Binding every day while I wait for top surgery. How much is too much, and will it mess up the surgery?

Been binding pretty much every day for about four years now. Work, gym (I know), sometimes I fall asleep in it on the sofa. Referral for top surgery is in and the realistic estimate I have been given is "a couple of years", so I am going to be doing this for a while yet.

Lately my ribs on the left side ache at the end of the day and there is a patch of skin under where the binder sits that has gone red and rough and does not really fade overnight anymore. I keep reading different things online. Some say eight hours max, some say never more than six, some say it is all fearmongering and people bind for decades.

Two actual questions. Is there a real number or is everyone making it up? And is the skin thing going to be a problem when I finally get to surgery, like will they say no because the skin is damaged? I genuinely cannot not bind, so I am not asking whether to stop, I am asking how to not wreck myself in the meantime.

Three years of daily binding before mine, so I have been you. The gym bit is the one I would change first. I switched to a sports top for training and it made a bigger difference to my ribs than anything else, because breathing hard against a binder is exactly what it is worst at.

Also, falling asleep in it on the sofa: set an alarm. Sounds stupid, works.

Same boat, waiting for chest surgery myself and binding through it. I started taking one day a week fully off about six months ago, usually Sunday when I am not seeing anyone, and the end of day ache I used to get mostly went. Not a scientific study, just one data point.

The thing nobody told me was that a size up can feel less flat but is so much easier to breathe in. I had been squeezing into one a size too small for years thinking that was the point.

Callum, a sensible question and a well framed one, so let me answer both parts. I cannot examine your ribs or skin from here, so please treat this as general information and get the skin looked at by your GP.

On the number: there is no evidence based hour limit. The figures you see quoted are rules of thumb, not trial results. What the research does show is a direction. One of the largest studies, a survey of 1,800 adults who bind, found that over 97% reported at least one problem they put down to binding, and that binding on more days of the week was the factor most consistently linked to those problems. So the useful levers are fewer days, breaks during long days, not sleeping in it, not exercising hard in it, the right size, and never tape or bandages. Sam and Elliot have already given you the two biggest ones.

On surgery: binding in itself is not a reason surgeons turn people down, and we see people who have bound for many years all the time. What matters is the condition of the skin on the day. Broken, weeping or infected skin on the chest can delay an operation until it heals, which is why a patch that has stopped fading is worth dealing with now rather than in two years. Tell your surgeon at consultation exactly how you bind and for how long; some teams ask people to cut down for a period beforehand, and some do not.

One firm line: rib pain that does not settle when the binder is off, or shortness of breath at rest, is a GP appointment, not a forum question.

Mr Tobias Lindgren said:

there is no evidence based hour limit

Weirdly that is the most reassuring thing anyone has said, because I had been treating the eight hours thing like a law I was breaking every day. Fewer days and breaks I can actually do.

GP booked for the skin. Ordered a sports top and a binder one size up. Will report back.

Update for the next person. GP said the skin was irritation and friction, gave me a cream and told me to keep it dry and give it air. It has mostly calmed down in about ten days.

Gym in the sports top, Sundays off, no sofa naps in the binder. Ribs are noticeably better at the end of the day. The bigger binder looks about 90% as flat to me and nobody else has noticed anything at all. Wish I had done this four years ago.