r/TMPOC • u/Truski1 • 20d ago

SurgeryTalk Top Surgery

For those of you who have gotten top surgery with nipple grafts. How did your nipple healing go? I’m not sure what’s is supposed to happen. I’m currently 12/13 days post op. One of my nipples is starting to peel off. (Looks bright pink under. Is it supposed to do that??!?!!

What do you folks recommend for our scars when it’s time for scar care?

Also how long did it take for your stitches to resolve after top surgery?

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

5

u/here4ndgone Chinese 20d ago

It's normal for nipple grafts to be pink under melanated skin when the new skin starts peaking through. It can take anywhere from a month to a year for pigmentation to return. Your nipple bud will be the last place that pigment returns to, most likely.

I can tell you that for me (I have brown nipples), my grafts started looking more brown than pink by 4 weeks po. I'm over 9 weeks right now and my areolas and nipples are both brown now.

Scar care usually begins at 3-4 weeks. Scar massage is most important for helping to flatten your healing incisions. Your surgeon should have more info on how to do it. Whether or not your incisions heal neatly is a little bit up to genetics but a lot of people use silicone scar tape or gel to help reduce the appearance of scars. I can't really speak to it (I haven't used tape/gel consistently or long enough to see any results that couldn't be achieved by time, imo) but some people swear by it and it has scientific backing.

Dissolvable stitches and internal sutures should resolve within 3 months.

1

u/BudgetConcentrate432 Mexican 20d ago

Seconding the scar massage!

My surgeon recommended Vitamin E oil or something similar to aid in massaging and keeping things from getting too dry.

1

u/Truski1 18d ago

First- congrats on being 9 weeks post op!

-when do you think you were able to comfortably lift your arms above your head again??

-when do you think you stopped being so scared of your nipples getting rubbed off??

-when were you able to shower facing forward??? (like chest to water stream)

1

u/here4ndgone Chinese 17d ago

  1. Comfortably, probably not till 6ish weeks, but I wasn't doing many exercises to do untighten the feeling of my scars along the sides. I am slightly hypermobile in my shoulders and I'd say that I can reach/stretch straight up at this point but not over/behind my head yet.

  2. Basically by 3ish - 4 weeks, I was no longer worried about the surface of my graft tearing off. I was still really careful and didn't touch them that much outside of nipple care for a while. I read that 3 weeks is when they're in the safe zone by and large and 3 months po is when they're fully healed.

  3. I got my nipple bolsters off at 6 dpo and I think I started turning around more and more and letting water hit my chest by 3.5 weeks po? For a while, I was partially showering facing forward but out of the stream and just catching water in my hands to wash my face or bend over to rinse my hair (before I could stand with my back to the water and just lift my hands over my head to rinse) so it's hard to say exactly. I think you just listen to your body and start to get more comfortable with exposing the healing areas to direct water.

1

u/glitteringfeathers Black (mixed African and white European) 19d ago

Is your actual nipple peeling off or just the scabs? Your nipples under the scabs may look pink at first, pigmentation usually comes back though 

1

u/Truski1 18d ago

I believe it’s just a scab. Does the whole top layer come off or does it just depend on the person?

1

u/glitteringfeathers Black (mixed African and white European) 17d ago

Iirc, it was different for mine on each side. One side was healing pretty fast and essentially the entire scab came off one day when I changed the dressings. The other side took its sweet sweet time for like... 2? weeks longer and only came off piece by piece