Spider veins appeared 3 weeks after breast cancer lump removal

Hello JG1, 

Thank you for getting in touch. My name is Helen, I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurses on the Macmillan Support Line. Welcome to the online community.

I am so sorry to learn that you are suffering such discomfort following your breast surgery. It is true that your recovery may take several months for your back, chest area and armpit to feel normal again, particularly as you’ve had surgery under your arm but I fully understand how this is impacting on your health, well-being and your peace of mind.

You explained that you developed a seroma under your arm post-operatively. This is a common occurrence after breast surgery; about two thirds of people develop a seroma. Usually it resolves in 7-10 days but if it is causing pain, it can be drained. You explained that you have undergone this procedure.  

Sometimes a seroma will refill after it has been aspirated and it may need to be aspirated several times over a few weeks before it goes away completely.

This is particularly important if the seroma (and the resultant pain) is preventing you doing your arm and shoulder exercises.  

Repeated seroma drainage can encourage the seroma to refill and, as the procedure carries a small risk of infection, it would not be done unless the seroma is causing problems. This may be why the team is cautious about aspirating a second time around, but a seroma can be re-aspirated if the benefits are considered to outweigh the risks.

It might be helpful to reflect on the level of pain you experienced after the aspiration.  Did your pain improve or even resolve? Did the pain increase as the seroma refilled? If you feel that your pain did return with the seroma, then is does seem important for the breast care nurses to consider a second aspiration – or help you to understand why it might not be in your best interest.

You don’t report your breast is feeling hot, red or sore (other than around the seroma), so it doesn’t sound like you have a post-op infection, but you describe the tissue of the breast being harder than usual and spider veins developing around the nipple. It is unlikely that this is due to your cancer and more likely due to post-op swelling. 

Swelling after the operation is common and will usually settle over time. We call this swelling oedema, and it can affect the breast, chest wall, shoulder and arm. It’s a normal part of the healing process and should lessen six to eight weeks after your surgery.  You may consider it helpful to wear a supportive bra day and night if the swelling is uncomfortable and feels heavy. 

The pain killers that you are taking are not necessarily designed to target nerve (or neuropathic) pain and I wonder if you would consider speaking to your GP for a prescription of a pain killer specifically useful for nerve pain?   

I do hope that this is helpful – please consider giving us a call if the information here is not beneficial, it may help to talk things through with us. You can call and speak to the nurses on 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week, 8am – 8pm.

I have popped a link here to Breast Cancer Now’s support service, Someone Like Me as well as to Macmillan’s free counselling service and to Big Health’s sleep app Sleepio, which you have free access to via Macmillan.

Please don’t hesitate to get back in contact by email, webchat or phone, if you need further information or support.

The Macmillan Support Line offers practical, clinical, financial and emotional support. You can call us free from landlines and from most mobile phone networks*

Best wishes, Helen

Cancer Information Nurse Specialist 

You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or email us. 

Ref HM/KM