billing department to avoid a 7 thousand dollar bill, and also continue to advocate for my own care. After several months and escalating to the practice manager that was resolved and he attempted to repair the work he did the first time, which was going well until I suffered implant exposure. During this entire time also re navigating their billing department because once again the team had changed all the codes they got pre approved and now I was suddenly on the hook for over 20,000 dollars for a surgery that was supposed to be completely covered.

**I went it on a Friday to get the implant exposure diagnosed and while he agreed it needed immediate surgery for whatever reason we couldn't do it that day, so I was sent home with an open hole in my breast for an entire weekend, but assured me we would handle it Monday. Come Monday morning when I show up for surgery like they told me to, I was somehow not actually added to the list, and they wer

To start from the beginning, the office performed a 3d scan to help visualize the results they were aiming for, sometime between this and when they said they would send me those visualizations they somehow misplaced or lost the files, and when they called me to schedule another session and I complained miraculously they found them within a day. My first surgery resulted in a bottom out, which when I complained that my nipples were basically pointing upward rather than outward and the implant had dropped several centimeters below the incision, first his staff misdiagnosed the other breast as perhaps having capsular contracture, and when I finally made them actually see me for an appointment, Dr. Ellis agreed it was a bottom out, but spent some considerable time trying to say it wasn't that bad and I should consider living with it, when I asked if it would continue to drop and if we could repair it, he didn't give a clear answer and instead attempted to pass me off to another surgeon at the practice, who when I asked if she could repair it said "I don't know but I'll do my best" which wasn't very reassuring.

It was around then they told me the surgery they got 100% pre approved and covered, was now not covered at all because apparently they have a department who's only job is to change the codes they got pre approved, and they forgot to submit the paperwork saying the surgery itself was medically necessary (which it was and was the whole reason I went to them in the first place). So now I had to navigate their billing department to avoid a 7 thousand dollar bill, and also continue to advocate for my own care. After several months and escalating to the practice manager that was resolved and he attempted to repair the work he did the first time, which was going well until I suffered implant exposure. During this entire time also re navigating their billing department because once again the team had changed all the codes they got pre approved and now I was suddenly on the hook for over 20,000 dollars for a surgery that was supposed to be completely covered.

**I went it on a Friday to get the implant exposure diagnosed and while he agreed it needed immediate surgery for whatever reason we couldn't do it that day, so I was sent home with an open hole in my breast for an entire weekend, but assured me we would handle it Monday. Come Monday morning when I show up for surgery like they told me to, I was somehow not actually added to the list, and they were