(Tw scars and tw burns) I have had 3 scars from getting burnt while cooking (they were 2nd degree burns) but they’ve healed well, without me doing anything (besides not picking at scabs). Can I assume my body will heal top surgery scars well? And do other methods of fading scars work? Natural ones like lemon juice etc

transgenderteensurvivalguide:

Jay says:

Past scars tend to be a pretty clear indicator of how future scars will look. Top surgery scars are different from burn scars, but the general process of healing is similar. If you have other surgical scars, or if you’ve had cuts that required stitches, those might be better indicators of your body’s scarring habits. 

Lots of things will help fade scars. Initially, some surgeons will recommend nothing but normal paper tape on the scars to prevent stretching for a few weeks, then switching to over the counter scar treatments. Using silicone scar strips, silicone gels, mederma and similar creams, and other topical things like that are probably the best. I’ve heard of people getting steroid injections for things like keloid and hypertrophic scarring as well but that’s not super common. Avoiding sunlight for the first year is one of the most important things though. The sun will make the new scar tissue heal worse. 

I’ve heard that you should avoid putting citrus on the skin because it makes the sun damage the skin more, so I’d certainly avoid putting lemon juice on top surgery scars if they’ll be exposed to the sun.

Keeping the scars hydrated (and nipple grafts especially, if you get the free type of nipple graft, because the grafting process can make the nipples lose the ability to hydrate themselves for a time) can help them heal better and keep you comfortable. 

Lee says:

I’m going to repeat something I’ve said before:

It depends on if you’re getting implants or having your breasts removed; there isn’t just one type of top surgery. And even then it depends on the type of procedure you get, how long you’ve been healing from it, and a bunch of different factors like how you take care of your scars and what type of scarring your body is prone to. For example, what your top surgery results look like after 1 month is pretty different than what they’ll look like after 5 years as your chest will have had time to settle, the swelling will be gone, and the scars will be healed more.

On the transfeminine side, the links Breast Augmentation and The difference between a MTF Breast Augmentation and a “Regular” Breast Augmentation should be helpful. You can look at transbucket or look at individual surgeon’s websites (Example) to see what their results and techniques are! Transfeminine top surgery scars are often less noticeable because they’re placed under the breast which hides them a bit.

We have a transmasc Top Surgery FAQ if you’re trying to get an idea of what the different types of procedures are or learn more about how to get top surgery. You can look at some transmasc top surgery pictures here if you want to get an idea of what it could look like after top surgery, or look at transbucket if you want to search by procedure type (you need to get an account to see the pics but that’s easy to do) or search “top surgery” on tumblr and filter it so it’s only photo posts.

The pictures below are of different people in the early stages of healing from transmasc top surgery (the ones with an asterisk are on transbucket, so you need to make an account to see those):

• 4 days post-op
• 1 week post-op* / 1 week post-op* / 1 week post-op* / 1 week post-op* / 1 week post-op* / 1 week post-op*
• 2 weeks post-op* / 2 weeks post-op*
• 3 weeks post-op / 3 weeks post-op*
• 4 weeks post-op / 4 weeks post-op* / 4 weeks post-op*
• 1 month post-op / 1 month post-op / 1 month post-op* / 1 month post-op* / 1 month post-op*
• 2 months post op*
• 6 weeks post-op
• 7 weeks post-op*
• 4 months post-op / 4 months post-op / 4 months post-op* / 4 months post-op* / 4 months post-op*
• 6 months post-op*
• 9 months post-op / 9 months post-op / 9 months post-op*
• 10 months post-op* / 10 months post-op*
• 11 months post-op
• 1 year post-op / 1 year post-op / 1 year post-op / 1 year post-op / 1 year post-op* / 1 year post-op* / 1 year post-op* / 1 year post-op* / 1 year post-op*
• 1.5 years post-op*
• 2 years post-op / 2 years post-op

I’ve tried to include more pictures of trans people of color as there’s a lot of pictures of white ppl after top surgery you can easily find online. Also, scars often look different on a person of color especially because we tend to be prone to keloid scarring.

Here are some YouTube videos of people who have had top surgery:

• 5 days post-op / 5 days post-op
• 6 days post-op
• 1 week post-op / 1 week post-op
• 9 days post-op
• 2 weeks post-op
• Less than 1 month post-op
• 1 month post-op / 1 month post-op / 1 month post-op
• 6 weeks post-op
• 2 months post-op / 2 months post-op
• 2.5 months post-op
• 12 weeks post-op
• 3 months post-op / 3 months post-op
• 4 months post-op /4 months post-op
• 5 months post-op
• 6 months post-op
• 11 months post-op
• 1 year post-op
• 1 year and 2 months post-op

The scars from transmasc top surgery again vary by procedure; peri-areolar is going to have a lot less noticeable scarring than a double mastectomy with grafts. The scars continue to fade after the early stages; most pictures online are the first year after surgery, but scars fade a lot more by the 4th and 5th year so what your chest looks like after 1 year isn’t the way it’ll always look.

Top surgery scars do fade and become less noticeable over time, but they don’t always fade completely even if you do everything possible in scar care because everyone’s body is different, and some people are more prone to keloid scarring and the like than others. If you look at The Complete Guide to Post Surgery Care, there’s some info on scar care, but there’s nothing wrong with having scars; some trans people are happy with their scars, and even proud of them!

Some people do find their scars fade away almost completely, but you can’t know for certain in advance what’ll happen to you, although how your body usually handles scarring is an indicator. If you need to explain away your scars, here are some other surgeries that leave similar scars!

Here are some videos and pics of people several years post-op when their results have had time to settle and scars have faded a bit:

• This post is a transmasc person who covered their top surgery scars with tattoos
• This post is a transmasc person 4 years after double incision top surgery
• A video of someone 4 years post-op
• A video of someone 4 years post-op
• This is a video of someone 5 years post-op
• A video of someone else 5 years post-op
• This post is a transmasc person 5 years post-op after t-incision top surgery
• A video of someone 7 years post-op