Breast Reduction: Stories

Thank you all so much for sharing all of your stories so honestly. I am so happy to have found this site. It has helped me so much. My consultation, after a 2 year wait, is this coming Monday, June 25th. Because I am Canadian and hope to have OHIP cover my surgery the wait time was very long. Only two surgeons here in my hometown do OHIP approved BR’s.

My story started out innocently enough. During grade school when the other girls were getting their cute little training bra’s I had nothing. Zip. I was SO jealous, making only small gains up until the end of my second year of high school. Weirdly over that summer I suddenly blossomed into a pretty full 36D cup without any other meaningful weight gain. Although I had longed for bigger breasts, I was unprepared for the amount of attention the “girls” were suddenly attracting. Instead of being proud of them it was then I started my life-long habit of trying to keep them concealed as much as possible.

When I breast fed my two boys people were telling me I would regret it because my breasts would be MUCH smaller when I was done. My youngest is 24 years old now and I am still WAITING for that to happen. In actual fact over the course of my two pregnancies I grew from a D cup to 38DDD. I had a back injury in high school where I fractured and compressed two discs in my lower back. For my first pregnancy I had the epidural and with the weight of my breasts when I was nursing (oh my goodness they were big when they were full of milk) my back went out for the first time and continues to be very problematic if I am not very, very careful.

When I hit menopause I tried the HRT to deal with my hot flashes. Although the HRT worked really well I could not continue on with it because I had a small stroke like issue. The girls, however, had grown into an 38 H cup. Even though I had quit the hormones and despite losing some weight, they remained the same size. My physiotherapist told me that going forward I should always wear two bras at the same time. That helped a little bit with the strain but is miserably uncomfortable AND expensive.

I was now having huge issues with my back as well as shoulders and neck. Just like most of you I have a constant rash, shoulder indentations, headaches, neck pain, back spasms etc. My physiotherapist, because my back was out once again, suggested that I consider a BR so I asked my GP for the referral. At this point no amount of strengthening exercises were helping and it is weight vs. gravity. Sometimes, when I am trying to get to sleep the size of them makes it very hard to breathe as well and my arms and hands fall asleep.

I had not really given much deep thought to my appointment over the two years as it seemed like such a long time in the future. However, in the last 3 weeks it has been the only thing I have been thinking about and my nerves have popped to the surface. I had done some research on the clinical side of a BR but decided to do some more investigation into what happens to real women and that is what led me, thankfully, to this site.

Emotionally though I am all over the place. Alternatively I am worried that OHIP will turn me down I have put on some weight over the last two years and now my girls look like 10lbs of Jello in a 5lb bowl in my current bra’s (one boob is bigger than the other so getting the fit right is near to impossible) so I am afraid my BMI might be too high. I am fretting that I am making a mistake, that I am wasting the surgeon’s time if I go the appointment and then decide to chicken out, that if I go ahead my significant other will not find me desirable any more. Don’t get me wrong – he is very supportive but this is a guy that kisses me goodnight and then kisses the GIRLS goodnight. He has made me feel a lot better about how I feel about myself and my body and to love myself for who I am. He says I need to do whatever I should for my health but I sometimes feel that since 6th grade my entire self image has been tied up with what is going on with my cleavage and that I am going to have nothing but psychological problems going forward. In fact, some of the people who I have told about my appointment actually say that to me. It has unearthed a lot of issues that I thought I had dealt with but clearly I had just pushed down. When I look down at the girls they look full and pretty – when I see photographs of myself I cannot believe how big and overwhelming they are. They are kind of like the iceberg that hit the Titanic – I can only see the very tip when I look down and it doesn’t look like much of a problem but in all other ways they are devastating.

And I am afraid of the surgery itself. I have had my gall bladder out (about 25 years ago) and had a really hard time with the anesthesia. I didn’t know until reading some of your stories that you can speak to the anesthesiologist about that but still worried about a bad reaction. Afraid I won’t be able to handle the pain. Afraid the outcome will not be good. Afraid they will be still too big; more afraid that they will be too small and I will look even more like a freak of nature. More or less just plain afraid.

I have met 3 people now in person who have had this done. Two girls have terrible scarring. Both admit that they did not take particularly good care of themselves post op. One is devastated and sorry she went ahead with it as her breasts are different sizes and the nipples look bizarre. The other hates her scars but loves that she is smaller. Then on vacation just before I asked for my referral I met this great girl at the pool. She was a year post-op from her surgery and she was SO FREAKIN’ HAPPY and she looked like a million dollars in a swimsuit. Since I had spent the previous 3 weeks shopping for a bathing suit that didn’t make me cry in the dressing room that I was going to cover up anyway, looking awesome in a swimsuit seemed like the holy grail of outcomes, pain and suffering notwithstanding. She wasn’t particularly shy about showing them to me either and they looked amazing. I decided to talk to my doctor as soon as I got home.

But so much time has passed since that I am beginning to really second guess all of it. BUT, after reading everything and seeing how supportive you all are I am going to keep my appointment on Monday armed with my list of questions and see how that goes.

Will post my before pictures soon,

Cheers to you all,

Lisa

So happy and relieved! My sister was keeping me motivated all morning by emailing me pictures of pretty bra's and strappy sundresses!

I had my consult this afternoon and it could not have gone better. Love my PS - he was really personable and knowledgeable and answered most of my questions before I could even ask them! Thank you Piggles for the excellent list of questions! He thinks full C, smallish D is completely doable, although as everyone else has found out, cannot guarantee a size. He was pretty thorough in covering the procedure and the risks. EVERYONE I talked to just loves this guy. He has 30 years of experience but has kept very current in methodology etc. I did not find him cold and clinical at all but he is very much to the point which I really appreciate.

His assistant, who is also lovely, will be getting back to me within the month with the date of my surgery which they told me would be late winter, early spring in 2013. Seems like a LONG time away but it gives me some time to get some more weight off (down 15 lbs so far). He was pretty clear that there is nothing I can do to "jump the line" which cracked me up. I hear "don't you know who I am" quite a bit in my job so I hate people who try that. I told him I didn't know anyone of influence so I wouldn't be pestering his assistant to try to get in earlier. They said if they get a cancellation everyone more or less moves sequentially and I am more than good with that.

So, now I can stop worrying that I won't be eligible to worrying about the surgery itself! LOL I am a real "over-thinker" and drive myself more than a little crazy playing the "what-if?" game with myself. I kind have gotten over the fear of looking worse than I do now. I took some before photo's and believe me, these puppies are not the boobies of my youth for sure. been holding on to an image of the "girls" that hasn't existed for a long time. I think I have come to terms with trading the pain, humiliation, self-hatred and droopiness for the surgery and scars. Also, I am working on feeling worthy of feeling good about myself for myself. Well, for today anyway - still a serious work in progress. :) I know you gals will help keep me on that path!

Okay, I am driving myself crazy. For every 30 beautiful before and after pictures I come across a picture of someone that is a really weird shape and it makes me doubt myself. Mine are so droopy now I am really, REALLY afraid I will just end up with two smaller deflated balloons. Also, I have seen some pictures where the before nipples are the size of dinner plates and they are the same size on the afters. That looks kind of ridiculous as I have seen so many before and afters that the nipple is "resized" to be more proportionate. Why would a PS leave them that big?

I come back here and check out some of YOUR amazing pictures and I get excited again but there always seems to be that little devil on my shoulder whispering negatives into my ear.

I also have a question. Since I started menopause my left nipple has started to kind of turn inward. The surgeon said, because he leaves the nipple attached it is most likely, but not 100%, that it will continue to turn inward. Miss Right Nipple is perfectly fine. Has anyone else had any experience with a before and after with a shy nip?

I was at a party last night and actually MET someone my age who had a BR done with MY surgeon. It was so amazing to actually see his work first hand!

I have my surgery date now - June 20th and I can't wait! Seriously starting getting ready from a physical standpoint. I call to get my pre-surgery information and appointment May 9th. I was beginning to think this was never going to happen! My only issue is that my step-daughter is getting married in Main on June 29th and I will have to travel there June 25th (we live in Ontario Canada and my spouse will be doing the driving). So hopeful that things go well so that I can attend.

I have a question about conditioning your skin. Did anyone do anything special to moisturize before their surgery to help with recovery afterward?

My pre-op appointment is booked for June 13th - one week prior to the surgery. I am starting to get my post-op supplies ready. A kind co-workers Mom is lending me an electric recliner to sleep in - it is one of those ones that help you actually get up to a standing position. Our recliner is manual and requires a lot of pushing to get it back into the seat position so I thought that would be just as bad as lifting for the incisions. People have been really kind in getting me ready for the surgery and I am very grateful to them and all of the women who post their stories here.

We bought an elliptical trainer and some weights and I have been working out and dieting to try to get some weight off. I have lost about 25 pounds since Christmas but have settled into a plateau which is VERY frustrating. I have six weeks to go before surgery so I guess I need to buckle down and readjust my diet plan.

I am trying to decide what to wear to and from the hospital. This is a day surgery so there will be no overnight stay. Any advice?

Crikey!! My surgery has been moved up to May 30th (from June 20th). I am excited and quite terrified at the same time. I am feeling a little unprepared even though I know it won't take long to put all my supplies together. Heading off to buy a couple of sports bra's that zip in the front that i saw on the weekend. Not exactly sure WHY I didn't pick them up then, but will grab them up today. June 20th seemed like such a long time away I didn't feel like I was in any hurry to prepare but May 30th is so close!