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Second Expansion

One week following the first expansion, Debbie went in for her second injection of saline; again, 100cc's were injected into each breast. Debbie's doctor would have liked her to have more time to stretch in between expansions, but because Debbie was planning to get married soon, following her implant surgery, she wanted to move the process along a little quicker. As she had after the first expansion, she began to have some back pain and pressure afterward. This was a natural consequence of the skin stretching.  Before her expansion appointments, she took an over-the-counter painkiller, such as ibuprofen, to help ease the soreness and back pain.  Debbie learned quickly to follow her nurse's advice and stay ahead of the pain.

Before she began the reconstruction process, Debbie had decided upon size C implants; this meant her surgeon would need to expand her chest tissue to a size D so it could easily accommodate the permanent C implants. (The skin would eventually conform to the size C implants.) Although her physician asked her to consider staying smaller, Debbie desperately wanted to return to the same size she had been. Unfortunately, after her second expansion, as soon as Debbie left the doctor's office, she began to feel distressing pain - different and more intense than the discomfort she had previously felt. Once she got home, she was in tears, and her fiancé and parents rushed to her side. She could barely move from the odd stretching sensation and back distress. Her back, side, and chest muscles felt like they were "ripping." She immediately returned to her surgeon's office and he removed 50 cc's of saline on the spot. The relief was instant.