My skin hasn’t changed color. There’s just a small dark dot that appeared the day I got it implanted that’s ain’t going away. I’m not too worried about that. It looks exactly like other age-related such patches I have elsewhere. It’s just odd that it should appear that very day at that very location.
If it evens out and stops, and if my skin doesn’t start sticking again in front of the implant, I’ll call it okay. But I have my index on the removal trigger.
I’ve been wondering the same thing. I think maybe it promotes crazy skin reactions that a continuous surface does not.
Honestly I don’t know what to think at this point. I’ve been running my fingers over that thing every half hour for the past two weeks, and sometimes - like now - I feel like I have a parasite maturing in stages inside of me. It’s seriously creepy.
Having said that, there’s one upside: it’s seriously well anchored And the thickness of it means it doesn’t bite anymore if I grab ahold of my arm.
Aw the poor duck
Seriously, the thing is the size of a watch with none of the benefits
But seriously, I am getting kinda worried about you.
It sounds like pathological fibrosis (fibrous encapsulation) that has gotten out of hand. Mind you, I am no doctor.
I would seriously consider removal.
This can’t possibly be tissue growth if it’s growing that fast… it has to be fluid build up… Cellular division of that rate would beat all known cancers… and they can grow fast… and the laying down of collagen and fibrin that quickly… I mean I guess it could happen… though not likely either…
In any case, it might be time to have a doc poke at it?
It seems to stop growing when it reaches a certain thickness though. It’s not really getting out of hand. It’s just that it’s starts invading unaffected areas all of the sudden, and then it stops when that bit is “full”. Here for example, the bit in question is almost 3/4th covered now and it seems to be stopping, or at least slowing down.
I dunno man. It’s very hard and once it’s there, it’s there for good. Don’t feel like fluid buildup to me. But I agree, it’s really too fast for cellular division.
A doc did poke at it on Monday at it and didn’t know what to make of it, but didn’t seemed particularly worried. I’m scheduled for a biopsy in a week and a half, unless something more worrying happens in the meantime - or unless I cancel it, because I don’t know how they’re going to sample a bit of that hard tissue without damaging the implant underneath.
I have to say, I really want to keep the doNExT. But if it has to go, I’m dying to know what the hell it is covered with.
Whatever it is, it happens in quick bursts then stops. And - apparently - when it stops, it stops for good where it’s “done”.
Actually, if it keeps on doing that - i.e. it doesn’t spread wildly outside of the implant or start thickening where it has stopped - it might work to my advantage: I’ve always been worried about the long-term shock-resistance of the implant. Here it’s really nicely shielded against shocks.
How does one learn about the known side effects of larger implants? Just hang around in the community long enough to hear about stuff? Or is there literature on the subject?
Your case reminded me of how the immune system usually responds to large foreign objects - i.e. encapsulation in collagen etc.
Of course, I could just be confusing this for somethings else. Not a doctor™
What I find curious is that this would happen even though the implant itself is biocompatible (on the other hand, so are breast implants - and it still happens).
Also a mastectomy due to breast cancer can lead to capsular contraction after reconstructive surgery.
Interesting. You may not be a doctor, but you sure are in a better position than I am to understand what’s happening in my arm.
I have a non-biocompatible “implant” in my back (a lead pellet from a shotgun shell, that I probably got during a hunt - can’t ever remember being shot at though) and my body didn’t react much to it. It’s so unintrusive that I only learned about it when I passed an x-ray. So it can go both ways.
Anyhow, re the doNExT in my arm, the flare-up seems to be over, and there’s about one square centimeter of me that’s a millimeter or two thicker and a lot harder
Re the biopsy: I’m guessing that they will probably do either a fine-needle or a core needle biopsy. If that’s the case, you could just tell them to take the sample from the hole in the implant (you said the same tissue was also forming there? this thread is really long).
Well, I’ve heard the larger the foreign object is, the higher the possibility that complications will occur. There is also a myriad of other factors that can impact this (above muacle or in muscle, porous or nonporous, any infections/biofilms…). This isn’t really my field tho, so a lot of research is warranted.
And the thickness of it means it doesn’t bite anymore if I grab ahold of my arm.
