Surviving a Botched Surgery

*WARNING- THIS POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES*

Everyone has their own story and pathway when it comes to plastic surgery. For those who’ve done it or are thinking about doing it, we have our reasons.

Whether yours is to fix something you don’t like by giving it a little nip and tuck… it’s the outcome that has the biggest impact.

You pay a lot of money, and you want it to be done right. Even more so, you want to get back to your life with the new changes. Especially when you have had Breast Implant Illness and you want your body and health back!

My Nip and Tuck Story

I was pretty happy with how my breast were looking. The surgery 2 weeks prior, I had removed my breast implants and had a breast lift done that included sizing down my areolas. Which I was more than looking forward to since the weight of my implants had done a number on my breast and areolas!

I was still all bandaged up and could barely move… but I was excited to see the results. My surgeon initially placed my breast really high up on my chest, so obviously, they still needed to drop quite a bit. But from what I could tell the overall shape was looking good.

Honestly, I was just happy to have my implants out and was ready to start the healing process… oh, little did I know what was ahead of me!

My First Post-Op After Explant & Breast Lift

When I had gone into my post-op, I had my two drains removed. I was happy to have them taken out and couldn’t wait to see my new breast and take a shower.

BTW, having your drains removed isn’t as terrible as everyone says it is… but it wasn’t very pleasant either. Just remember, when you have yours taken out, take a deep breath and exhale as the nurse pulls the drains! It makes the process easier.

The nurse had mentioned something about a little black discoloration on my right areola.

Complications Begin

This was the first time I had anything this major done… so I didn’t know if this was a concern or not. I mean I had my implants put in, and then the left was redone, but that’s pretty easy. They open you up a little and shove the implants in you and sew you closed. Easy peasy.  

As I looked at my breast, I noticed the left breast had black around the areola too… which I just assumed was dried blood and stitches. And for the most part, that’s what it was. But the right areola seemed a little off.

At this point I was told to do a Wet to Dry Treatment on the little, tiny portion on my right areola and that it would just eventually sluff off and I would heal just fine.

Unfortunately, within days that little, tiny black area… it began to spread on the whole areola, and then down the breast and across the anchor incision. It was no longer a little tiny black section anymore!

Looking back now, it became very evident I had necrosis all over my right breast!

Signs of Necrosis After Surgery

So, what is Necrosis?

This is where your tissue starts to die from the inside out. For some reason, you didn’t have enough blood and oxygen supply to where you needed it to go. This compromised skin turns black… the crazy thing is this can happen in the fat tissues or on the skin’s surface itself.

The only cure for getting rid of it… is exactly that! Getting rid of the dead tissue by either waiting for it to fall off or for it to be surgically removed.

Necrosis & Treatment… What They Want You to Do

At this point, I was being told to continue to do the wet-to-dry dressings and that it would just “sluff off”. I didn’t really see how this was going to work… but I did what they told me.

It seemed like overnight the black began to spread vigorously. It was thick and hard! I tried not to freak out, but I knew it wasn’t right. But I continued to apply wet bandages to the area and when they became dry, I removed them and replaced them with new wet gauze.

At this point, I was just hoping this would work and that I could get back to my normal life. I was excited to have my implants out now and I just wanted to see how my body was going to heal.

The Scariness of Wound Dehiscence

Then the burst happened!

I’m sure kike every surgery you’ve ever had, I too was thoroughly examining and documenting my newly altered breast. When I was taking pictures to send to my doctor, I noticed my skin slightly pulling away from each other, under the right breast. I could see yellow fluid and it seemed like the top layer of my skin had been deteriorating.

My heart began racing… I was getting really nervous that possibly the wet-to-dry was causing an irritation to the skin. So, I decided to let the area under the right breast dry and air out for a while.

That seemed like the best option for now, and I went on with my wrapping the rest of my breasts up.

My First Wound Dehiscence Experience

At the last minute, we decided to go on a long overnight trip from Montana to San Diego and back. I figured I’d be fine since I was just sitting down for hours.

I tried to continue to do all the dressings while we were on the road. Trying to keep everything clean and sanitized was my top priority. We had finally gotten to a hotel, and I could shower and take a really good look under my right breast.

As I looked under my breast with my hand mirror… my heart stopped! The t-zone of the breast had completely burst open!!! I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. By this time, I was freaking out.

What is Wound Dehiscence

It was Sunday night; I couldn’t call my doctor. I just sat there, with my heart pounding and no idea what was happening to my body.

I was so confused, and at this point panicking. My mind was scanning everything I could think of. I even thought I had Mrsa, a flesh-eating disease because of the way my skin and now wound had looked.

I honestly had no clue about wound dehiscence… never even heard of it and clearly never thought it would happen to me! Never did it cross my mind that your body can reject your surgery and split wide open, exposing all your tissue underneath.

My Second Breast Surgery in a Month

Monday morning, I finally got a hold of the nurse at my doctor’s office. She was patient and very calming and explained that sometimes this happens.  She had me come back to Salt Lake City and scheduled a second surgery to close me up.

Because my surgery wasn’t until Wednesday, she reassured me how important the wet-to-dry dressing was so that the tissue wouldn’t dry out. But this time it wasn’t placing the gauze across the necrosis, this was shoving it up into the open area as far as I could go!

Looking back now, I believe the only way I managed to do that, was through pure adrenaline alone. You never know how you are going to react to something like this… till it happens to you.

So, I shoved wet gauze up into my breast, and hoped for the best, waiting to be closed up again.

The Shock of Necrosis Removal

As I sit in the pre-op room waiting for surgery number 2, I kept thinking, ok… so this is happening.  They will sew me back up again; I’ll heal and move on with my newly stubborn breast and things will get back to normality soon.

When I woke up, they told me they had removed the dead skin (necrosis) on the nipple area and that the areola was going to look a bit scary. But of course… “not to worry”, it would all heal just fine.

They also did a Penrose drain instead of the previous drains and cleaned the scabs off the left breast.

At this point, I was all closed up again. I was restitched along my anchor incision, this time with staples and non-dissolvable sutures. And also, the doctor used some super strong sutures to hold my right areola to the rest of my right breast. I just took a deep breath and trusted the process.

I was shocked when I finally saw my right breast. When they mentioned the removal of the black tissue on the breast, I honestly thought there would just be new pink tissue under what they had removed. Kinda like when you remove a scab and there is soft pinkish-white tissue underneath.

Not only was I wrong about that, but what little was left of my right areola was shocking and completely horrifying. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. And to make matter worse… within days my right breast split open again!

How I Survived Wound Care

Everything that went wrong, went wrong. I had the expectations of being sewn back up and everything would be fine.

The skin once again rejected the new surgery. And now was beginning to show signs of a major wound.

My areola was pulling away from the rest of the skin, ripping away from the four sutures holding it on. Under the breast was now doing the same, but now splitting open down the breast and along the bottom. Only pieces of skin were being held together.

I know this isn’t pleasant to read (and see)… but this was my reality. I searched everywhere online for answers since my doctor and nurses weren’t 100% open about what was really going on. Maybe they were and I was just in shock to take it all in.

The only thing I could find was on RealSelf.com and how other women had had similar experiences as mine. I didn’t feel so alone.

The Process of Wound Care & Natural Healing

During this time, I was told they weren’t going to stitch me back up, but that they needed me to heal naturally. By now, I was beyond upset, I was confused, exhausted, and overwhelmed.

I was told to pack the wound with wet-to-dry dressing and to only keep the gauze on the open wound and not the healthy skin. I went home and did just that. I trusted the doctor, nurses, and my own body’s amazing technology to do its thing and heal on its own.

For the next few months, I was on autopilot.

Wound Care Isn’t for the Faint of Heart!

It seemed like every day was worse. Not only was I managing my wound, but I was also trying to control my emotions. I had mini breakdowns about every few days but would pull myself together because I knew I had to for the healing process.

I just couldn’t believe what I was going through. I do remember thinking… people have gone through much worse than this, pull yourself together! So, I tried my best.

I would manage my wound twice a day, and every couple of days see my doctor for continual observations. Each day they would tell me what to expect and that I was looking better. I didn’t believe them… how could it be, when my right breast had hardly any skin on it and the underneath tissue was fully exposed.

But I kept pushing wet gauze up into my breast and covering it completely so my wound wouldn’t dry out. I wanted to heal as quickly as possible.

Signs of Wound Healing

Eventually, the tissue on my right breast was bright red. I was unaware that this was a good sign, but as I was told, this was new tissue and new blood.

Which, as of now, I was numb to all of it. I had been doing this for weeks on end and to me, this was the same tissue I’d been looking at, and now it was just bleeding.

Although, it wasn’t easy when changing the new tissue. It was more sensitive and now blood was everywhere. If you have ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail… that’s about how I felt haha!

Some days blood from my right breast would be squirting everywhere… those usually were my biggest breakdown moments. Looking back now… I can laugh at it.

I remember thinking, this isn’t right. But to find out, this was actually a really good sign. This is new blood vessels being formed and the healing process doing its thing.

Although, I was beginning to feel a lot more pain now, mainly because not only was new skin, tissue, and blood vessels being created but so were new nerves. Changing the dressings at this point was not fun, I dreaded it every time I had to do it!

My Healing Process

By now it had been about 2 months since my original surgery. Changing my dressings two times a day was really getting to me. I wanted it to be over with and I’m sure my mindset was expecting a fast recovery. But wound healing takes a long time.

My left breast looked awesome… I couldn’t have been happier with it. Which made the right breast even harder to look at. They weren’t the same and the comparison was difficult to look at.

I was continually reassured I was healing up fast and the results were looking good. Those nurses were my cheerleaders and extremely supportive.

I will say, I was very grateful for an amazing support system during that time. It literally saved me!

Months of Healing & Waiting

Couple of months in, I had been on about 4 different oral antibiotics and using topical antiseptics on the wound itself. I was so afraid of getting any kind of infection and I think the doctor was as well. My body was a mess!

And another concern was actually losing my nipple. With areolas, they can do a skin graft of some kind or tattoo a fake one on. But with your nipple… once it’s gone, it’s gone. I prayed that I would be able to keep my nipple. I know it’s a small thing, but it was important to me!

There were points of extreme frustration because I was also being told different procedures that they wanted to do next. Each visit they had a new plan for the next steps to do with my breast and they were never the same as the previous visits.

Looking back now I can understand, no one really knows how your body is going to heal, how fast, and to what degree. It really is just a waiting game. See how you heal and then go from there. But the good news was… I was healing!

I don’t tell you this to scare you and most likely, this will never happen to you. But you should know what to look for and be prepared just in case it does. Or if it happens to anyone you care about… you’ll be aware if anything looks out of the ordinary.

If surgery is in the near future for you (or thinking about it), you need to know the best ways to recover.

Here are my top 10 Tips for a fast recovery!

Read More:

10 Tips For A Fast Breast Lift Recovery

My First Wound Debridement

As December rolled around, 3 months after my original surgery, the doctor wanted to go in and do a wound debridement. Wound debridement is done under local anesthesia and is where the dead tissue is completely removed from the wound. This allows for the area to be cleaned and new tissue to have a breath of fresh air… sorta speak.

I was now growing new tissue and new skin… oddly enough, I was really excited about that! The little things in life haha.

The wound was healing at a quicker rate and pretty much closing up. The doctor said the wound debridement would speed up the healing process even more and the wound should completely close in a month. I was so excited!

I couldn’t wait for that month! To not have to pack gauze up into my breast, to not have to change my dressings twice a day. I was looking forward to taking a real shower, where I wouldn’t have to avoid my wound. Just to feel normal again.

Surgery #3… Wound Debridement

The wound debridement procedure was done in the operation room. I was very nervous thinking they were going to use needles to numb me. I was now so sensitive and in quite a bit of pain with the new nerves and blood vessels. But to my shock… they just rubbed a numbing cream on my open tissue.

I heard snipping and cutting. Didn’t feel anything but was uncomfortable just lying there wondering what in the world the doctor was doing.

They bandaged me up and told me there was a deep hole to the right of my nipple. I of course didn’t know what they meant until I saw it!

A deep hole was an understatement. I was now going home with two deep holes and a newly cleaned wound, that would heal and completely close with manuka honey and time.

And now it was just a waiting game for me and my right breast…

Do I Have Regrets?

I was starting to think that removing my breast implants was the worst decision I ever made. Maybe it was… maybe it wasn’t.

But I will say this, I beat myself up more about getting breast implants than I have ever done getting them removed! As for myself, I have gone to hell and back watching my body fall apart from all of this.

So… that’s a pretty big statement about breast implants themselves!

The Choice to Remain Positive

We all know when life doesn’t go the way we planned, we start regretting every decision we have made in the past. These thoughts were constantly on my mind.

I continued to remind myself that there is a reason I am going through all of this. I knew I’d come out a better person. A stronger person who would be able to tell my story and hopefully help others in the process.

Because of that, I truly believed I healed faster than I should have. I was able to turn this situation into my growing gratitude for how amazing the body truly is and the support I had during this time.

Your Story Doesn’t Have to Be Like Mine!

If you find yourself thinking about getting breast implants, do your research. I encourage you to find other options because the rewards don’t outweigh the risks.

If you are thinking about getting your breast implants removed, don’t let my story scare you… it’s opened my eyes and hopefully yours as well. If you know what to look for and have a better understanding, you can be prepared.

My Journey Continues…

Thank goodness my botched surgery journey didn’t end there! Find out what happened next after months and of healing and a year after my first initial explant and breast lift surgery.

The good thing is… the next part isn’t as graphic or traumatic. Although… it has its moments… shock, disbelief, tears, and all.

Read What Happened Next…