Breast Reduction After Many, Many Years Waiting

Stats - 5'8" 12.5 stone 26 years old British 34FF

I matured really young so when I was 11/12 years old I was know as 'the girl with the big boobs'. They never stopped growing but unfortunately they were never attractive and along with back pain, shoulder pain and bikini tops all but beheading me but the sheer weight of my chest slicing my neck off, they were also ugly. Pale and bursting and mostly saggy. My breasts have left me hugely under-confident and insecure. I do not have intimate relationships at all and am really apprehensive of all relationships due to this.

When I was 20 I finally saw a PS about this. She was lovely and encouraging and a lot of what she said back then still resonates with me today. 'You should be able to wear what you want and skinny dip and feel comfortable naked'. However I felt too young and worried about the scarring to make the decision.

Sadly I am now 26 and feel exactly the same. I have rarely let anyone see me naked unless completely inebriated and still feel a huge sense of panic whenever summer arrives (luckily for me living in England this is not a large threat). This summer we did have a nice summer and I just could not cope with it anymore. The need for large and thick bras mean that you are never able to wear summer clothes, I have become an expert of layering jackets and cardigans and using safety pins to conceal myself.

In addition to this, I also have a problem with the tops of my thighs. Now my legs are my slimmest part of my body but right at the very top, I have an excess gathering of fat. I have lost plenty of weight in the past and this has never gone. All of my leggings and trousers have worn away sections where those two pieces of fat rub and in summer I get heat rash and blisters and sometimes it is so painful I cry. This summer I would walk 10/15 minutes to meet a friend and be in such pain by the time I got there I couldn't walk home.

So the time came to book in to see a surgeon about both issues. I genuinely feel as if my life has been on hold before now and I am sick of waiting for things to somehow change. I booked in for a free consultation at the Harley Medical Group in Bristol. The nurse that I saw was lovely and did help with a lot of what I was pondering but my main concerns were that the hospital you would go to had to be in London, which is 2 hours away from where I live, and that the doctor is not around or on call locally.

My dad is a Surgeon and my mum was a nurse so I took a day off work to talk this through with my mum. I am aware that they will never be fully on board but I needed her support. She was rational and suggested that I try a private hospital where my Dad knew people and she knew it was respected and most importantly, local. I booked in to The Spire in Bristol.

At the end of August I saw Nicola, a plastic surgery nurse for a consultation. She was by far the loveliest and more informative person I had seen so far and (irrelevantly) she was so beautiful. She really gave me a lot of information and should it all go to plan, I really hope she is the nurse that I will get as she was so calming and helpful.

She gave me a list of surgeons to decide upon and I scanned this and sent it to my Mum. her knowledge of things medical meant she preferred two surgeons so I fed this back to Nicola who then booked me an appointment with Mr Robert Warr today.

30th September 2013

I went to my consultation today to see Mr Warr. I was really nervous all day because it's not a nice idea to have to show your breasts, which you consider ugly, to anyone let alone a man. I obviously rationally understood that he sees breasts all the time but it still made me nauseous.

Once there, he was a very interesting character! He immediately impressed upon me the extent of the scarring and that it was not something to be taken lightly. I had obviously done a lot of research but he was very blunt and the opposite of a sales-person approach. I looked taken aback at first and he said that he is known for his blunt straight-talking approach.

He explained the different types of options and that it would most likely be the anchor and I was expecting this. He then called a nurse in and they examined me. He said that my breasts were quite dense and that it would be difficult to do a lift (which is what I came in to talk about having been deterred in my earlier appointment 7 years ago against a reduction) without losing some of the breast tissue. In simple terms, he was saying a reduction would work better. This was completely fine by me as I am not attached to large breasts at all.

He explained that although my nipples are super pale, they are actually quite large and due to this he would have to remove a lot more tissue than standard and hence why he would struggle not to remove some of the actual breast tissue. He repeatedly stressed that scarring was an issue and I did admit that obviously I am very fair skinned and do not heal well. I have similar scars from mole removals that have not healed well.

With my thighs, he said that he is not generally a fan of inner thigh liposuction as it can lead to some buckled scarring and isn't always effective. However upon examining my thighs said that because it is such a specific pocket of fat, and quite localised, that he thinks it would be effective and he would be willing to do it. He didn't say 100% but that it would help.

I have now emailed his secretary to get an official quote, pay for my consultation and book in for another in December. I was informed that although my consultation costs £125, that it is a blanket cost for any/all consultations that I have prior to the operation. That was a relief!

I will let you know the final quote once I have it but I am thinking about £6k for breasts and £2k for thighs. Once I have the final quote I will be looking for a loan company. Another point that Mr Warr made was that if I was unhappy with my weight and would like to lose weight, it was important to do this before the surgery as obviously lifting and reducing my breasts would be a waste of time if I then went on to lose more weight and therefore increasing their likelyhood to sag again. I do intend to lose weight, ideally 20kg, so will be working towards that. I am hoping to have the surgery in February 2014.

I am sorry that was such a long post, the future ones will be more succinct.

Hi girls

So I'm still waiting for a quote from my PS. I need to get a loan as I don't think I'll get approved on the NHS. Unfortunately I have no savings and earn very little so a loan is quite difficult for me but I've got the point now that I've decided 100% that it is something I want and I'll do anything to get them done.

I'm really enjoying reading all the blogs on here and updates. It's so reassuring and nice to know so many other people understand what you're going through, when so few people in real life understand!

xx

Hi ladies

So my process is moving along quite slowly! I am also inquiring about a small 'pocket' of liposuction on my inner thighs because even though I have very skinny legs there is a small 4inch section that sticks out no matter how much weight I lose and in summer I get awful heat rash and it can bleed. It genuinely renders it impossible to walk at times.

So because of this I have another appointment on Monday 11th. My PS is a little crazy so I imagine he'll have forgotten why I'm even there!!! But I'm hoping he can re-evaluate the level of liposuction as last time he said it was so small he could ask them to charge it as 'minimal' but his receptionist never got this message so has called me in for another appointment.

Because I am not planning on surgery until February, I am not in a particular rush but I would like to book a date and more importantly, get a concise quote so that I can apply for a loan. I'm really worried I won't be able to get a loan and then I'll be devastated. I am in the middle of trying to find a better paid job so that my chances are increased. The other option is taking money back from my mortgage deposit but I have no idea if that is likely either.

Once I have the quote finalised I'll be sorting it all out as quickly as I can. I feel now everytime I take my bra off and I hate the sight of my breasts or the pain in my neck and shoulders or how no matter how I dress everything somehow looks provacative or sexual, that I am more and more invested in wanting to do this. I come on here and read so many reviews and see such incredible results that I'm starting to get impatient.

The other issue is my weight. I really want to lose 2 stone before the surgery and tried to diet hard core for 2 weeks and I GAINED FOUR LBS!!! So this week I've just been really bad and I think I'm going to have to get in the right head space again.

Can't wait for it to be done!!!