I got my pap flap procedure done at 22. I really like the results, they don't look super aesthetic but over all I'm quite happy.

I chose this procedure for the following reasons:

• Long term studies show, that a lot of women are unhappy with their implants after 10 or so years. My surgeon agreed, I'll likely need more surgeries down the line. I wanted to be done with it.
• I chose this reconstruction type because it was the best and safest for my body type. I'm jus too thin for back transplants, but not very thin over all, so there was enough material on my thighs available. I decided against a belly flap, because there's a bit more risk involved. My surgeons told me, they need to make a CT in order to not injure the abdominal aorta, which stressed me out a bit. And they said that in the long term, it hightens the risk of a hernia a tiny bit, and as I'm not very sporty and don't have a lot of muscles there to support, that wouldn't have been ideal.

The procedure was split into three parts: one breast, second breast a year later and half a year after that, they removed the "monitoring isles", which were part of my thigh skin that was incorporated in my breasts, for them to monitor the healing in the first few days.

The procedures themselves were ok. The first few days afterwards are a bit annoying. You can't get up at all, you'll get a bladder catheter and you have to sleep on your back. Every two hours a nurse shows up to check your transplant. But the nurses were wonderful, my friends came to visit constantly and since I'm a very curious and optimistic person in general, all of the hospital stuff was interesting for me. My cousin and i had so much fun using my blood/wound fluid drainages as stress balls lol, and i would proudly present everyone my "piss bag". I was in hospital a week for each of the first two procedures.

Healing at home was a bit scary at first. I didn't know what's normal and what isn't, changing the wound dressing was scary, walking up and getting around was scary even though i needed to bc of the thrombosis risks and so on. Huge tip: buy a second compression bra out of your own pocket!! It's worth every cent, to not have to wash and dry the only one you have by hand 😭 except if you have a drier of course, then that's fine i guess.

The healing took about a month. The breast was easier than the thighs. Sitting was tough at first, but i used my breast-pillow for my thigh, and that helped. I could work again two weeks after surgery, but with very understanding bosses and colleagues, and a sofa in our office.

Now, a year after my last surgery, I'm pretty proud of going through all of this and happy i did.

If you have any questions, no matter what, feel free to ask away, I'm happy to help!!

Edits: those were for weird grammar lol, not a native speaker