Is this tight feel around the new breast or the whole chest area? I am scheduled for a free flap in January myself.

I haven't had my implants yet due to the fact of how sick I was during treatment. I waited a year after radiation to start the implant process. I was large breasted and so when I had my double mastectomy it left me concave because of all the fat tissue they had to remove. I have had 2 fat grafting surgeries so far to fill the void, and it has done wonders. I'm finally flat chested. Lol Now that I have enough skin and tissue my next surgery will be the expanders. I would ask about the fat grafting because it sounds like it may help your situation.

My "rubber band" went away. I had surgery on August 28. I've been really lucky with minimal pain after both surgeries and not much pain with the expanders. But that rubber band tightness was very unsettling. The best advice i got from my doc was to not protect the front and my back should stop hurting. I stopped worrying that something was going to hurt my chest and everything started to feel better! Best of luck!

I also had a bilateral flap surgery in August 2017, the rubber bands come and go but mostly are going away slowly, specially if I stretch them. Lymphatic massage helped a lot too.