Since puberty my breasts were uneven. It lead to many years of being uncomfortable in many articles of clothing, never having a bra that fit, and being insecure. One breast was at least a D, and the other a B maybe. The bigger one always got sweaty underneath and the lopsided feeling sucked. So at 24 I decided to take on the debt required to fix it.
I was determined to try the liposuction method before the more invasive traditional reduction. I knew what I wanted and many doctors had no experience with it and turned me away. Dr. Atagi is a specialist in breast sculpting and knew from our first meeting that it was a good procedure for me. She still gave me multiple options to choose from so that I could be informed, but never tried to push more expensive and invasive procedures onto me.
The procedure itself was done under local anesthetic, and the most painful part was getting the numbing injections which stung like hell upon administration. The procedure took about 2.5 hours.
I took 4 days off work but could have gone back sooner. I couldn't exercise for two weeks or else the swelling was painful. I didn't need to take all of my pain meds because my breast was basically just super swollen.
It's been about 3 months now and I am still waiting on final results. The swelling doesn't entirely go away until a whole year later, and skin tightening takes that amount of time as well.
So far I am happy with the results, but can hardly wait to see where it will end up. The size of the liposuctioned breast changes daily. Sometimes they looks super even, other days I swell up quite a bit. How even they can get is based on how much fat was present inside of the larger breast. About 110 ccs were removed (pretty much all I had vs fibrous tissue) but will it be enough? I may consider small implants/implant and areolar reduction to adjust remaining unevenness in the future. I'm happy I went with this method first.
Dr. Atagi and her staff were amazing throughout the whole procedure. There's something special about another woman being able to understand you and help make the adjustments to your body that you desire. It's impossible to feel uncomfortable around her and she makes you feel at home.
Updated on 20 May 2020:
14 weeks post op. Still waiting on some swelling to reduce. I have been massaging the area daily. I purchased Arnica bruise lotion to reduce some inflammation. After my procedure I was given Arnica montana capsules to help reduce bruising. I like that Dr. Atagi doesn't underestimate the power of this natural medicine. I use the arnica lotion and therapeutic cups (cupping therapy) on my breast since its a less painful way to break up scar tissue and keep swelling down. I started this only a few days ago but I expect some visual results soon, and have already had less tenderness since starting.
Updated on 4 Jul 2020:
Seems to be very little change happening form here on out. My doc says there should be some skin tightening over the next 5 months. She says changes happen for an entire year after the procedure. Absolutely zero pain, tenderness, or discomfort at this point. I go 99% of days without a bra for the last few months.
Updated on 12 Aug 2020:
Now that I've seen about where my results are, I'm a bit disappointed. There is a difference and I do feel much more confident. But I have decided that i want to achieve much more symmetry. Some days they seem more even than others, but as you can see in this photo there is still a large difference. I am sad that I'll have to go through another surgery and the cost associated with it. Now I'm thinking my options will be between a single breast implant to the small one (although I hear this is not reccomended), more liposuction to the large one, or a fat graft to the small one.
Updated on 27 Aug 2020:
This is on a more even day. There are lots of fluctuations in size difference. Its not exactly even, but is closer than before. I've been icing every other night for 2 minutes. Icing isn't good in the beginning because it can draw away blood that is healing your newly damaged tissue.
Updated on 14 Jan 2021:
I have now reached my final stage of healing. The right side is still bigger, but part of this is that my breasts are both naturally different shapes. My scars have lightened completely and don't bother me. I am now considering doing just a donut mastopexy (areolar reduction) to tighten some of the skin that is loosened from the liposuction and raise the nipple to the height of the other. I will do both sides.
Updated on 15 Dec 2021:
11/10 Day 1, anesthetic worked wonders. Great mood. Good energy. No pain. Can’t take covers off until 1 week checkup. Wondering what’s going on down there. Small gush of blood from nipple incision in the middle of the night when I wasn’t moving around.
11/11 Day 2, intense burning around nipples, can barely feel incision below breast, some soreness to right breast. Hard to sleep. Set timer on phone for every 4 hours. The hydrocodone makes me itchy on the rest of my body but not terribly. Started taking nausea meds since I realized I hadn’t been eating much. Should have started sooner.
11/12 Day 3, nipples calmed down. Slept much better. Can feel lower incision but not painful . Need pain meds less often.
11/15 Day 6 I didn’t take any pain meds at all. Slight itching but nothing bad. Not very sore either. I took the foam cups out of the sports bra SheFit.
11/16 Day 7 No pain meds again. I took off the super tight sports bra and am wearing another tight sports bra that zips in the front wit no foam cups. It is more comfortable around the ribs. I got sweaty so I removed the bottom gauze. It was mildly stuck tot he scab but was easy enough to coerce off without ripping it open too much. It looks much better than last time when they had to dig for and cut out the stitch.
11/17 1 week follow up appointment. They took out the stitches from my liposuction wound. Mild stinging. They removed the gauze from my nipples but left the tape.
11/18 I removed the foam cups from the shaft bra to make it fit more properly. Since my nipples aren’t as sensitive now, this will be better for my liposuction healing.
11/20 the ends of the sutures were uncovered on Wednesday then the gauze was removed. The sutures stick out form under the steristrips. They can rub against your bra and be uncomfortable.i dded a small bandaid to hold down the ends so they don’t tug.
11/22 The last week has been painless except f0r waking up this morning my nipples were pretty sore. I think this is due to putting on a sports bra thats more tight at night. I found tat the shefit bra did not compress at night as gravity brought my breasts flatter the fabric did not reach even with adjustment of the straps. My nipples were itchy last night.
I realized that a portion of my sutures were infected, likely form being soaked as it was the spot where the big surge of liquid came form night one. I noticed due to the foul smell. I removed the steristrip in that region, which was not easy because the dissolvable sutures were sticking to the moisture o the soaked steristrip. The skin around it was raw and pink. I have begun asking my nipples once a day with an unscented antimicrobial soap (dial brand) and can already see the area improving.
11/23 Some itching but less pain. The infected region is starting to dry out and form a proper scab. I pulled back some of the steristrips as I am afraid of the pain of them sticking theta the wound when they remove them tomorrow. The other area that were not infected look pretty good but the skin is surprisingly not super attached on the surface level because of the dissolvable sticks perhaps.
11/24 2 week follow up appointment. I can drink and exercise now. The steristrips and sutures were removed.
11/26 Some parts of the incisions are not closing and are pulling apart. This is likely due to emerging / rejected dissolvable sutures. I am getting scheduled to have them removed so that I can continue healing.
3 weeks out - going in today to get the rest of my dissolvable sutures removed that are not closing. 100% recommend buying a pack or 2of steristrips as they did not give me enough. Also, the bra they recommended works better for larger breasts. I am downsizing so it didn’t give me support here the mass of the breast is. I got a $20 sports bra form target that zips in the front and took the cups out. I got a size too small so that its a bit difficult to zip up. This gives way better all around compression and I wish I had it earlier. I probably could have reduced swelling much earlier if I had this since at night when my breasts flattened out while sleeping, they were not compressing properly. They pulled out a lot of sutures that weren’t dissolving. They say because I am young and my body is responding strongly to foreign bodies.
3 weeks and 2 days later - I can see that the spaces where the sutures were are now closing
3.5 weeks out - I had one day where my breast was very sore but nothing terrible
4 weeks later - everything is itchy but not as bad as before. I started applying unscented Cerave lotion to my breasts and nipples where they are healed. I wash the bra every 3 days to prevent too much build up. The earring where it was not healing will likely be an issue.
5.5 weeks later - When not wearing a bra I can sort of feel a tiny tug on the internal permanent stitch in the right larger breast. I wonder if that will ease as the strength is regained in the tissue. Otherwise the feeling is unstable and the incisions have closed almost entirely except for a few dissolvable sutures that appeared and still need to be removed. I am wearing the silicon pads all day every day and have some tape underneath where the sutures are causing it not to heal.
Updated on 2 Jan 2022:
Almost entirely healed. All of my scabs are gone. I have been putting steri tape over the pink scarred areas daily to give them some support. Feels completely normal and the tugging I felt on the stitch on my right breast went away in a couple days.