Trans-Gnome

Appearance & sensation:

I’m happy with how it’s going, the swelling has gone down enough to be able to see how my chest contours looks, It’s really nicely done and I can see how the scars will sit nicely under my pecs as they settle and as I increase my upper body musculature over the next couple of years. The scars themselves are light pink, flat and soft along most of the length apart from a couple of bumpy patches here and there. They are already fading well, I am very lucky in that my scars fade fast to faint pink/white; I understand that not everyone has that experience which is perfectly okay.

My nips have healed amazingly well considering that this was my second op. I’m pleased with the size and shape, the scars around them are thin and not very visible at all. There has been a little unevenness in pigmentation of the grafts but nothing that looks too obvious. I have slight sensation in my right nipple, mostly just protective/pressure however my left nipple is completely numb which isn’t surprising given my hematoma was around the left nipple and I got a little necrosis on the tip. My right nipple responds to cold or touch stimulus, but my left nipple is a bit lazy so just stays pretty much flat.

I have 2 tiny dog ears which hopefully won’t need revision, I’ll have to wait and see how the skin tightens as I lose weight because the mostly seem to be a result of underarm fat. 

Hematoma healing/general swelling:

The middle of my chest is still a tiny bit puffy. I can’t quite tell if it’s just fat or swelling based on the shape I’d say a bit of both! My surgeon doesn’t like to take out so much fat that the skin looks too tight so she left a little fat under the skin to keep it looking natural so my chest is a little soft, but again I’m fine with that because it really does look natural. The hematoma bruise is now totally gone apart from very slight discolouration under my left scar which almost looks like a patch of tanned skin. The hematoma swelling is also gone aside from a small firmish/squishy-ish patch just below my left scar in the same place as the skin discolouration. I think this will go away but is just taking its sweet time. I have no pain now at all aside from a tiny bit of soreness on the outer edge of my left pec or if I belly flop down on the sofa too hard like a dope.

Scars are looking extremely good for 6 weeks post op. They are mostly soft and flat apart from at the middle of my chest and the very ends just by my armpits where they are a little firmer and raised, the ends of my scars also still get a little sore. They are a pinkish colour with some areas that look a little purple which is normal for me. I’ve been wearing my scar tape in bed at night and when I’m out jogging/at the gym. I’m not 24/7 with it because my skin gets a little upset, like really white when a plaster has been on if I wear them for too long. They seem to be doing the trick though, my scars seem to be lightening way fast than after my last op when I did no scar aftercare at all. I’m optimistic that they will fade well. My nipples looks excellent, all the scabs fell off to reveal very healthy well pigmented skin. There’s a little bit of pigment loss in patches but it doesn’t look too weird. 

Now that I’m fully cleared for the gym & swimming i’ll be getting back into it from tomorrow and will keep you posted on how it goes.

Overall I feel good, I’m still getting used to how things look and feel but at the same time it’s almost as though I’ve never looked any different. 

So first off, it is too early to tell how things turned out. Last time I had top surgery it took a year or so for things to settle into their final shape. But my impression so far is that things have gone incredibly well, especially considering the difficult landscape my surgeon had to work with. The right side is pretty much perfect already. 

The left side as you can see has come out a little less perfect, my scar looks kind of “bent” from where the swelling is so I think it’s likely to straighten out a little with time, but even if it stays bent that’s no big because my scars heal to a very faint white so you won’t be able to see it all that much in a couple of years. It also looks like there was a little more fat left in on my left side, but again its hard to tell how much of that will flatten down as the swelling goes. If not it might be something I’d get revised in the future if settling and fat loss/muscle gain don’t get rid of it. In the pic below you can clearly see the kind of “blobs” of fat that are causing a bit of what I would call overhang rather than dog ear: 

The blobby bit by my armpit essentially follows the line of my old scar which was always a problem area for overhanging tissue, looks like that spot was missed in my revision, which is cool because they got most of it out and if it does need a small extra op to take it out then a little lipo should sort it out which is no big deal. 

Overall I feel really good, I’ve gotten back to the gym to do cardio and rehab work with some light lifting which has made me feel much more like myself. Still going for long walks as often as I can and from around 6 weeks post op I’m going to start cutting fat to prep for getting in shape to maximise my results (and also just to look and feel healthy in general!). 

Quite silicone tape/scar care note: 

Incisions: both are fully closed and the scars are forming properly now. The right side is smooth and pink with a little bit of skin peeling around it which is normal. On Sunday I got a little zit on it from an ingrown hair which popped, it’s closed up again and I just made sure that I cleaned it to prevent infection.  

Nipples: 

They are both pink and healthy. There’s some odd stuff happening with the pigment where some areas are darker pink than others. Right nip seems like is healed except the stitches still haven’t fallen out. On the left there is still an area of eschar underneath which it looks like the skin is rebuilding. Stitches still haven’t fallen out of either nip which is slightly irritating now cause I would like it to start looking a bit more finished! The edges of the nipples have adhered to the skin around them and nice scars have formed which has made me feel much more secure. 

Swelling & hematoma: 

There’s still a tiny amount of puffiness on the right side which is going down gradually, at this point it’s barely noticeable. The left side, which has the hematoma, has gotten much better, the bruising has lightened significantly and the tissue has softened. It’s a lot less swollen though still a bit raised, based on the progress so far, I’m confident that it’ll start to look and feel more healed by week 6-8. 

My brain: 

I feel so much better in my self, I got a nice haircut and have been going out a lot more for walks and coffee with friends and doing things around the house. Next week I plan to get a bit more back into the swing of things, I have some meetings on campus, I’m gonna go get my T shot and have planned in some time to get some creative practice done for a project. I’m also heading back to the gym this afternoon to start doing some light cardio and build a recovery program with one of the PTs. I still get moments when I wished I was healed and back to full strength or where I feel low because it doesn’t look/feel finished yet. But on the whole I feel positive and excited about going forward. It feels like I’m over the worst of it and like I can start living my life again. 

Close up under the cut with scar strips on:

It honestly looks better that I ever imagined and my nipples are so small!!! Which is such a joy after having 1.5 inch wide nips for the past 4 years. I have a feeling that I’m going to have pretty thin scars, I am very lucky in that I heal well, my previous scars were barely visible after 6 months. I have a very small flap of excess skin on the left side around half an inch long right near my armpit that might need a small revision but in the grand scheme of things that’s nothing to worry about. 

I’ve been given a course of anti-biotics and some absorbant dressings to catch any remaining drainage. Overall. I’m pretty chuffed! 

Pics below: 

(Pics taken immediately after dressing removal, before the wounds were cleaned. you can see the dark spot on my nipple closest to the tattoo, the hematoma bruising and the little overflap of skin right by my armpit. Overall I’m very pleased)

Photo shows the area where the bleed has occurred, which is the dark blob. And the drawn areas show where the firm swelling is which may be a hematoma. 

I’ll try to organise the information to keep it efficient: 

Physical: 

I’m not taking any pain meds at this point, not to be a macho twat but because the pain is literally gone. I only have slight discomfort when I’m walking because of tightness and a feeling of heaviness on my left side where the bleed was and a rogue stitch that has been getting sore but otherwise all good. 

My range of motion is increasing. I can get my arms out to the side to roughly 70 degrees, I wouldn’t want to try going higher than that at the moment. 

I went out for a long picnic and to the pub with friends on Friday which was really nice, I didn’t feel tired or in pain but I did feel it through a significant drop in energy the next day when I spent most of the afternoon napping. 

Mental/Emotional: 

It’s been more positive than negative. I have been feeling really chill most of the time and have just been trying to occupy myself to relieve boredom. There are times when I have been getting very frustrated and impatient with my physical limitations and low overall energy because I really just want to get on with building up muscle/losing fat; going out and doing summer activities and so on. But obviously I’m healing so not able to do any of that yet. I keep having to remind myself that I’m only just 2 weeks post op and am doing extremely well at such an early stage in my recovery. 

Dressings: 

Still there, still sweaty. Most of the time I barely notice them but it is starting to get itchy, gross and annoying. I had to cut through the middle of the dressings earlier in the week because I was getting soreness and the skin very red and hot on one side so I went to get it checked out for infection and the doc needed to look under the edge of a dressings (it was fine). But this now means that not only do I have icky sticky dressings but I have an ever increasing collage of micro-pore in the centre of my chest holding the edges of my dressings in place. I am *very* much looking forward to all this being removed so that: 

1. I can finally see my results and 

2. So that my skin can BREATHE a little more freely in the heat.  

Summary: 

 Before Surgery: 

I was due to have surgery on 04/06 so I arrived in Manchester the night before and checked into my hotel. However that evening my operation was cancelled due to an emergency in Miss Dabritz personal life. The next day it was scheduled in for the 10th so I decided to just stay in the North rather than go home and come back. I did a bit of tourist stuff in Manchester and visited family.  My hotel check out date was the 6th but luckily I went to stay with a friend near by for the remainder of the trip so didn’t have to extend the hotel.  On the day: 

I was scheduled for an 11.30am arrival so I got up early, packed everything I would need and waiting for my Dad to pick me up. 

Packing list: 

travel neck pillow, eye mask, ear plugs, toothbrush & paste, trakkies, boxers, button up shirt, laptop, phone & chargers, slippers. 

We arrived at the hospital and waiting in a quiet waiting room in the day surgery unit. I saw a couple of people at intervals, first the admissions nurse, then the anaesthetist and finally I was called through to change, my Dad wasn’t allowed to come with me but that’s okay. I appreciated the quiet time.  My surgeon came to mark my chest up and then I was taken down to the theatres.

One of the Machines wasn’t working in the anaesthetic room so I was put under on the operating table. I didn’t mind because I’m not afraid of medical stuff and all the staff were very friendly. I was given a different anaesthetic to the one I have last time, this one made my head swim and it felt like actual passing out rather than falling asleep. 

I woke up what felt like seconds later, very woozy but not in pain. I don’t remember much from the 2 hours I spent in recovery. My first clear memory is seeing my Dad as I was wheeled into my bay on the ward. He had brought me a kitkat to go with the Ensure I was sipping. 

The ward was a male urology ward and is the usual ward that guys who have top surgery go to apparently (F3). All the nurses were really good and friendly and it was fairly quiet, though having the eye mask, neck pillow and ear plugs was 100% necessary!. 

That night I felt fine, tender and carrying my drains around but no major pain. I could stand up and walk around, I even changed into my own clothes unassisted and went to the toilet. The next day I had more pain due to a small bleed from one of my drains that caused swelling. This delayed my discharge by a few hours because they had to make sure it wasn’t a hematoma. It wasn’t, and my buddy came to pick me up that afternoon.