Scar Tissue after breast reduction, does this cause pain

[apt]

I had a breast reduction surgery about four years ago.  I just recently began to feel one of my breast sentative and painful.  I have examined my self but don't feel any lumps, but I am worry that I my have breast cancer.  I was told that it might be scar tissue but I just don't know.  Can anyone tell me if this is what could be happening to me?

[chezy1990]

hi,i want to know if you went through with the breast reduction,if you have had any pain & if you gave up smoking,its now 18 months since you posted this.

[mfb52]

I am also glad I found this site and know I am not alone. I had my BR 15 months ago and overall am happy with the smaller breasts and it has helped my back pain a lot.  I still have a painful hard spot on my left breast near the aerola.  I had a mammogram within the last 6 months and everything was fine. But, I still worry about it because it feels strange and sometimes it is quite painful.  It feels like over time, it has gotten smaller. My surgeon tells me not to worry, but I do.  Does the scar tissue eventually go away?  Even my husband is a bit concerned. Also, I still have a hard time wearing a wire bra. Thanks.

[xoxoxoxo812]

I received my lift 8.12.09, I have experienced throbbing, sharp shocks in my right breast. I was so scared to get a mammo, I have had 2 since and they both were clear. My surgeon said that almost every woman who has a lift/reduction will experience some degree of scar tissue. I was a 32DDD now a 32D. The best advice I can give for occasional swelling, heat is Scarguard. It is a silicone that immediately clears the heat and is great for scarring. The key to relieving pain is constant massage. MASSAGE often, especially during menstrual flow when breast become engorge. A partner can do this for you or ask for a professional massage for breast surgery, they are the best. I massage anytime I feel the sharp pains and it subsides. I shutter the thought of going under the knife again and realized its not worth it. Surgery was the best thing that ever happen to me as I was a saggy 32DDD that made it to an F during pregnacy! My procedure went under the muscle, no implant bt Dr lasered a "shelf" to adhere new tissues to prevent future sagging. MASSAGE often not just post suregery, all the tie! Good Luck Ladies, great forum!

[haileyscomet456]

I am currently experiencing the same type of pain in my right breast. My plastic surgeon recently pasted away within the last year so I don't really know what to do to get this fixed this mostly happens after I have been wearing a bra and go to lay down, I can't lay on my back with out it hurting and when I lay down you can see the lump that underlies the right breast. Has anyone found an answer to this problem other than pain medication??

[yokaokojo]

Wow, so glad I found this thread. I feel supported and comforted by everyone's stories. I had breast surgery back in 1992 when I was in my mid-20s. It all went well, and I LOVED the results. I still have no regrets. Yes, skin scarring, numbness, and itching, but all that was expected. It's only been over the past at least 4 years, however (not really sure exactly when it started), that I have started to feel pain, starting in lumps I've found on the outside of the breast near the armpit (a very scary place to find lumps with regard to cancer BTW) and very recently, not in or even near my breasts at all - but rather on the sides of my chest cavity, but more toward my back. The pain there can now be extreme.

I do believe all this must be related to internal scarring and nerves. I hypothesize 2 other causes: 1) the actual mammograms I have had to check for cancer. A pain so excruciating in one exam I had a few years back HAD to have caused tissue damage. It was so painful that I am terrified of ever doing it again, though I know I have to. I wish there were a better C detection method. 2) Weight gain and poor diet. I have gained so much weight in recent years that my breast are starting approaching the size the used to be! Surely the increased number of fat cells must be imposing on my breast tissue! The fact that I am older and scar tissue has had time to harden further must also be related.

It's funny - I've been able to deal with the pains here and there in various spots of my breasts, but now that it's spread to almost my back area, it's more intense and harder to withstand. How strange that it would be there? If it hadn't been a gradual process I would never have associated it with my breasts. Reading everyone's previous posts confirms it. Feels like a really severe deep internal bruise that comes on and off and sometimes pulsates. I also get it in the shoulder area.

I'm going to work hard on staying on a whole foods vegan diet (lots of raw) and lose a lot of weight. I don't really support BIG Pharma much, so will avoid any meds. Will try to remember to report back with any positive results. You know, I really don't think the medical community knew anything of long term effects. The procedure hasn't existed for so long, after all!

[love1967]

This is the most exciting things I have seen in years!

I had breast reduction surgery July 2000.  Twelve pounds total removed from both breasts.

Eleven years later, I am sufferring from breast, shoulder and arm pain.  Horrible pains.  I have had ultrasounds and mammograms, chest xrays, back xrays, shoulder xrays, ct scan.  All to rule out cancer.  Information all points back to scar tissue from the breast reduction.

The physician who performed the surgery advised that it is scar tissue with trapped nerves.  Surgery will not guarantee correction, but can cause more scarring.

I cannot say I would not have had surgery if I had known.  I think if I were better prepared, I would not have suffered so much when the pains started and refuse to go away.

I am happy that persons embarking on this journey will now have resources not available to me so many years ago.