Day 4 and my right side is suddenly much bigger and tight. Is this normal swelling or is something wrong?

#1Becca T.(Joined Sep 2026 · 4 posts)September 20, 2026, 4:42 pm

Posting from the sofa, slightly panicking. Surgery was Thursday, 300cc under the muscle, everything felt fine until about lunchtime today. Since then my right breast has got noticeably bigger than the left, maybe a cup bigger, it feels really tight and full and there is a purple bruise spreading down towards my ribs that wasn't there this morning.

It hurts more than yesterday, which feels backwards. Left side is just normal sore. Everything I read says swelling is normal and one side is often worse. Is this that? I don't want to be the patient who rings over nothing on a Sunday.

#2Jade R.(Joined Mar 2025 · 18 posts)September 20, 2026, 4:58 pm

Ring them. Now, not after you've read replies. Uneven swelling over weeks is normal. One side getting much bigger and tighter over a few hours is the thing they specifically tell you to call about.

#3EmmaLouise31(Joined Jan 2026 · 22 posts)September 20, 2026, 5:05 pm

Becca T. said:

I don't want to be the patient who rings over nothing on a Sunday

The out of hours number exists for exactly this. Mine told me they would rather have ten calls about nothing than miss one. Please ring.

#4Becca T.(Joined Sep 2026 · 4 posts)September 20, 2026, 5:31 pm

Rang. They want me in tonight. Partner's getting the car.

#5Miss Charlotte VaneSurgical moderator(Joined Sep 2024 · 58 posts)September 21, 2026, 8:20 am

Becca, you did exactly the right thing, and jade-r and EmmaLouise gave you exactly the right advice. I hope you're comfortable this morning.

For anyone reading this later, it's worth spelling out the difference, because it is the single most useful thing to know about swelling in the first fortnight. Normal post-operative swelling is broadly even, is at its worst in the first few days, and slowly improves; one side being a little fuller for a while is common. What is not normal is one breast becoming noticeably larger, tighter, and more painful over a short time, often hours, with fresh or spreading bruising. That pattern can be a haematoma, a collection of blood around the implant, and haematomas usually occur soon after surgery. It needs assessing the same day, and a larger one is usually drained.

The other early pattern to call about is infection: spreading redness, heat, pain that is increasing rather than easing, a fever, or discharge from the wound. Most surgical infections show within a few days to a week. And separately from the breasts, a swollen painful calf, breathlessness, or chest pain needs emergency care, not a call to the clinic.

What happens with any individual patient is for their own surgical team. The site has a guide to breast augmentation recovery that sets out what's normal in the first weeks and these warning signs, which some people find useful to read before surgery rather than during a Sunday panic.

#6Becca T.(Joined Sep 2026 · 4 posts)September 21, 2026, 7:15 pm

Update. It was a haematoma. They took me back to theatre last night, drained it, washed out the pocket and put the same implant back. Home this afternoon with a drain in for a couple of days, which is gross but fine. Surgeon said the speed I came in made it a straightforward fix.

Thank you all. I genuinely would have waited until Monday.

#7Becca T.(Joined Sep 2026 · 4 posts)October 7, 2026, 8:48 pm

Two week check after the second op today and both sides are now swelling at about the same rate, bruising almost gone. Surgeon is happy. Posting so the next person who finds this at 4pm on a Sunday knows how it ends: ring, and it's usually fixable.