How do tissue expanders feel?

I was told to always wear post mastectomy bras at all times. My plastic surgeon told me to sleep in it as well. I thought I would be able to get my implants in shortly after the expanders were in, about 3 weeks, only to find that because I had to have 16 radiation treatments it pushes it to next year. I kept getting these "zingers" of pain that they told me were my nerve endings coming back to life. Over time they rarely happen now. I had my double mastectomy at the end of March 2025 so 5 months later it's not too bad.

For quite a while after my double mastectomy/beginning reconstruction surgery (end of October 2014), I felt like I had a bad headache across the front of my chest ALL the time—I finally realized it wasn't my incisions that hurt, but the expanders. I was prescribed pain meds, muscle relaxers and Valium (for the muscle tightness) and TOOK them.

As the months went on, I was always "aware" of the expanders; they felt as though they had been riveted on and I often felt pinching and poking sensations. I described the feeling of the tissue expanders to my friends as like wearing a hard plastic bra under my skin (I also texted them a picture of Brunhilde wearing those two conical metal disks over her breasts). Fills were easy, but I sometimes felt a bit achy later in the day after the fills were done (an aspirin handled that discomfort).

Like dlardin above, I had to keep the expanders in until I completed 16 chemo treatments. Due to scheduling issues, I had the expanders in for more than a year before having surgery to switch them out with implants in late 2015; I learned to tolerate the expanders, but was always aware that they were there.

Hi all,

I had a single mastectomy at the end of July 2025. I have experienced pressure and pain. I saw my reconstruction surgeon yesterday and she pulled a couple of large syringes of fluid out. She said the fluid was on top of the expanders. There is also about a 1/3 of my breast skin that is dead. If no improvement within a week I will have outpatient surgery to remove the dead skin. I asked if I would need a skin graft and she indicated she could close it up. Has anyone had this experience? Why does the fluid build up? Is pushing out starting radiation something to be concerned about. Thank you for your input.

It is like having mini implants inside but they weren’t at all painful. I had bilateral mastectomies in February and I had no pain. The drains were the most inconvenient for two weeks but when they were taken out it was more freeing. I then slept in my bed with pillows instead of a recliner. The plastic surgeon filled them with saline solution to preserve the integrity of the skin and I wore a surgical bra until he said I don’t need to do so.soma sells a really nice one with holders for the drains that are removable. I highly recommend getting a couple. Good luck. Let me know if you have more questions.