Ladies a personal question..

[marky]

;)
When can/did you safely or should I say comfortably wear a bra again? I am 2 weeks post op tomorrow..and can't stand the thought of anything smaller than my baggie T-shirt touching my skin!
Fortunately (for the first time in my life I say that) I am not well endowed up there..but would like a bit of support for the little sagging girls anyway..

I tried a camisol and a sports bra..both which bothered my bullet holes too much..
Tips? advice?
TIA!

[sue943]

About three weeks post surgery if I remember correctly. I was worried when I first put one on but glad that I did. I actually found it more comfortable and wore one 24 hours a day as it 'held' the incision together as the weight of my boobs tended to drag especially when sleeping on my side. I didn't have 'bullet holes, the drain holes were stitched I assume, I have sort of crosses - three of them.

[Georgia]

I bought bras a whole size larger; started wearing one when I began cardiac rehab (3 weeks out). I bought a very soft, all-cotton bra and used a folded tissue to protect the incision. And took it off as soon as I got home!

[pfsinger]

I haven't had surgery yet, but I'm planning on buying a bunch of those tank tops with the bras built in. I have one and it's so comfy, I'm hoping that wearing these won't be too uncomfortable after OHS.

[Marguerite53]

I've been using double layer cami's (rather tight ones, for support). I had one awful bullet hole and I would cover it with gauze and tape during the day(because the inner band did rub abit) and then air it out with just a nightie at night. Finally, at 4 weeks out, the ickiness is gone and the cami's are working perfectly. I am unfortunately very large breasted and they have been a true drag -- probably the worst part of my recovery -- pulling every time I lean over, they must weigh, OH, gross, they are just a drag!

With the cami, and a button up silky blouse, you can leave the buttons open unless you are self conscious about your scar and then just button up during that time when you want to be more discreet. Many people have found silk or rayon to be tolerable against the skin. I have a boat necked soft cotton sweater that is light and has been perfectly comfortable.

I wore a bra out to dinner for 4 hours and thought I was gonna die!! I don't think I'll even bother with one for another month!!

It's just a wee bit of time out of your life....so worry more about comfort than perfect looks! :D

Marguerite

[gadgetman]

ROSS?????

HELLO, ROSS???????!!!!!!

[OldManEmu]

Pamela, being a male I can't comment on the advantages of different bra types never had one on! You mentioned tank tops I found that anything that didn't button or zip up was very hard to get on over my head in the first few weeks. Lifting my arms above shoulder height wasn't a pleasant experience. Just something to keep in mind. :)

[bvdr]

I went with the stretchy tank tops with the support built into them. I would step into them and pull them up. I had several of the bullet holes and an incision that ran horizontally across the entire right lower breast. I still like wearing the ones with more of the built-in bra but it isn't because I have to anymore. It probably was 6 months before I could comfortably wear a regular bra again.

[Mary]

I had my surgery in the summer and didn't wear a bra until Fall rolled around.

[Janea]

Wow, no wonder I am so uncomfortable. I started wearing a bra as soon as my scab fell off, around 2.5 weeks post op. I don't know why but I can't stand feeling like I am flapping in the wind. It has been uncomfortable, especially toward the end of the day. I am not even a big breasted woman...I used to be a D but have shrunk to a small B since I lost weight after the surgery ( I didn't want to lose weight it just sort of happened). None of my bras fit me anymore, maybe thats another problem. Whereing the bra has felt more comfortable with time. Toward the end of the day I sometimes roll up a rag and put it in a U shape underneath the bottom lip of my bra. The center of the u is framing the incision and the roll of the rag lifts my bra and takes pressure of my incision. It is helpful and gets me through the last bits of the day. Of course I don't recommend opening the door for a visitor with this in place!! (Reminds me of a time two young LDS missionaries came to the door. They were from my church and just dropping by for a visit. I had been nursing my baby daughter and had to stop to help my older daughter (who was 1 1/2) with a problem. My shirt was lifted up over my breast though my bra was up the nursing flap was not clasped. I guess you just get used to the sensation of your shirt being up all the time when you are nursing and I didn't notice it was still that way when the doorbell rang. It wasn't till halfway through our conversation I noticed out of the corner of my eye my shirt was up and I was exposing myself to these 19 year old missionaries. I was so embarrassed...They didn't flinch and pretended that it wasn't happening...Now it is so funny but not so funny back then. Sorry about the tangent!)

I can't figure out how to put vitamin E on my incision without getting oil stains on all my shirts. I put the vit E. on then some gauze to protect my bra and then my shirt and then I stuff a tissue down my shirt so it won't get on my shirt. I still end up with oil stains. Vit. E seems to help. I did a science experiment. I only put vit. E on the upper half of my scar for the first several weeks. The bottom of my scar has started to show signs of Keliod, but not the top. Now I am putting over the whole scar.

--Janea

[geebee]

I wore men's tank top undershirts for the first 4 months after surgery. I just didn't care if it offended anyone and I was thinner and flatter back then.:rolleyes: :o I couldn't stand anything tight for months.

I used Vit. E oil after each of my surgeries. I just had a couple of "Vit. E" shirts that I wore when I oiled my scar. I just decided the cost of the shirts were worth the smaller, lighter scar.

[aussigal]

I am 4 weeks out of surgery and not very well endowed but had always liked the extra boost a bra gave me :D .
I have found a one-pice knitted fabric bra that is very soft and doesnt rub on my scar or bullet holes. Lucky for me my bullet holes seem to be a tiny bit below where the bra sits so they dont bother me at all and they were totally healed up before I left hospital on day 12. Otherwise I just wear a cotton cami that is fairly well fitting and havent bothered much with those ones with in-built boob-holders but I know I can wear one if I wanted cos I tried.
This is one time for us less-endowed girls to be thankful ;) .

[twinmaker]

After both my OHS I just wore t-shirts until I was confortable enough to wear a bra. Can't remember how long that was though. I certainly am not well endowed at all. Another thing you can try... I had to have a lumpectomy on one of my breasts a few years ago and they gave me a strapless tube shaped thingy. It was stretchy but did give a little support. You could also step into it as it would stretch to go over your body, but would then go back into shape when it got to the top. You might call a surgeon's office or hospital where they do breast surgeries and ask where to get one. I saved mine just in case I would ever need it again. LINDA

[dj/utvolsfan]

After my surgery at Cleveland, I found myself in a huge armour style bra. It was gigantic and when I looked down for the first time I had to remind myself I had just had OHS and not delivered my babies and my milk at the same time. Felt like Dolly Parton all over again. Couldn't wait to take it off for that first shower. WRONG. I was really swollen and the weight of my breasts tore at my muscles and incision. Ouch. Had to wear it around the clock (between washings) for two weeks.
I felt so liberated the first night I slept without any bra at all. Woke up so sore though. Now, with the hot sweats, I just wear a really soft sports bra and nothing else but panties.
The dateline for all this....armour for two weeks....no choice.
3rd week - no bra but sore in am - night sweats real issue
4th week on til now - the soft sports bra.
I bought about 6 of them. 3 from a cheap place like Walmart and then 3 more prettier but just as comfortable from Macy's.
I think it is a personal preference based on comfort level and all our difference sizes. I've quit having the post-op sweats as much. Maybe it is the cold weather we've been having in WV lately. I hope I can get back to normal again soon so I can sleep in whatever.

[Diane]

The hospital told me on pre-op day that I would need to bring a bra to wear home. I told them that I hadn't planned on wearing one but they said they wouldn't let me go home without one! They said that the weight of the breasts would pull on the sternum. I am fairly well endowed so their reasoning made sense to me. So I brought one of the cami's with the built-in bra. They weren't even too happy about that but its what I had so they let me wear it. So I starting wearing a bra on the day I left the hospital (day 5).

After I got home from the hospital, my mom and I went to the store (several different times) to try to find something that I could wear. I bet over the 1st 4-6 weeks, I bought and took back about 50 different bras! I finally settled on some soft cotton sports bras that had hooks in the back and were a size larger than what I normally wear. I found that underwire bras were completely out of the question, regular soft cup bras just were not comfortable, the hooks on the front-hook bras sat right on my incision, and the regular sports bras and the cami's were too hard to get in and out of even by stepping into and out of them. And no matter which one I got, they all seemed to rub me right at the very bottom of the incision. At one point, the bras had rubbed the incision so much that I had a hole forming in that part of the incision. So I wound up going without a bra for about a week in order to give that place some time to heal without any irritation.

Diane

[Jkm7]

My nurses never told me whether to try to wear a bra or not....no mention. On the day I went home, they allowed me to dress only minutes before they were releasing me. When the nurse came in to give me final instructions, she said something like.....Oh, okay, I see you're dressed. I specifically told her I chose to not put on my bra as it seemed it would be a torture device. She said nothing. I took her silence to be a 'do as you wish' response.

At home the first week, I didn't wear a bra at all. On the second week, I wore one for about 4 hours and it rubbed a sore spot on my incision which became infected. Thankfully, it wasn't a deep infection and not too large, but nevertheless, I ended up being on anitbiotics for almost a month.

So.....given the choice. Skip the bra.

[Diane Bornstein]

The day I woke up I had a bra on, it was provided by the hospital. When I ask how to order more, I was told to wear bras that snapped in the front. They are hard to find I found some sports bra and some by playtex,most importantly they told me to wear one size larger than normal. It has worked ok, I do not wear them at night but every day. I am seven weeks post op
Diane

[lcwhitney]

After my first surgery one of my nurses told me that most women either love or hate a bra after chest surgeryI hated mine but then I bought one that was a size too big around and that is howI got used to one again.


lettitia

[KMS]

I'm just a week out, but prior to surgery I bought 3 lycra tanks. They've got just enough "give" to provide support, but really feel like I'm not wearing anything. I step into them and have been wearing them since Day 4 post-surgery (I'm well endowed and really felt uncomfortable without anything).

Kristine

[catwoman]

Good question!!!!!!!!

Pre-op, I asked a female cardiac volunteer for Baylor University Medical Center, where I had surgery, what to do about a bra.
She never answered my question.
She was in her 80s. Maybe that's the reason she didn't answer?

Anyway, I wore camisoles in an XL size for about 4-6 weeks post-op.

Since then, I've bought some tank tops at Talbot's. I really like those, they're comfortable, more fashionable-looking than the camisoles I had. I wish I had had them right after surgery.

[hensylee]

go to Carol Wright Gifts at www.carolwrightgifts.com and look for comfort stretch leisure bra. They cost $7.99 plus s & H

These soft bras can be found elsewhere and are also called sleep bras.

I highly recommend that you invest in a couple.

At the hospital, the nurses insisted/told me to go to walmart and buy an exercise bra but I already had the soft leisure bra and used that. These are made of soft lycra spandex, hook in the front and are very comfy. I still use them a lot unless I need to be dressed up. You might want to get the next size up til you are healed and by then you'll probably be hooked :p on them.

Bonnie is away but if she were here, she'd tell you she uses camisoles all the time and won't look a bra in the face anymore.

[Susan BAV]

I wore only baggy shirts, with double pockets in front, for six or eight weeks following my surgery. I am closing in on three years post-op now and I still can't wear under-wire anymore. It's too uncomfortable. But I had a dislocated rib from the surgery, which still "zings" now and then, so that may be part of the trouble there.

[sue943]

In reference to "I am closing in on three years post-op now and I still can't wear under-wire anymore.", I was told many years ago by a surgeon NOT to wear underwired bras. I was winding an electrical cable onto the 'wheel' we kept it on and this meant vigorous movement of my right arm, a vein got squashed between my ribs and the undewire and caused thrombophlebitis, Mondor's Disease, very painful. At first because of the dimpling it caused in the side of my breast, it was thought that I had cancer of the breast which was in the lymphatic system - hence the visit to the surgeon. My x-ray request form for spinal x-rays (I get a lot of backache) said 'Query secondaries'. I now only wear soft bras, one episode of that painful condition was enough for me.

[liza]

I guess this really is one occasion where it's helpful to be VERY flat-chested. I'm 25 and really should still be wearing training bras. *sigh* So I didn't have a problem going braless for awhile afterwards, or just wearing tank-tops underneath. It's been a year now since my OHS and I still find bras very uncomfortable. It's a little painful to wear anything against my sternal wires. I wear alot of those camis with built-in bras underneath everything now. That's my only suggestion. :)

Liza

[kurli]

Hi,
I was given a piece of foam by my nurse to put in the centre part of my bras ofter the op. I remember first wearing a bra all day long with this foam about 4 weeks after the op and feeling so proud of my self. But it didnt last long and I went back to lace camis as they were soft. I am not very big (a-b cup) so not having alot of support wasnt a problem. I am 3 1/2 yrs post op now and i still cant wear underwire bras for to long at one time, I get very tender where the wire sits on my chest. I guess its just something thst us girls have to deal with!!! :p :p

[Teresa UK]

It's 2 weeks since my op and as I'm pretty well endowed, I wore a soft/sleep bra from about the second day. I would have been in agony without it I'm sure - every movement pulls. I've had very little weeping from the incision and my "bullet holes" barely notice since the stitches came out day 4 and have given me no problem at all. But I still felt as though I needed something more substantial to hold me fairly rigid, so since getting home I've progressed to normal bras with rolled-up bits of sterilised wadding shoved under the band at the front and between my breasts (what a delightful image). I'm getting a lot of discomfort/pain in the skin and muscles right across my chest - my skin feels as though I've burnt myself badly and I have thumb-nail-size areas of extreme stabbing pain every now and again. I've toyed with the idea of binding myself around with bandages or something to try and keep my breasts completely non-mobile!!!