Note: I’m only using photos in this post that I took with expanders in. Hopefully it helps you see that, while expanders can be tough, you can still feel beautiful and confident with them in 🙂
Ok – now let’s talk tissue expanders! Going into surgery, I thought I knew everything there was to know about expanders. I read every blog and Instagram post I could find about what to expect, but I somehow missed the part where people said that tissue expanders were uncomfortable.
Now that I’m looking back at forums and other online sources, I see so many girls asking questions like “are your tissue expanders uncomfortable?” “do you also feel the tabs pulling?” “did you randomly get a sharp pain under one?”
I have no idea how I missed that before (major face palm moment), I think I was just so focused on the mastectomy portion that I wasn’t really paying attention to the down and dirty expander talk. In case you’ve found yourself in that same boat, I’m here to tell you the good, the bad and the ugly about expanders.
Hint: They can be tough at first, but I promise you they’ll get better! Below is a photo of me after my second fill! A little lumpy an bumpy, but otherwise good!
Also, if you’re new, I did OTM expanders and had a nipple sparing bilateral mastectomy on November 18th.
Tissue Expanders: What Are They?
A tissue expander is an inflatable breast implant designed to stretch the skin and muscle to make room for a permanent implant. They have a metal port on top (but still under your skin) that your doctor will use for fills.
A fill is when that expander is injected with saline. It typically happens every two weeks for 2-4 months (depending on how big you want to go and how your skin does).
Why I Choose Expanders
My doctors recommended the expander route for me (instead of DTI) for two main reasons:
1. I wasn’t 100% sure what I wanted my chest to look like. I knew I wanted it to look natural and close to what I had before surgery, but I wasn’t set on a size.
2. They said they prefer to go that route for a better aesthetic outcome and potentially less complications. The reasoning was that using expanders would give my body time to heal from the mastectomy and then the expanders would slowly stretch my skin and prepare it for the implant.
I did some research on the difference between the two, but ultimately trusted both of my doctors so I went with their suggestion!
What To Expect
For me, weeks 2-4 of tissue expander life were the hardest. The first week I was on so many meds that I just kind of laid around the apartment with minimal discomfort lol
During weeks 2-4, I was just flat out uncomfortable. It felt like two large plastic intruders took up residence in my chest – they were tight, made it hard to sleep, and random movements would make them mad. While the discomfort was manageable, I still wanted them out ASAP. I was super careful about what I did during that time and tried to limit repetitive arm motion (cleaning, etc.) and twisting/turning my body to keep them happy.
It also took a bit for me to wrap my mind about them being in my body. I was hyper aware of them, the discomfort they caused, and I hated the idea that I couldn’t remove them. It caused a bit of anxiety and claustrophobia within my own body. Sounds weird, I know. I was so worried that feeling would last until my exchange surgery, but thankfully it passed much quicker than I thought!
Below is a quick breakdown of how I felt at each week:
Week 1: They didn’t really bother me – I was on so many meds that they honestly didn’t feel like much!
Week 2: I started to get uncomfortable. Expanders make it so you can’t sleep on your side (for at least a few weeks), so between adjusting to that and that weird claustrophobic feeling I had going on, it was tough.
Week 3: Similar to week 2. I actually irritated my left expander this week and ended up with this shooting pain underneath it. It lasted for a solid 24 hours and then just like that, it was gone. I did make an appointment to see my doctor (would always recommend doing that) and she confirmed I didn’t do anything to the expander itself, but rather just pulled a stitch that needed time to calm down.
Week 4: My first fill! I was SO excited for this fill because I heard that fills help flatten the ends of expanders and that, in turn, would make them more comfortable. This was definitely true and I left my first baby fill feeling better.
Week 5: Pulled that same dang stitch again and ended up with that shooting pain for another 24 hours. Lesson learned – again lol. But, just like the first time, one second it was there and then it was gone.
Week 6-7: Felt pretty much the same. They didn’t really bother me, but I still couldn’t sleep on my side. At this point, I was getting used to back sleeping 🙂 so it wasn’t a huge deal.
Week 8: This was the week where it all turned around! It was crazy, Ben and I were out for walk after work and I suddenly realized that I hadn’t thought about my expanders all day. They felt so much better!
Week 9-12: Every day I noticed my expanders feeling a little more natural and less like intruders. I think it was a combination of my body healing from the mastectomy and my continued fills. By week 12, I could lay on my side again!
The Fill Process
So this may be an unpopular opinion, but I LOVED getting fills. It was so exciting to see my chest grow and to feel more like my old self with every visit. I also loved trying on clothes to see how everything looked at various sizes – even though expanders are a little lumpy and bumpy under the skin, I could still get a pretty good idea on how the final product would look.
Before I go more into my experience, I wanted to touch on two quick things.
First, please remember that everybody and every body is different, so 300 CC’s in you might look totally different than it does in me!
Second, you may notice that your nurse talks in CC’s rather than size. That is totally normal. For them, it’s about getting you to a spot where you feel good about your body and like the look. Once you’re happy with the size, they’ll figure out what that equates to.
What A Fill Looks Like
Each of my fills were pretty similar. I would change into a robe at my doctors office, take a “before” photo with them and then get prepped for the fill. A nurse would come in and clean my skin (felt super weird since my chest was mostly numb) and then she’d bring all of her tools over to get started!
For the fill, the nurse would use a magnet to locate the metal port at the top of my expanders and would make little three little dots around the insertion spot with a pen. Next up, she would feel my breast skin to see how it was doing with elasticity and how much saline it could take. Once she had an amount in mind, she would insert a small needle into the port and then she’d push the saline in!
Note: If you’re totally numb, you won’t feel a thing. If you have some feeling, you might feel a needle prick, but it’s not bad!
Once she was done, I’d take a look in the mirror and then we’d do a quick “after” shot before I left. The whole process only took about 20 minutes from start to finish.
Below is a quick breakdown of each fill – how many CC’s I had at each, the recovery, etc.
Fill 1: 4 Weeks Post Op
Some surgeons will fill your expanders a bit during surgery, but mine did not, so I was totally flat after my mastectomy (the first photo I took flat is below)! My first fill was 4 weeks post-op and it was 50 cc’s in each (smaller than an A cup).
Once the fill was over, I hopped back in the car with Ben and we headed home. I didn’t have any soreness or pain that day or in the 24 hours that followed!
Fill 2: 6 Weeks Post Op
My second fill was a bit different. I went back into the office and they said that my skin was looking great and had a lot of elasticity, so they felt like they could do a bigger fill this time around. They started with another 50 CC’s and kept increasing until they hit 125 CC’s in each.
The fill itself felt exactly the same – I felt a little prick when they inserted the needle and then a little pressure during the fill itself. Right after I felt totally fine, but within a few hours the discomfort started to kick in. I felt like I was back at week one post mastectomy where I was super sore (especially under each breast) and needed help getting up and down. Thankfully that only lasted about 48 hours and then things returned to normal.
Ps. Look at big the syringe they use is lol it’s massive.
Fill 3: 8 Weeks Post Op
For my third fill, I had 100 CC’s put in my left breast and 75 CC’s put in my right. I learned that it’s totally normal to put different amounts in each because it’s about symmetry, not quantity.
I was slightly sore the next day, but it was totally manageable and I was back to normal in 24 hours.
Fill 4: 10 Weeks Post Op
My last and final fill! I actually only did a baby fill for this final one because I was pretty happy with the size I had.
They did 50 CC’s in left leaving me with 310 CC’s total and 40 CC’s in the right leaving me at 300 CC’s total. They said I ended around a small C cup.
Part of me wanted to go a bit bigger – I even thought of asking them to fill more so that I could take a look (you can also have them remove saline during the appointment if you’re unhappy), but ultimately I decided that I wanted to stay where I was.
I went home from that fill feeling great and didn’t have any soreness!
What’s Next?
A few days after my final fill, I met with my surgeon and we discussed implants. We talked about my goals and how I wanted things to look and she suggested an Allergan mid-level SoftTouch silicone implant. I found out that they actually order a few options with your preferences in mind (mine ordered 12 variations). During surgery, my surgeon will test them on my body using a breast sizer and then make a game time decision. Thankfully I trust her 100% 🙂
My exchange surgery is currently scheduled for February 17th and I’m SO excited. I can’t wait to trade these expanders out and start phase 2 of the healing process. I’ll keep you updated with how that goes, what you’ll need, etc.
Also – during my expander phase, my go-to bras were the True and Co bras from Target. They’re AMAZING. You can step into them which is great, they have padding for extra comfort and they perfectly cover incisions under the breast. Linking the ones I have below!
