What is the recovery process and time frame for recovery from breast reconstruction with implants?

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SheilaBondMD (Physician - Surgery - Plastic (Verified) ) - 04 / 18 / 2012

The recovery time is generally 3 to 6 weeks depending on many factors such as the persons overall health, other medical problems and need for further therapies. The expansion process may take several months depending on the size desired.
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member2721 (Survivor (1 year)) - 04 / 03 / 2012

I am not sure if my recovery process and time frame are typical, but it did not take very long. Since the expansion process took 6 months for me, I had time to recover from the bilateral mastectomy and was back to my daily routine before the exchange surgery. The recovery from the exchange surgery was NOTHING like the first surgery. I felt some discomfort, but it was more like an annoyance rather than pain. I was on pain medication for 2 days and within 2 weeks I was back to doing everything I could do before the surgery, with a few exceptions. I was asked by my plastic surgeon to wait 2 months before resuming any strenuous physical activity like tennis and horseback riding. I was able to go back to my job within the week of surgery and found that the only thing that bothered me was fatigue. This may be a side effect of the tamoxifen I am taking. I kept looking forward to getting back to my normal routine and in doing so, I believe that I had a fast and easy recovery.
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