My Top 10 Items For An Easy Explant Surgery & Recovery Plus 1 Bonus Item!

I’m going to stop short of calling myself an “Explant Expert,” but there is one thing I'm really good at and that is research! I went to school for Journalism and fell in love with finding the best topics, the best subjects and the best possible content for stories. This is no different for me in regard to my explant surgeries. YES, you read that right, SURGERIES. More on this in a later article but for now, having 2 explants under my belt, I feel confident sharing with you the MUST HAVE items that I wish I knew about the first time around.

Support System

I cannot stress this point more. Going into a surgery like this, one that is extremely invasive, personal and life/body changing, it is imperative that you have a solid support system. Lucky for me, my support system the first time around was amazing. My husband was very attentive and took care of most everything. The second time around, I relied more on my best friends and my mother. I would not have been able to get through any of the surgeries and recoveries without support. Michael A. Grodin, Professor of Bioethics and Human Rights, Boston University School of Public Health said "This is nothing new…as clinicians we see a clear connection between mind and body...there is no question in my 33 years of medical practice that support systems and positive belief impacts on recovery," (ABC News). I was full of worry, anxiety and still had a small bit of doubt and having my loved ones close by and helping with everything from just listening to my thoughts, helping bathe for the first couple days, cooking and cleaning, helping with the kids… There is no doubt that those things will help both mentally and physically with recovery. The second explant I had, my support was different than the first surgery and I can tell you, my recovery was harder and longer. So much of our existence as humans revolves around our minds and thoughts and having someone that loves and cares about you will help you tremendously.

Pain Medications Or Tylenol

If you’ve read some of my articles, you would know I am an athlete and consider myself to have a fairly strong threshold for pain. I’ve had kidney stones and 2 births and I was never felt I had anything to prove. With explant, I was no different. I don’t naturally tolerate drugs and alcohol so I knew pain pills would be something that I would use on a “need” basis. That being said, for explant #1 when the implants were originally placed above the muscle, I had a level of pain, after the initial pain block medicine wore off, around 8. Not going to die but very uncomfortable. I took only 1 Percocet during that recovery and switched, with approval of my doctor, to Tylenol instead. The Percocet was keeping me up at night and I wasn’t fully resting. The thing with pain is this, if you get caught trying to catch the pain when it’s at a 10 or more, you won’t win at that game very easily. In my opinion, again I'm not a doctor, having pain that is consistently over a 9 does not allow your body to recover as quickly as if you had control of it. I was conservative with my pain pills because my body didn’t like them but I was able to use Tylenol and be ok. For the second explant, I needed pain pills for sure. There was a lot of scraping on the ribs because of a lot of scar tissue and my left pectoral muscle was also damaged. That being said, I took pain pills for the first 6 days and slowly was able to get off them and switch to Tylenol again. Referring to the support system comment above, my support system was totally different and that also caused me to be less relaxed and able to recover. Don’t try to be Wonder Woman, you have nothing to prove and if you were like me, you’ve dealt with pain from the implants for years, just let your body recover.

Wedge Pillow

Having had numerous chest surgeries, I already sort of knew about the wedge pillow but this pillow was a life saver with explant surgery. Not only is it hard to get up and out of bed because you can’t use your arms while recovering but my doctor encouraged me to sleep inclined to help with recovery as well. Something about gravity and making sure blood doesn’t pool in the wrong places. I remember how comforting it was to actually sleep this way while recovering and I continued to sleep inclined for a couple extra weeks after I was allowed to sleep flat and on my side. When on the wedge, you can sort of roll off to one side and not need assistance, which really came in handy especially in the middle of the night. And I don’t know about you but trying to stack up that many pillows just right and keeping them in that position was too much work. The wedge is where it’s at!

800mg Extra Strength CBD Pain Cream

I came across the Vital Body Therapeutics Extra Strength CBD cream at my hair salon a couple months before my explant. I thought it would help my neck and shoulder pain as well as a back pain my husband had been dealing with. This cream ended up being one of my most loved products! Not only does it smell good but it feels good going on and the scent is really nice as well. A lot of times with the CBD creams it either just plain didn't seem to be working or it felt oily and didn’t have a great scent. I used this all around my breasts on the top and the bottom, staying away from incisions and it really helped. I also did a lot of light massaging almost right away to stimulate healing and regrowth and to help fluff them out a bit. I literally used this cream probably at least twice a day and I still keep a bottle on hand for everyday aches and pains.

Essential Oils

I, like you, searched and read and researched my little eyes out to find all the things that would help me recover and make this surgery smooth. I read an article on essential oils and I’ve always been a fan. Because of my digestive issues toward the end of my journey with implants, I suffered with nausea and used the peppermint drops in my water as well as ginger oils. That also helped after surgery. But I was impressed by a story this lady told about how she used Lavender and Rosehips oils on her breasts daily and how it drastically helped her breasts rejuvenate but also stimulate them to grow a bit. So I tried it and while a lot of factors go into recovery and filling out and the skin and all that, I can say that the combo of the Lavender and Rosehips not only made the skin appear tighter after a few months but my breast shape got better and better. The massaging is a huge part of this process and the oils not only smell great (Lavender is so soothing and Rosehip smells woody and a little smoky) but make the massaging easier. Huge fan of the essential oils for healing and rejuvenating!

Journal

Going through any surgery is emotional and when we are dealing with a very personal, feminine part of our body, the emotional part cannot be understated. I’m going to address the whole emotional component of breasts and the psychological effects it can have on women in another article but for now, I included a journal in my list of top 10 items. I’m a writer so for me it’s natural to write but I recommend having one to record the good and hard times. It can be very therapeutic writing and recording emotions and to also track how far you’ve come. I liked to record how I felt before and leading up to the surgery and then after, especially the first time around because it was such a practical miracle. In the same sense, I went into my second surgery and I was in a completely different mental state and so glad I had my journal to write it down. If you don’t write it out, you will forget it. It’s fascinating to look back on all the struggles and the victories and if you’re like me, I used those recorded experiences to help others going through the same things.

Support Bra

My plastic surgeons office included one post-surgery recovery bra, one that zipped up in the front. The same bra that you would wear when you GET breasts because of the ease of being able to zip it up. Your upper body and specifically the pectoral muscles, regardless of the implants being over or under the muscle, will be in pain and you won’t be able to use your arms over your head for a few days. Having a little support but not too tight, is the idea here. I liked mine not super tight because my reasoning was that it allowed them to start to fill out and move normally. If you are blessed to have a good amount of tissue left after the implants are removed, the bra will still totally help them fall back to a normal position. I didn’t remove my bra completely for the first few days or until the shower and the put it back on right away. I wasn’t left with much tissue, not a shocker because I didn’t have much to begin with but I just remember the security of having the bra during the first weeks of recovery. I highly recommend this bra and I had it in white, black and nude. I basically wore this bra for the first 6 weeks post-surgery.

Gauze

When you have your implants removed, the majority of people will have them removed by having an large incision under the fold of the breast. I’ve read stories of implant removal from the nipple (cringe a little bit) and even one story of removal through the armpit incision but the no matter where the incision, it’s a good idea to have plenty of gauze around to change out the dressing from those incisions. I’m a naturally good healer and I still needed to change the gauze frequently. The bra will rub a bit on that area so I always lined the bra line with gauze to give it some padding. If you have drains, the area around the drain will start to almost heal and itch and I remember if I kept a little bit of gauze on it, it helped to keep the rubbing to a minimum. It’s all about comfort after this surgery!

Zip Up Sweatshirt/Pajamas

The zip up sweatshirt is a must and light, easy to pull up sweatpants of some sort. Again, you won’t be or shouldn’t be using your hands and arms for the first week or two so you need easy, light and comfortable clothes. It’s so crazy how much we use our hands and arms and when that is restricted, it’s even more obvious. I lived in my zip up literally, until I had my drains removed. The sweatshirt was big enough to conceal the drains somewhat and made checking on things and check-up appointments much easier. And as far as pajamas, same thing applies. You want something easy and light and button up for sure. I liked these pajamas and I also found some cute ones at Target as well.

Zeolite Drops

This was a surprise add for me for my first surgery and it became a go-to not just after surgeries but any time I have had something that I wanted to clear out of my body. This is an odorless, dark brown liquid that acts like a cleanser in our bodies, picking up debris and bad things and washing it away! But seriously, I don’t do well with prescription drugs and anesthesia and this natural unique blend of minerals helps to detox heavy metals from the body. They have no taste but a super dark brown color. I mixed the drops in my morning water or with my probiotic drink (I take a powder probiotic and mix with water) and you don’t even know you’ve taken it. I swear I felt better after taking it, not only for the heavy metals issue that we tend to suffer from but also the anesthesia and the pain medications. After surgery, I personally had this feeling of just wanting to be clean, healthy and drug free of ANY kind and this little miracle product did the trick. I’ve taken this when I had food poisoning once and it definitely helps.

Patience

Patience and Support System are literally the most important things to have when going into this kind of a surgery. I had read and looked at thousands, literally, stories of women looking absolutely perfect after surgery and thought this could be me, too… maybe? The first surgery was easy peasy in a sense and I actually did look pretty amazing, right away. FOR MANY AND VARIOUS REASONS. Not because it was a miracle per say but I had an amazing support system and I was going into the surgery so happy and just relieved. The second explant, I can say with all honesty, was the exact opposite of the first for many, many reasons. But in both cases, and especially the latter case, I had to practice patience with my body, mind and my soul. This surgery is a life-changing, body changing, transformative surgery and it can take its tole on even the strongest of people. I had moments of doubt, fear, and just absolute disgust with myself for having done it to my body AGAIN the SECOND time but I found a way to give myself some grace in the midst of it all. Be patient with your body, we are created perfectly and God knew exactly what he was doing and exactly how he wanted us to look. Our bodies know exactly what to do, under the right circumstances, to heal itself. Glance at your new boobies and be patient because I’m telling you, they will change.

I hope you were able to check out a few of these must-have items. I really wish I had known about these things, just makes the surgery easier when we are prepared. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or if I can help in any way! Until next time,