They look off…
I had my mastectomy on February 25th with expander placement, and recovery has been harder than I expected. I still have nerve pain, and the expanders are so hard and uncomfortable all the time.
I have some good days the end up making me really self-conscious about how everything looks. I was able to keep my nipples, which was really important to me, but now I feel insecure when they get hard because they don’t look symmetrical. My right side looks fairly normal, but the left nipple kind of points off to the side. The expanders are so hard and fixed in place that I can’t really adjust or reposition anything.
It’s honestly been affecting my self-esteem because I’m trying so hard to look and feel as normal as possible, but the asymmetry feels really noticeable to me. I have 5 more months of expanders and hope the exchange will fix the problem.
Has anyone else experienced this with expanders? Is it temporary, and can it usually be corrected during the exchange surgery?