You may shower 24 to 48 hours after your drains are removed. Your healthcare provider will let you know when you can shower. When you begin showering, take a shower every day to help keep your incision clean. Before entering the shower, remove your bra and the gauze pad covering your incision.
You can take your first shower the day after your drain or bandage is removed. This is usually within about 1 week. Sometimes doctors say it is okay to shower the day after surgery. Do not take a bath or soak in a hot tub for about 4 weeks.
Wash with warm water and gentle, fragrance-free soap. Gently clean your upper incisions and drain sites, and rinse well. Don't aim the shower stream directly at your breast. Aim it at your upper back or your arm.
Take it easy for one week. Take short walks, move slowly, take care of yourself, eat healthy foods and drink plenty of water. Do not try to exercise, diet or do anything more than rest and recover. You will need to sleep on your back for at least 2-3 weeks.
As a rule, most surgeons caution breast reduction patients not to lift their arms up above their head until at least 10 days post-surgery.
We therefore recommend you keep this position for eight to 12 weeks post-surgery. Some online sources suggest four to six weeks are enough, but you will continue healing beyond this short window of time. To keep pace with that process, you should continue sleeping on your back for no less than eight weeks.
Getting enough sleep will help you heal and recover faster. Sleep on your back for the first two weeks following breast reduction surgery as sleeping on your stomach will put pressure on your incision. To make sure you get adequate bed rest, let people taking care of you know how important rest is for your recovery.
Dr. Howland requires patients to wear their compression bra for several weeks at all times except when bathing to aid the healing process.
Ask for Help Around the House. For the first few weeks while you are recovering either hire someone to help you with things around the house or ask a family member to lend a hand. Things like too much bending over or heavy lifting may break open your incision and cause bleeding.
You may shower 24 to 48 hours after your drains are removed. Your healthcare provider will let you know when you can shower. When you begin showering, take a shower every day to help keep your incision clean. Before entering the shower, remove your bra and the gauze pad covering your incision.
Avoiding post‐operative bathing or showering for two to three days may result in the accumulation of sweat and dirt on the body. If the patient wants to bathe or shower before two to three days, based on traditional advice, extra precautions are frequently taken to prevent the surgical wound from getting wet.
Be sure to shower, not bathe for the first two weeks following your procedure. You should also take care to blot dry your breasts and the incision area with a clean towel after they get wet.
After 48 hours, surgical wounds can get wet without increasing the risk of infection. After this time, you can get your stitches wet briefly with a light spray (such as in the shower), but they should not be soaked (for example, in the bath). Make sure you pat the area dry afterwards.
There is risk of infection in every surgical procedure, but breast reduction patients run the risk of losing feeling in their nipples, bruising, and developing scars in particular. I still have feeling in my nipples, but it's important to know that losing it is a possibility.
Three-to-four months
By the end of three or four months, your breasts will have fully healed and settled. At this point, you can see the final, shapely and smaller results.
How to correctly wear your surgical bra after your breast surgery. Surgical bras should have no seam and fasten in the front with a zipper or clasps. Your surgical bra should be snug but not too tight. You should be able to insert two fingers underneath.
A sports bra will keep the breasts in place while exercising, but it can be too restrictive when dealing with post-surgery recovery. The breasts can swell a little and a sports bra won't leave any room for this.
In gynecomastia surgeries or explant surgeries, not wearing compression garments as advised may result in excess skin being left over and associated sagging of skin around your breasts.
The pain from the surgery will be highest during the first few days after surgery. However, you will most likely be on pain medications so the pain should be moderate at worst. During week one the pain will reduce and should be mild to moderate.
However, your stretches will be limited for several weeks after your surgery. Too much strain — such as an overhead stretch — could damage the breast muscles and make another surgery necessary.
You'll feel a bit tired for first few days: the effects of anaesthesia, your body using energy for healing, plus a sleepless night before, or after surgery (hospitals can be noisy!) all combine to make tiredness after breast reduction surgery pretty common.
However, you should plan to wear your bra for around 6 weeks after surgery.
Good Sleep After Breast Augmentation Is Vital
Your body has to work hard to heal from surgery, whether you've had a breast augmentation, breast lift, or a tummy tuck. This is why you will likely find yourself feeling fatigued in the days following your surgery.
Instead, most plastic surgeons recommend that patients who have had breast surgery sleep exclusively on their backs until they are fully healed. Sleeping on your back means that gravity cannot affect your chest muscles and reduces the risk of painful stretching and pulling that can damage your new breasts.