Breast Reduction: Stories

Hi Everyone! I'm so excited I found this forum to share my story, excitement, happiness, nervousness and everything else in between. I'm 30 years old and I've had breasts since I hit puberty at 9 years old. I've wanted a breast reduction since probably around the age of 14 when I went to a size 32DD.

I've never had the confidence to wear swimsuits or certain tops because I was so self conscious about my breast size. I've always had back and neck pain but every doctor I went to never approved me for a reduction. I was always advised to simply lose weight and my pain and breast issues would go away. Some doctors are just really cruel in my opinion. For the last two years the back and neck strain has now become unbearable and I feel so super blessed that I've been appproved for the surgery!!! And my insurance is covering the cost!!

My current bra size is 32J and I hope to go to a C cup. I am soooo sick of having to wear 2 bras to hold these girls in place!! My pre-op appointment is tomorrow and I'm so ready to have this done. I hope that any information I share is helpful to someone! :)

A little frustrated today. I went shopping for my sports bras. I thought it would actually be a cool experience to see how small my boobs would possibly be. I instantly started to second guess myself and if I should go through with it. I'm so confused on what size I really want to be! I mean really, my boobs have been so big for so long, I'm starting to wonder if I should go as small as a C cup. The bras just look so dang on small! I've grown accustomed to having these girls. And I still want to have SOME boobs. I'm pretty curvy so I dont want to be disproportioned with too small boobs. I dont know. I think I'm just confused and my nerves are probably starting to kick in. I'm just so ready to get this surgery over and done so I can EMBRACE THE NEW ME!!
I also found out from my PS at my pre-op that there will be no drainage tubes after my procedure. I was really shocked by this. I hope this doesnt cause any blood or puss build up in my breasts. I can only imagine freaking out because my incisions are leaking or something! Uggggghhhh! Ok. Enough. No more what if thoughts because I'm going to drive myself INSANE.

Ok. So I'm counting down the hours now. This time has gone by so fast! I must admit I'm extremely nervous now. I have never had any major surgeries. Nothing major like this. I've only had my wisdom teeth pulled. LOL. Nonetheless, this is a serious thing to experience. I dont know how else to feel...besides excited! Oh well...no turning back now!!

Well im all done!!! So glad. This is over! I was nervous at first but the staff here at AGH was superb! I went to highschool with my anethesiologist which was super cool! My nursing staff sucks ASS right now. Im really dizzy when I stand up. So im a bit afraid to walk by myself. Ive had to pee for the last 15 minutes and no one has come! Im not too happy about this. Shift change sucks.
So from what I remember, i checked in at 530 am. I was weighed and they took my temp. My boobs were wiped down with warm antibacterial wipes and then was asked a bunch of questions by a bunch of people. Then i was taken to the holding area where the PS made his marks. When they were ready to go at 745 i was given something for my nausea prior to the anesthesia. Then came the "truth serum". Lol. Nxt I remember being told to slide over to surgery table and it was light as out!!
Its 834 pm and the only pain im experiencing is underneath the breasts and my throat from being dry. Im really sleepy but im fighting it like im a 3yr old! Overall, im elated and cant wait to update when im not drugged up! LOL

Well I wish I could say my experience has been all roses since my BR, but I just cant. This has hands down been one of the worst experiences of my life. To start, the surgery went great! Arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am for my 7:30 am surgery. Staff at AGH was PHENOMENAL. My anesthesiologist was a girl I went to high school with! LOL. I just felt so taken care of and in good hands. They gave me anti nausea medicine along with the anesthesia medicine because I got really sick when I got my wisdom teeth pulled. Next thing I remembered was waking up with a nurse asking how i felt. I didnt feel bad at all. My throat just hurt. I was still all smiles and laughing and joking with the staff. I was on cloud nine just to know that the surgery was over! New BOOBS!

I was assinged a room shortly after and the pain meds started to kick in. My mom and friend left me to rest. My throat hurt so bad I just wanted ice and broth. Bad combination on an empty stomach because i threw it up all over the place. After an uncomfortable night in the hosptial of dragging an IV to the bathroom every hour and stiff neck I was finally discharged Saturday morning. I felt sick to my stomach when I got home but I still felt good. I was perscribed Vicodin for my pain since I had a sensitivity to Percocets. I instantly got a severe headache after taking one Vicodin. I also decided to take some Miralax to get my bowels moving but it gave me instant heartburn! I had no idea what to do so I figured I would just keep eating lots of fiber riched foods to get my bowels moving. By Sunday night I was in a lot of pain and decided to take another dose. But this time I took two. BIIIG Mistake!! By 3am I could hardly see straight, my head was pounding, I was nauseated and I wanted to cry. My Mom has been staying with me to help me out but she doesnt drive. It's 3:30am so I had no one to call except for 911. Abulance ride was super bumpy and miserable. I thought it would have been cool but...NAH!! So after a short ambulance ride to the ER, I waited there in an EMPTY ER for about an HOUR and a HALF to be seen by a darn Dr. At about 6am they finally decided that it was ok to give me a mixture of Benadryl and some other pain medicine via an IV. Let me tell you, when this stuff hit my system I immediately felt like i was on FIRE!!!!!! I wanted to cry sooo bad. My headache didnt even go right away as they said it would. It took at least a half hour. So after a shift change and discharge mixup, they finally discharged me at 7:15am. Thank God I have early rising friends that were available to ride me back home.

Fast forward to today Wednesday, I still feel like crap. I'm slowly starting to feel like normal. 6 days without a bowel movement is one of the worst things to experience as well! I finally drank some dieters tea to get moving. Nothing else seemed to work! Stool softeners, the powder stuff, NOTHING! I'm still afraid to eat anything because I always feel nauseaous. I cant take anything for pain because of my sensitivity to narcotics. Motrin and Tylenol just dont help. So I've basically been soldiering through the pain and uncomfort. I swear, I cannot wait to get to the other side of this ordeal. I just want to feel normal. On the bright side, my surgeon did an EXCELLENT job! I absolutely love what i see so far. Even though my Mom is totally freaked out! LOL. Sorry this update has taken so long. I hope I'm feeling much better daily from here on out to let you guys know how things are going! xoxo

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!! The ITCHING IS KILLING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG I dont know if this is a good sign or a sign that something is wrong. My breasts are itching entirely too much. I'm assuming it's because I havent had my tape removed from my incisions/nipples yet. I feel like ripping this bad boys off!!!! It's killing me not to scratch or at least touch my wounds. I know I cant but this is driving me crazy!! Has anyone else been affected by this??? I have no idea what to do!

I'm starting to second guess if this surgery has been worth all of the suffering I am experiencing right now. First, the reactions to the vicodin which means I had to suck up any pain that I may have been having from a fresh surgery. Now I'm having another allergic reaction to GOD knows what. My breasts have swelled up with hives and itch uncontrollably. Since my surgery March 8th I've been back to the hospital twice. My surgeon while very nice and personable, I just dont feel like he is taking enough care and attention to my isolated situation. When he checked my boobs for the hives he said they looked normal. Uhhhhhh, no sir they didnt. They were inflamed, red and had raised skin all over them. I just felt like he didnt really pay enough attention to what I see. I mean, I'm not making any of these bumps and hives up!! I can see them, why cant he??!! Its very frustrating and I'm semi regretting going through with this with this surgeon. I wish I would have had a woman doctor. Maybe things would have been different. I dont know. What I do know is I have my follow up appointment tomorrow to get my stitches out. Not really looking forward to this. Hopefully this wont be too painful because I CAN TAKE ANYTHING FOR PAIN!!!! Ugggh! Beyond frustrated with this experience. I would've kept those big boobs had I known all of this would take place.

So I got all of my stitches and sutures out yesterday. THANK GOD!!! I had no idea if it would be painful or not when they took them out so I didnt know what to expect. Very little pain. I still cant feel my nipples so when the stitches were taken out of that area I didnt even feel it! I hope I get my sensation back one day.

I thought removing the sutures and stitches would eleviate some of the itching and irritation I am having. Process of elimination, this still hasnt helped with the itching. Maybe my mom is right, I am focusing on it entirely too much. It seems like I'm constantly rubbing hydrocortisone cream on my boobs because they are constantly itching! I try to read, listen to the radio, watch tv anything to take my mind off of any pain or itching I may be having but it just doesnt work! I think itching is the worse kind of annoyance one can experience. I mean, its truly worse than any pain I've felt during this entire surgery experience.

I've been narrowing down just what could be causing all of this itching and I think I finally have a slight clue: my surgical bra. I thought that it may have been the bra early on but when I was itching in areas that the bra wasnt touching, I thought maybe not. But here I am, 12 or 13 days post op and at least 7 or 8 of these days has been plagued with the itchies!! My surgical bra is Nylon and Spandex. I've washed it, let it air dry and dry in the dryer. I have the most sensitive skin on EARTH so I dont use fragrant soap powder or even fabric softner. So I cannot say that these have been a factor. I thought maybe my skin was dry so I applied some Vaseline to the areas on my breasts that seem to be sort of peeling. That temporarily helped. Then I decided to try one of the sports bras I bought. It took away the itchies for all of 5 minutes. The itching started to feel like my skin was being scratched by the material of my bra. So I said SCREW IT and just decided to sit still with no bra on for a while. Guess what girsl, the itching subsided. I think I have finally figured out what could be causing all this horrible itching! These dang bras!!!!!!! How in the world will I be able to function if all of my sports bras and surgical bra are made of Nylon or Rayon or some other weird material????? I hope and pray to God that there are some 100% cotton sports bras out there that are good. Any suggestions???

Today was actually a good day! I know you guys are probably sick of seeing my complaints about this itching. LOL Believe me I am sick of complaining about it!!! I thought differently today though. I figured if I got up and put clothes on and did some things around the house then maybe the itching wouldnt bother me so much. So I got dressed and put some clothes on. Took out the trash, checked the mail and made myself a meal! I finally gave my Mom a break from doing everything for me. Tonight is actually my first official night home alone since my surgery. I think I can handle it on my own now. I just hope that tonight I can finally get a full nights rest without being awakened by crazy itching and burning!!

Tomorrow I'm headed to Walmart and maybe even Target to get some more sports bras. Thanks so much for all of the suggestions!

This weekend has gone by so fast. But I can finally say....I AM ITCH FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOHHHOOOOO!!!!! I took my last Prednisone steroid pill on Friday and it seems as if with the last dosage, my itching went away. I have very minor itching now that primarily stem from maybe my bra sitting on my skin too long or just my nerves finding their way back in certain areas. I am so happy that this itching business has given me a break. I'm still very swollen and still very bruised but they are very soft and bouncy. I was so out of it from taking Benadryl and Motrin that I didnt feel anything unitl the wee hours of the morning. I'm assuming your body temperature goes up when you go to sleep so that may explain why my breasts feel like they are on fire when I'm sleep. Has anyone else experienced this??

On another note I did go to Walmart and get more sports bras with the 95% cotton and 5% spandex blend. Thanks so much for the tip RachelV! They are so much better than the Nylon ones I purchased. Those were returned! LOL. I just think the cotton gives so much more ability for the skin to breathe. They feel absolutely great!

Now I'm just counting down the days when I return to work. Since I was having such bad reactions to everything my doctor extended my recovery time for two more weeks. Unfortunately I cannot afford to stay off that much longer so it's one more week for me and back to work I go. I'm going to relish in this last week of resting and make sure to enjoy it. Since I used all my vacation for the entire year for the surgery! LOL. I have a feeling i wont have many regrets though. We shall see!

Well its back to work time. I was advised to take an additional week off but hey my bills arent going to pay themselves! I started driving this past Thursday. It was kind of difficult at first but I think ive gotten back in the swing of things. I got out each day this weekend just to get used to being out of the house, moving around and seeing how much I could do before exerting myself. I over did it some trying to lift some things and carrying a purse was the worst! So I will definitely make some adjustments until I can handle things. Im kind of ok with going back to work for now. I was getting pretty bored! Lol.

Im very nervous about a large amount of scar tissue that seems to be forming in my left breast. Well, I think its scar tissue. Its a really hard mass of tissue on the side. Its frightening me because it has felt hard since leaving the hospital. Will this go away? Or will I have to get it removed? I cant fathom having to gey corrective surgery to take care of this considering all that ive been through thus far with this surgery. Does anyone else have/had issues with scar tissue???

So today I am 32 days post op. I've been back to work for 8 days and I'm still trying to get used to that. Transitioning back to work has been a doozy.

The boobs are finaly scab free. My last scab fell off yesterday around my nipple area. Still got a lot of healing to do. With my skin tone (chococate brown) I have a lot of pink skin that hasnt fully healed to its natural color. I'm anxious for that to happen. I also still have a lot of stiffness in my left boob. I figured by now both boobs would be nice and soft but healing is different for everybody.

Daily I have been using a Cocoa Butter stick to help with healing and peeling. It leaves a weird shiny coating on my skin but they are very soft! I switch between using my Lubriderm with SPF 15 since the weather is getting nicer here in Pittsburgh, the cocoa butter stick, and good old reliable Vaseline to keep the breasts from getting really dry.

Not sure what I should be experiencing at this time so I'm just going with the flow of things. I bought some really cute sun dresses for the spring! Unfortunately I had to return the majoity of them. Only because I have so much weight I need to lose. Total since my surgery I've only lost 5lbs. But I didnt expect to lose anything so thats a plus! I just cant wait to be released to exercise! I plan to get a trainer and lose at least 30lbs. I hope thats realistic. I havent given myself a time limit so if I work hard I'm sure it will come off and hopefully stay off!

I have a follow up appointment on April 24th with my PS to see how I'm healing so far. I hope he says everything is going according to plan. I'm also hoping he tells me I can exercise and gives me some tips on what scar cream I can begin to use. I hope you all are healing and transitioning well with your new boobs! :-)