Transgender Teen Survival Guide

Asked by Anonymous

gendercube:

The only time a person risks regrowth of breast tissue is if they have top surgery before they’re done physically developing (roughly before age 18) and aren’t on hormone blockers or testosterone. If a person is out of their developmental years, has top surgery, and then doesn’t start testosterone (or has to stop testosterone at some point) there is no risk of this tissue growing back. Even post-op trans men who’ve become pregnant, a time marked by chest swelling and growth, report their chests remaining the same as they were before the pregnancy. After this developmental period a persons chest will generally only increase in size if there’s trauma-related swelling, weight gain, increases in musculature, or other factors unrelated to breast tissue.

Lee says:

Copied from Hudson’s FTM Guide: 

Myth #5: If you stop taking testosterone after chest surgery, your breasts will grow back.

“In order to answer this myth, let’s reconsider from Myth #4 exactly what breasts are made of: fatty tissue, connective tissue, and glandular tissue or “lobes,” and a ductal system. Again, the glandular and ductal tissue of most females develops quite a bit at puberty, and there is also a lot of fat cell growth that comes along with it.

Most trans men have chest reconstruction well after pubescent development of the breasts. When a surgeon removes tissue in an FTM chest reconstruction surgery, s/he is removing glandular/fibrous tissue as well as excess fatty tissue. The surgeon (if s/he is doing a good job) removes as much of the glandular/ductal tissue as possible, and quite a bit of the fatty tissue as well. A little fat is usually left behind because without some fat, the wall of the chest would look too flat or even concave compared to the rest of the torso. (For more information on FTM chest reconstruction surgery, click here.) The amount and location of tissue left behind will depend on the skills of the surgeon and the surgical method used to remove the tissue.

Once glandular/ductal tissue has been surgically removed from the body, it is gone. It will not spontaneously grow back. Any very small amount of glandular/ductal tissue that may remain could experience some shrinkage or growth, but this would be minor.

Fatty tissue left behind may go through phases of growth and shrinkage, just like all fat on the body is susceptible to growth and shrinkage. Fat cells can always grow bigger due to influences in food intake, metabolism shifts, or hormone levels. If a trans man discontinues testosterone and still has functioning ovaries, there may be a shift in overall body fat distribution to a more “female-like” pattern, which may include a small fat increase in the chest area. But keep in mind that, for the most part, a post-chest surgery trans man has had a very large amount of tissue removed from his chest, such that even some growth in that fat will probably not become so significant as to re-grow “breasts” in the same way he once had them. Also keep in mind that some trans guys have chest surgery pre-testosterone (sometimes years prior to starting testosterone) and some people opt for chest surgery without testosterone, and these people generally do not experience re-growth of breasts post-surgery.”