#Double Incision

[virensere]

CW: operation incisions

Top surgery: done!!!!

I'm so happy aaaaggh!

#me #viren talks #irl #operation #double incision #incision #top surgery

[transmascissues]

Hi, I was just curious how you chose the type of top surgery you got, like your scar shape and such, and if you still remember the pros and cons of each

in terms of the general type of surgery, getting double incision wasn't really a choice – the size of my chest would've disqualified me from most of the other options even if i'd wanted them. as far as i'm aware, the only other techniques that i would've been able to get at my size (t-anchor and fishmouth are the two my surgeon does that come to mind) wouldn't make sense because the main reason someone would pick them over double incision is just to keep nipple sensation, which didn't matter for me. that being said, i think i still might've gone with double incision even if i did qualify for something like peri or keyhole; i don't mind visible scarring and, from what i've seen of other people's results, i like the control that double incision gives the surgeon over the look of the chest overall.

as far as why i decided not to keep my nipples, i laid out my whole thought process in this ask a while back. the tl;dr is this: sensation in my nipples has always been a bad sensory thing for me, i didn't want to deal with the extra healing process of nipple grafts, i can be very picky about things on my body being asymmetrical and knew that nipple grafts aren't guaranteed to heal perfectly symmetrically, going without grafts was cheaper, i liked the idea of having a chest that's visibly different from a cis man's chest, and when i imagined my post-op body i naturally imagined it without nipples. so as you can probably tell, it was a pretty cut-and-dry decision for me, given how many reasons i had to go nipless.

and a few things went into the shape of my scars. the fact that they meet in the middle and go so far into my armpits was just necessary – i had a big chest before, and i specifically had a wide chest that met in the middle and had a lot of tissue in the sides, so my surgeon had to make my incisions wider in order to get all of the tissue out and avoid leaving any extra skin on the ends of the incisions. other than that, i told her during my pre-op that my ideal scars would be mostly straight and not too low on my chest. those preferences are purely aesthetic; i wanted straighter scars because i felt like scars that were too curved would read as boob-shaped in my dysphoria brain, which i didn't want to deal with, and i wanted to keep the scars on the higher side because without the nipples there, i felt like the scars sitting too low would make my chest look weirdly blank.

so those were my reasons – double incision with long connected scars out of necessity, higher and straighter scars because i liked how they looked the best, and no nipples because that just made sense for me on every level. i can't really make a pros and cons list for you because things that were pros for me might be cons for you and vice versa; it's all super personal. but hopefully, hearing about how i thought it through still helps you!

#top surgery adventures #ask answered #top surgery #double incision #trans man #transmasc

[twinkdrama]

dont call me a bottom ive had top surgery

#top surgery #mastectomy #peri #keyhole #double incision #mine

[mt-gr8]

Day 10 post op: My nips are finally revealed and I'm wearing my vest like a tactical vest (the chafing is the WORST)

#okay my nips were revealed on day 7 but i havent had time to get a good pic #i also meant to share it earlier but i am forgetting lol #top surgery #double incision #nipple graft #blood tw #tw cut #tw surgery #tw injury #not really injury but she kinda look like it #tw blo0d #tw blood #post top surgery

[transqu33r]

Scars scars scars

#top surgery #ftm #top surgery scars #double incision #free nipple graft #nipple graft #di fng #ftm top suregry

[happyrecoveringslime]

I passed 6 months post op a while back so lemme post an update!

The scars look amazing, you can see one is starting to flatten at some spots.

I actually did run into one small issue, i think maybe around the 3 month mark? I had some pretty painful tension lines. If you get these dont worry, they go away pretty soon!

Mine stuck around for about 2-4 weeks. Bc my rib sticks out, the skin was tensed even if my arm wasnt raised. It was a bit painful constantly during it, but faded really fast. I think it happened because i was starting to have lots of movement again pretty suddenly (had a job where i had to lift stuff over my head multiple times a day) so my skin was adjusting to the sudden increased stretching.

Generally it was all ok!!!

Cant stress how happy this has made me, i heart my tits <3

#top surgery #double incision #nipple graft #post op #6 months #trans #transgender #transmasc #top

[nookr]

i finally (after waiting for two and a half years) had top surgery, a couple days ago

and when i came out of surgery i was just indifferent, which didn't surprise me bc i read alot about other people's experiences with it. my chest was flat now, yeah but i didn't get to see it yet and so it was just a thought that i didn't spend much time on when trying to sleep off the after effects of anesthesia

the first night after surgery i had to be rushed into emergency surgery bc there was severe secondary bleeding in the right side of my chest and they had to get the blood out quickly. my chest was so swollen it looked like they just left half the boob in there but it was all blood that pooled there and the drains couldn't handle the amount

i woke up groggy and in pain and just felt horrible after that. for the next two days i thought about why i was doing this to myself and how i got myself in this situation and if it was actually worth it

this morning they changed my bandages and i got to see my, not swollen, chest for the first time. the joy i felt when i saw how flat it was and how good the incisions looked and how well i was healing, despite the emergency surgery, was so great, that the pain i felt just a couple nights ago was forgotten. my doctor saw me grinning from ear to ear and just told me it looks really good

it's not perfect yet, obviously, i'm only 4 days post-op. but even though it's still bruised and crusty, it feels so much like home in a way that my old chest didn't

and i'm glad

#top surgery #ftm #transgender #mastectomy #double incision #personal

[bumpingbees]

3 weeks post op. Tape is finally off which is good for the tism. I hate feeling sticky. Also have the majority of my range of movement back and pick up my cats again. I'm probably going to have to get the dog ears in the back fixed and maybe some of the puffiness on the left side, but I feel more masc and I am so happy about that.

#trans men #top surgery #scars #double incision #transgender rights #trans pride #transmasc #autism #like seriously #i tore the last stitch because i couldn't stand the stickiness any longer

[pensarecool2]

earlier today I showed a kid my chest to prove I have no nipples and I told him vaguely that you have to be careful not to go too close to zoo exhibits and I realized that I didn’t explain to him that I’m trans or anything so I feel like that’s gonna live rent free in his mind lol

#lifeposting #ftm top surgery #genderqueer top surgery #double incision #no nipple grafts #transgender #trans humor

[idk-im-indecisiv3]

I'm about 14 weeks post top surgery and it's nice but a bit weird. I had double incision with nipple grafts and I was expecting to come out of it with no nipple sensation and yet since about week 7 or 8 I have had noticeable sensation in my right nipple not both nipples no just the right one. It doesn't feel temperature but pain and tactile sensation feel heightened to what it was before. It threw me off at first because I was expecting to have no sensation and because it's only the one side.

No one even told me that could happen. Yes I suppose it makes sense and I probably should have known it was a possibility but at the same time there was something on the paperwork from my top surgery consult that said one of the risks of DI w/ nipple grafts is scarring. I feel like that's drastically more obvious side effect than it's possible you may regain sensation but only in one nipple.

#transgender #transmasc #top surgery #double incision

[transmascissues]

12 weeks post-top surgery thoughts

most importantly, i’m absolutely fucking in love with how things look! it’s still not set in stone yet, my surgeon said i won’t really see the final result until up to a year after, but I’m so happy with it already.

my surgeon’s default timeline would’ve had me starting scar tape at 4 weeks, but i still haven’t started yet because some little scabs are still hanging around even though most of my scars are completely healed. my surgeon didn’t seem concerned about it taking longer than expected, she just said everyone’s body is different. given that i have a connective tissue disorder and skin that just hates being messed with at all, i’m not surprised that it’s been slow going and i’m just happy that the rest is healing so well. i just had another post-op today and was cleared to start using scar tape because the scabbing is so minimal at this point, so i can finally move on to the next stage of healing.

i can (mostly) lift my arms now! they still can’t quite go all the way up, but i have enough of my mobility back that the only things i really struggle with are super high shelves like the ones above my fridge, and things like the washer and dryer that i have to reach really far to get into. technically, i was supposed to wait six months before raising them because that’s what my surgeon usually recommends for aesthetic purposes, but i have to be able to raise them to do my job anyway so i’m not limiting myself beyond the natural limits of discomfort at this point.

my chest muscles are mostly back to normal too, but they’re still very sensitive. when i flex them, it doesn’t hurt or feel uncomfortable but i am a lot more aware of the feeling than i was before. they also still tire out more easily than they used to — i’m back at work now, and i’ve learned the hard way that i tend to favor one arm over the other for certain tasks because when i do any of them for too long, i start to feel it in that side of my chest. it’s not anything too bad, but i’m still making sure my shifts are spread out because i don’t want to risk overdoing it.

i’m getting used to touching my own chest, but being touched by other people still feels super weird and honestly uncomfortable at times, particularly when it’s my bare chest and not over my shirt. i’ve been touching it a lot to try to desensitize it since around week 3 or 4, and it seems to be working as far as my own touch, but other people is a whole other story — when my boyfriend is touching my bare chest and their hand touches the scars, it doesn’t actually hurt but i react to it like it does. i suspect it’s more of a mental thing than anything, that since i’m still instinctively protective of it and not quite used to how it feels, touches that i’m not in control of just automatically set off alarm bells. it’s also just a generally foreign feeling even without the weirdness of healing because my boyfriend never really touched my chest before surgery since i was dysphoric about it, so it seems to require desensitization on multiple levels. i’ve given them permission to keep touching it even when i flinch (unless i explicitly ask them to stop) because i want to make sure i start getting used to the feeling.

i’m also still very sensitive to pressure against my chest, especially the front of it. it’s getting easier to lie down on my side now but i’m still using my body pillow to take some pressure off of the scars under my armpits, because if i don’t i usually can only stay in that position for a little while. my boyfriend can mostly lay their head on my chest for short periods of time now, but the position matters because if the weight isn’t distributed evenly enough or if it’s on the wrong part of my chest, it hurts. that being said, less intense pressure on the front like a hug or holding something to my chest is pretty much fine, i’m just still more sensitive to it (as with everything). i’ve been able to lay face down on top of my boyfriend a couple times without discomfort too, but i’m still erring on the side of caution and not laying on my chest too much yet.

when i was around a month in and thought i would be starting scar care soon, i was really nervous about it — particularly about the scar massage — because of the state my chest was in. i still didn’t feel like i could press on it or move the skin around or pick it up with my fingers at all, and the scar tissue underneath was still really thick and firm. i assumed that all of that would stay the same until i did the massages to break down the scar tissue and loosen things up, but i can now confirm after another month and a half of doing nothing while things healed, my skin is naturally a lot more mobile and a lot of that really thick scar tissue has already broken down. obviously i’m still going to start massaging now because i want to give myself the best possible chance of healing well, but i wish i had known how much my chest would be able to bounce back on its own. in hindsight, i’m glad i ended up having to wait to start the massage instead of doing it back when my chest was much less healed, because i’m much more comfortable manipulating it now.

every once in a while, i’ll get sharp pains in my chest. they aren’t horribly painful, mostly just unpleasant. they feel a lot like the nerve zaps i was getting earlier in recovery so it might be another round of nerves reconnecting, but it also happens more often when i’m working so it’s hard to say if it’s nerves or over-exertion. either way, i always make sure to take it easy when i start to feel that, just in case it is a sign of me doing too much.

i typically almost never eat meat, but i chose to reintroduce it into my diet after surgery to get more protein, because i wanted to make sure my body had everything it needs to heal and protein is a huge part of that. now that i’m pretty much all healed skin-wise and just waiting for everything to settle, i’ve decided it’s time to go back to my usual diet of not-fully-vegetarian-but-pretty-damn-close. i’m sure the diet change wasn’t strictly necessary but i don’t regret doing it, though i am glad to be switching back now.

putting on shirts still hasn’t gotten old. seeing how they look over a flat chest honestly feels surreal, but in the best way. hugging people and being able to press all the way into it js also still such a great feeling. i’m far enough in now that i can do all of that stuff without worrying about it, but still early enough that it all feels really new and special, and i’ve been thoroughly enjoying that.

wearing a more genderfucky outfit out in public for the first time post-op was a fucking blast. my boyfriend and i went to a new year’s eve party, and getting to show off my chest through a sheer lace top and my facial hair alongside makeup was so much fun. it was the first time i’ve been able to go all out without the lingering feeling in the back of my mind that dressing up means inevitably being seen as a woman. i definitely didn’t look like a cis man to any of the people who saw me, but they could clearly tell i wasn’t a cis woman at the very least, and knowing that made me so much more confident.

i’m far enough away now from being in the trenches of early recovery that the reality of the fact that i got such a big surgery has started to fade. when i really think about the fact that my body went through all of that and about how hard early recovery was, it doesn’t quite feel real anymore. i’m starting to reach the point one of my friends told me about, where my chest being like this feels so normal that it’s just like “yeah, of course, it’s always been like this, right?” it’s wild, really, the difference a couple months can make — it wasn’t that long ago that i was exhausted and arguably depressed from the early recovery process, and now it all feels so normal that i have to remind myself it took all of that to get here. i never really doubted that it would be worth it in the end, but i’m still more sure of that now than i ever have been.

the last couple months have been a long road, but somehow they’ve also flown by. it’s given me so much appreciation for my body — its potential to transform and what it’s been able to withstand. i wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

#top surgery adventures #top surgery results #top surgery recovery #top surgery #double incision #trans man #transmasc

[twinkdrama]

keyhole vs peri vs double incision…. decisions decisions

#top surgery #peri #keyhole #double incision #mastectomy #mine

[disabledandsogay]

Almost 48hrs post op! Got a nipple sparing double incision with Dr. Armstrong in ON. Not feeling too bad all things considered, definitely more comfy during my binder breaks though

#trans #top surgery #ftm #double incision #transgender #trans man #trans surgery

[transqu33r]

Speepy

#top surgery #seven weeks post op #double incision #free nipple graft #nipple grafts #ftm #trans ftm #transgender #transfag #t boy #transmasc #face

[happyrecoveringslime]

Almost 7 weeks post op and it looks healed! Of course theres a lot of healing to be done underneath with massages and stuff, but everythinf on the surface is where it should be :D

Ignore the pjs, i just saw that the last scab was loose after i woke up sjfjs

Even from the side it looks great. I have a lot of tissue on top, but i think thats just a result of my pe, and it just looks like mega muscle lolol

I absolutely love it, thanks for going on this healing journey with me !!

#top surgery #double incision #nipple grafts #results #recovery #update