I'm 46, 5'5 and 140. I'm a very droopy 36DDD and my breasts are NOT dense. I'm very curvy. I have a small waist and larger hips. Because of this, I never minded my 36DDD since it balanced my bottom.
About 3 years ago I developed IBS and gained a lot weight while struggling to find foods which didn't upset my stomach. One of my doctors recommended I see a dietician and that recommendation ended up being life changing. I lost 45 pounds over 2 years and I'm now in the best shape of my life.
My sister had a breast reduction about 25 years ago and never has regretted it. Now that I'm 46, my breasts aren't anywhere near the same position they were years ago. It's a lot of load to carry around so I decided it was time for a (small) reduction.
I first went to a female surgeon who is popular in the area and has reviews here on real self. She suggested also having liposuction on my thighs to balance my breasts being smaller after the surgery. I felt very rushed during my appointment, so I scheduled a consult with Sumner Slavin.
When I met Dr. Slavin he made me feel SO comfortable and spent 45 minutes with me (vs the 5 minutes the other doctor gave me). He also recommended liposuction on the thighs. I felt ready to go, and he put in a request with my insurance company for approval.
While waiting for the approval, I had an epiphany. If insurance was going to pay for the breasts, I wanted to make the most of being under anesthesia. I had recently visited my 74 year old mother, and her butt is flatter than a pancake! It's so flat, it's almost concave! I realize she's 74 and I'm 46, but I started to think if I had the fat from my thighs put in my butt, it would get me to a better starting point and maybe I won't be so flat in my 70's.
I scheduled a 2nd consult with Dr. Slavin and went over my thoughts. He felt he'd need to take fat from more than my thighs for the procedure, so he'll be taking some from my stomach (it's already pretty flat, but there's some to grab!) and my back...good bye back fat!
I want my breasts to stay as large as possible. He said if I were a self pay he'd do a lift only, but because I'm going through insurance, they'll just have a be smaller. They approved the removal of 300 grams per breast, so I'm hoping that keeps me at a D. I think I'll be a bit sad if I'm a C, but I guess I can always wear a padded bra.
I'm planning 2.5 weeks off from work. I'm terrified when I go back to work everyone will know. I guess I'll wear loose shirts for a while or lots of big scarves to hide the fact they're smaller? Would love to hear what everyone else thinks about that. It's not like I'm going from a Z to a B cup, but they are definitely prominent now and I'm concerned once I go back, I'll be the talk of the office.
Updated on 8 Jul 2017:
It's taking a lot courage to post these photos. I've looked at so many other reviews, and I've found the ones with photos to be most helpful, so here I go!
I've started to buy things for my post-op:
1. Boppy pillow
2. An 8" thick piece of foam to cover the bed which I can then cut a hole by the bum
3. A sausage shaped pillow to sit on
4. A zero gravity outdoor chair, which I'll also attempt to cut a hole in
5. Fruit of the loom front closure bras
Anything else anyone gets in advance? I don't think I'll be able to lay on my stomach because of the breast reduction, which is why I'm buying all these things to give my butt the best chance of it working out well!
Updated on 23 Jul 2017:
I think I've bought everything I plan to:
1. 6 inch high density foam to cover my bed (husband to cut hole) - Cost $80 on amazon.
2. Boppy pillow - Cost $24 on amazon
3. Camco 51831 Zero Gravity Wide Recliner (X-Large) (husband to cut hole) - Cost $38 on amazon.
4. Firm pillow to sit on with my thighs (instead of those $100 bbl pillows) - Cost $9 on clearance at Michaels.
5. Body pillow - Cost $9 at bed bath beyond
Total cost: $160
I know it's going to be a BIG challenge since with the breast reduction I can't lay on my stomach, and with the bbl I can't lay on my back, so hopefully with these purchases, it will be me through the first 3 weeks, which are the most delicate for the bbl.
Can anyone think of anything I may be missing?
Updated on 8 Sep 2017:
It was a bit rough in the hospital and I'm SUPER sore everywhere! My doctor doesn't want me looking at my breasts yet. I need to wait until my post-op appointment next week. I LOVE how my butt looks, just concerned it's the swelling I like and it won't be that size ultimately. What have others experienced? Did it go down a lot or was it still similar in size?
Updated on 7 Oct 2017:
Just had my one month follow up a few days ago.
Ok, breasts first:
My breasts look great. They are slowly getting softer and moving 'in' vs how initially they were hard and to my sides. Size is great, he said he took out 305 grams per breast. I was a 36DDD and yesterday I went for a bra fitting and was a 34D. That's 'exactly' what I wanted to be, was a big C or small D. I like where he put the nipples, they are high and perky! My nipples were a tiny bit smaller than the 'ideal' before the surgery and the shape was more oblong than round. It looks more pronounced now than prior to the surgery, but hopefully in time it will look as it did before. They were also very pink before and now I wouldn't describe them as that color. I forgot to ask the doctor about that at my visit. If anyone knows if the color goes back to the original, let me know! I do have a little bit of dog ear on the side of one of them. The doctor said it will most likely soften up and the reason I have it is because he wanted to make the scar as short as possible. He said if it doesn't go away, it's a very simple thing he can fix right in his office. But, he said I need to wait months from now to determine if I need that down still it's still so early.
Liposuction:
The doctor had said to me before the surgery, "I'm going to make you look great in pants!" Well, I look GREAT in pants! I can now even wear skinny jeans...I haven't worn skinny jeans since high school and even then I don't think I looked as good in them as I do now! I still have awful looking lumps and bumps, places that don't look exactly even, but the doctor told me yesterday that even though 4 weeks feels like a long time to me, I still have LOTS of healing to do. He assured me if anything didn't come out the way we expected he could always tweak it. One of the areas he liposuctioned was my back. It still looks to me like I have a lot of back fat when I wear a bra. I asked him about it and he told me I really don't have any fat in my back, it's all skin (I lost 48 pounds over the past 2 years). It makes me sad to put on bras and see rolls, so for now I'm going to try maybe a Spanx bra and other 'smoothing' bras to see if I can make it look less bad.
BBL:
My butt looks SO good in pants. My butt looked awful in pants and naked before. Now, it just looks awful naked :-) I have cellulite and dimples on my butt and I still do, but as long as I look good in clothes I'm good with it. I understand other's concerns about their butt shrinking as the weeks go on and I'm feeling that right now too. Weeks 1-3 I didn't notice it going down 'that' much, but week 4 was when I noticed the biggest change. The doctor did warn me I would probably lose 40% of what he put in, but I'm very sad as I watch it go down. I think I've read with what doctors have written on realself that week 6 is when you have the best idea of the final result. I'm concerned about it shrinking more over the next 2 weeks. Also, one side is a bit larger than the other side. I talked about it to my doctor and he assured me he put the same amount of fat in each side, and again, if anything needs tweaking after because I'm not happy, he can tweak it. I don't think anyone would notice one side is larger than the other unless they are specifically looking to see if one side is larger than the other, so I'll have to see in the end what to do if they don't even out. Strangely, one side of my body is slightly bigger in every way, all on my right side. My thigh was bigger, arm, back fat, breast, etc. Maybe my body for some reason likes to store the fat more on my right side than my left.
Revisions?:
If I need any revisions, it isn't free, plus I'd need to take time off (again) from work, so I'll really need to wait and see the final results before jumping to any conclusions. I'm not tossing the mattress topper yet with the hole in it since that was a life saver. I'll store it in the basement incase I do need a revision. The doctor said a revision doesn't cost anywhere near the initial price of the surgery, but I would need to pay the facility charge and his time at a much reduced price. I get it....as he said, I paid for a surgery and he completed what I asked for. If my body absorbs more on one said than the other, that's not his fault, so I do need to pay for his time at a very discounted rate plus the facility charge. After spending this money, the though of spending a few thousand more doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling, but I get it, so I'll REALLY want to consider the final product result before making a decision.
Pain:
Maybe I have a much higher pain tolerance than most, but as I read reviews from others about how much pain they were in, I don't get it. I wasn't in any pain since the surgery at all and found it to be quite a breeze! I didn't take any pain meds during the process except what they gave me in my IV in the hospital. I would only describe what I felt as being sore. For sure I felt sore, but certainly no pain. Even my breasts, I've read reviews how people sleep in recliners...I was sleeping on my sides from day 1 and my breasts felt 'fine'....sore, but fine. Certainly not uncomfortable enough for me to not want to sleep on my side.
I have my next follow up appointment in 5 weeks so I'll give an update then. My husband took much better before photos than what I've posted from an actual camera vs cellphone, however, I'm going to wait until I'm further along to post them up with after photos or he'll get annoyed with me for wanting him to keep taking pictures and downloading them for me from his camera :-)