Mastectochism: Wraparound Service

This woman “Jimmie” got chest (removal) surgery a year and a half ago. Though some morbidly obese Dr. Gallagher patients may end up with unusually long scars, this woman appears to be normal to overweight. On top of that, she's complaining about difficulty with certain movements that's not getting better. Unfortunately for her, the placement and description sounds like she may have sustained a nerve injury to her long thoracic nerve, which feeds the muscles in that area. This is a known complication of mastectomy due to anatomy. Yet it sounds like she was not fully informed as to what a nerve injury complication would actually feel like, prior to giving consent.If you've had top surgery and it seems like some of your back muscles stopped working right, this may be a factor. It is especially common in gender-affirming mastectomy, because not only does this require less training, “Plastic surgeons’ gender-affirming mastectomy volumes are rapidly increasing.”This article also pretty hilariously includes the line, “Therefore, injury is best avoided.” It really evokes Jazz Jennings’ surgeon, Dr. Jess Ting, asking, “if it don't need to cut that, why would you cut that?” in the midst of a gender-affirming unnecessary cutting session. These surgeons are or should be aware of the risks, yet the patients somehow are completely blindsided by their mysterious persistent impairments. https://share.google/1RMNyr6MwNZz2ba4q This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit exulansic.substack.com/subscribe