Hello everyone!
I would like to share my story because I spent a lot of time on this website and really appreciated how many people were willing to share their experience. I was so very nervous before my procedure, and reading about people's experiences, and especially seeing the results, helped me a whole lot. I plan to share my journey through all of its stages, so I hope my story can help someone as well.
I am a 32 year old mom. I have one child, and my husband and I agreed we will not be having any more kids. I decided to go through with a breast augmentation after reaching my ideal weight post-pregnancy. I am currently a size 0 and weigh 110 lbs.
Before getting pregnant I was also a size 0 and I always had small breasts. Through pregnancy, my breasts got huge and I loved them, but I also gained a lot of weight. After giving birth, I made the horrible mistake of letting some nurses at the time convince me to take the Depo-Provera shot as a means of birth control. It made me feel awful, I put on a ton of extra weight very quickly, and started hating myself. I stopped that treatment very shortly afterwards. I think I had one or two follow-up shots, and then I switched to the copper IUD. I have had the copper IUD for about ten years now, no side effects, no issues whatsoever, it has been amazing. Unfortunately, the hormonal imbalance caused by the Depo shot still took years for my body to overcome.
A couple of years ago, I was finally starting to feel like myself again. My period normalized to what it used to be prior to pregnancy. It lasts for a week, hurts unbearably, and I bleed a lot but that is what is natural for me and that was my first sign my hormones were balancing out. I got my old metabolism back, got an exercise bike (Bowflex Velocore) for the house, and started working out. I don't do anything crazy. I am a mother and a wife first and love that. In general, I try to bike three times a week for an hour straight. I usually go about 16 miles or so. I also picked out a few exercises for the body areas (mostly stomach and legs) I wanted to focus on and I try to do those daily. Sit ups, leg lifts, squats, crunches, stuff like that. And that's it. I lost about 30 lbs over the last year and made it to my ideal weight goal.
Losing all that weight completely deflated my breasts and made me extremely self-conscious. And not for any other reason than that I myself was unhappy. I did not like the way I looked and working up the courage to own that feeling was a little bit of a struggle. I kept hearing all this stuff about loving and accepting oneself, but it came off in a way where I felt that I somehow had to be okay with this new me. Yes, this is what naturally happens to breasts after pregnancy, and for some women that is enough, and that is awesome. But it was not my truth. I did not like feeling guilty for wanting to look the way that I genuinely wanted to look. When I brought up breast augmentation to my husband, he was incredibly supportive. He reminded me that he thought I looked beautiful and attractive no matter what, but that he supported me finding my own sense of self in my skin. He personally prefers smaller breasts, but was completely on board with what I wanted, which was to restore them to their former glory!
I researched my area for a board-certified plastic surgeon and found Dr. Kathleen Waldorf of the Waldorf Center for Plastic Surgery in Portland, OR. One of the key elements that drew me to her was her extensive experience in her field. I went in for my consultation and explained what I wanted. I felt like Dr. Waldorf took one look at me and also instantly knew what I was going for. She gave me two choices, either a breast augmentation or a breast augmentation with a lift. The version with the lift called for smaller implants (385cc). I told her I wanted to go as big as possible and she recommended the Natrelle SoftTouch Full profile round implant, size 415cc. She explained that although I had some drooping, going with the larger size without the lift was a viable option for me, and that is what I chose! I have the same size implant in both breasts.
My surgery was on Tuesday morning at 1000. After arriving at the surgery center, they took me into the back and got me settled. I signed some additional paperwork and got undressed. A wonderful nurse took care of me the whole time. She put in my IV, gave me some pain medications, and let me relax until it was my turn. Right before I went into the OR, Dr. Waldorf came to speak with me and made sure that we were both on the same page about what was going to happen. Then, the anesthesiologist also came to speak with me and reassure me that everything was going to be fine. She told me the medications they would give me would make it so I would not remember much, and I literally woke up and it was over. Seriously, that is it. I wish I could remember the name of the nurse who took care of me, but the last thing I can recall is the anesthesiologist pushing my bed toward the OR room. Right after that, I was getting dressed to go home.
When I woke up from surgery, I was already bandaged. They told me to leave everything alone and just relax. The first follow-up appointment is the following morning and that is when the bandages come off. I was a little groggy, but nothing too bad. No nausea, no dizziness, nothing like that. Just kind of tired. We got a hotel room nearby, so we just went back to the hotel for that first night post-surgery. I was not in any major pain, but I have been taking my painkillers regularly, so that is probably helping.
Today is day one post-op. I am allowed to take Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and the Oxycodone but I am only taking the Oxy. I am feeling sore in my shoulders and I feel a little hunched over. Most of the pain, which is minimal, is near my ribs where the incisions are, and I can feel it when trying to take a full breath or straighten out my back. This morning's visit was very simple and brief. I met with a nurse who took my bandages off and told me how to take care of myself for the next two to three weeks. She was also awesome and answered all of my questions. She told me NOT to massage my breasts. I mentioned I had seen all sorts of post-surgical bras, some with a strap across the top and asked for her feedback. She said absolutely NOT, especially because you don't want that top pressure pushing your implants towards the incision before it has time to heal. She was very happy with the support bra that I did have and said to just stick to that. She also let me know my breasts are currently compressed and that with time they will become rounder as they drop and fluff. She told me to keep an eye out for unusual and imbalanced swelling, fever, and extreme tightness. Knock on wood, I have no negative side-effects at all. In fact, I am really excited because I do not even see asymmetry which is entirely common while each boob does it's own thing to find its place and heal.
In my photos so far, I posted my simulation image where you can see what I looked like before. You can also see that I am currently orange (will be taking a gentle cloth bath later on). I also included a photo of the brand I chose for my support bra, although while it was comfortable this morning, it is starting to feel a little tight, like maybe it is too small. I LOVE they way I look already, and am so thrilled I chose Dr. Waldorf!
I probably forgot to include all sorts of details, so if you have any questions, feel free to let me know.
Updated on 28 Apr 2023:
Hello!
Here is a quick update. I don't have any photos to add because nothing is very different appearance wise. I thought I would share some information I either found or would have found helpful. I am still experiencing moderate discomfort. I am taking my pain medications as directed and doing quite well. I still get some shooting pain around the incisions and especially in my right armpit. For whatever reason, almost all of my pain is focused on the right side. I called to chat about this because I was nervous but I was told it is all completely normal. Today is better than yesterday, and my range of motion is slowly coming back. On that note, I am not doing anything. Literally, I am taking it as easy as possible. My daughter, for example, is awesome about helping move things or pick things up. I am not trying on different bras or shirts or stuff like that. I am focused on just letting them be and leaving them alone. I have been sleeping elevated on my back. I was cleared to sleep whichever way I wanted, but I feel really good about keeping my position on my back and not squishing them on either side. I'll try and keep this up for as long as possible. I want to do whatever I can to help the pockets heal perfectly. Overall, I am very happy and love the way I look and feel!!I'll check in again later. Good luck everyone!PS: I removed one photo that was supposed to show the support bra brand. It was really blurry. The brand is Amoena, and the size is small C/D for both the bra and bra-shirt that I have. They are really soft (90% cotton, 10% spandex), no wires, no straps, nothing extra. They just clip in the front. I am very happy with the product. I feel that I get perfect support without unwanted compression.
Updated on 3 May 2023:
Hello!
Hope everyone is having a great day. I am checking in with my one week post-op update.
First and foremost, thank you Dr. Waldorf! If you found your perfect board-certified surgeon, that's awesome. But if you don't know where to go or who to pick, I strongly recommend Dr. Waldorf and the Waldorf Center for Plastic Surgery. I did not have too many questions for her because I knew exactly what I wanted and she knew immediately what I needed. Most of our discussions were simple and brief and focused on the risks involved and whether I fully understood what having this procedure meant. She mentioned issues with textured implants, but let me know that was something I would not have to worry about because she did not use them. I have read some posts in which people regret their decisions, especially when new information becomes available to them post surgery. But if you are thinking about breast implants, it's my opinion that you can and should do as much research as possible in advance on your own. Types of implants, shapes, profiles, materials, risks, all that information is out there. When I learned that the Natrelle implants have three different versions of gumminess, all I knew was that I wanted to go as round and full as possible. But when I asked Dr. Waldorf why she chose the medium level for me and not the gummiest one, she explained the risks associated with the highest level of gumminess included bottoming out or flipping around within the pocket, and that a particular type of patient would benefit most from that level. Not me. She also explained that the really good looking, really large breasts were the results of multiple procedures, not just one. If I wanted to go bigger later, the best way to go about this was to go as big as possible as safely as possible now and leave an additional procedure for consideration to a later date. This is exactly the kind of expertise you want your surgeon to have because it is their job to know which fit and path are best for each of her patients. I am so thrilled I listened to her! If I do decide on another procedure later on, I am going right back to her.
Overall, I feel amazing and am enjoying how I am progressing. I am in love with my breasts, and it's a little funny or maybe interesting, but I don't remember being small at all. Like it's a mental block or something. I just feel like myself and I LOVE it.
I had my one week follow-up today with my amazing nurse. It was just a phone call, but she was awesome at addressing all my concerns and questions. She always tells me I can call back whenever I need to if anything else comes up, but I have not had to do that. (Thank you, M!) I am still in a decent amount of pain and taking Tylenol. She told me to make sure and remember that the same movement restrictions apply through my next appointment, which is in week three, so even if I start feeling better, I need to remember not to overdo it. So, I've only taken the Tylenol when the pain gets distracting, otherwise the soreness is a great reminder not to push myself. All the pain is in the expected area, the lower half of the sphere where the incisions and bruising are. I now have pain in both breasts; both nipples are awake and painfully sensitive. I still only feel the tugging sensation mostly on the right hand side, but I have been reassured all of this is completely normal. I took a full shower today and gently peeled the Steri-Strips off. I am really happy with how the scars look. My next appointment is with Dr. Waldorf in person, so I can check in again after that. I was told at that point (three weeks post) we can start discussing massages and scar creams, things like that. So until then, same old. Just chilling.
I added a bunch of new photos. The support bra I originally mentioned in the previous post turned out to be too small. As my breasts uncompressed and rounded out, they started to hurt in that bra, and it would leave compression marks on my skin. I did not like this and stopped wearing it. Luckily, I've been cleared to wear whatever is comfortable (no wires), so I moved to my soft/foam VS bra (32 DD). This was something I owned before, so I should have figured in advance that the C/D size I picked up for the support bra was not going to be right. Oh well. I still like the brand, and they do have a larger version (Small D/DD) but since I can wear what I want, there was no point in reordering another set. You can see that depending on the style and material of the clothing, I can play with the profile I want to have in a shirt from subdued to very obvious. All my shirts are size small.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Wishing everyone the best of luck, and a safe, speedy recovery. See you in week three.
Updated on 16 May 2023:
Hello!
I just had my week three follow-up. I got to see Dr. Waldorf in person, and the appointment went as well as I could have hoped for. I've been super careful to leave them alone and be all sensitive around them, but for the check-up Dr. Waldorf squeezed them thoroughly from all angles. She was very satisfied with my current progress and said she could feel no signs of cc. Her feedback plus the fact that her examination did not hurt gave me a lot of confidence. It's interesting to me how the examination was not painful at all (and she really dug around in there and felt the pocket all the way around) and yet at the same time my breasts feel like they're on fire. This is because what I do feel consistently are the nerves waking up on the surface and around my nipples. Some areas are still numb and the right bothers me more than the left. She assured me that this is normal, and told me that I can start rubbing my nipples with a towel after showers to help wake them up. I know some people say they were pain free within a few days or by week two. This has not been the case for me. I think not only are people different in general in terms of recovery, but I also think implant size matters. In my opinion, always follow up with your surgeon if you have any questions or concerns, but just know it is not unusual to be in pain and moderate discomfort for a while. I told her I feel more tugging and tingling on the right side and asked if that meant anything, but she said if anything my right is slightly more swollen than the left, and all that will pass and even out in time.
She said that mine should not drop much at all anymore, if at all, which I was very happy to hear. She also told me I did not need to massage them after all. I can resume my bike rides starting this week, but to wait until next week to slowly move into a workout with sit-ups, squats, etc. Same with the lifting restrictions. Originally, the instructions are not to lift anything 10 lbs or above. Now it's up to 10-15 lbs. So I just want to carefully and gradually get back into the swing of things and not just hit the ground running. This is very important to protect the results. I did gain about 4-5 lbs so far and that can be frustrating but I am sticking to it because it is worth it! I've been eating well to provide my body with all the nutrients it could need and *not doing anything*, so it's natural to see some weight gain (my implants added about 2 lbs but I took that out of the number above). I'm confident I'll be able to work it right off in due time.
Something else I feel is important to share: a) get measured by a professional in person and b) trust yourself over the numbers. I watched the VS online guide on how to do it and all the numbers point to 32DD. But I just kept feeling off in my bras, and after my appointment, I went to Victoria's Secret to get re-measured. The fitting professional took my numbers and was like, "Yup, that's 32DD, but let's go to the back and play with some bras" (she was very helpful!). She brought me a few unlined DDs and saw that they were not fitting right because I was spilling out of them. Then she brought me a 32DDD to try, and it fit perfectly! I had my size all wrong but there was no way to know for sure without another pair of eyes because sometimes the numbers just don't add up. But the person looking at you needs to know what they're looking at and what they're looking for. It is especially important to have the right size because once you are cleared to wear underwires, which I was during this appointment, the doctor told me it is critical that the underwire arc does NOT pinch the breast in any way. It has to be a perfect form around it and support the entire implant evenly. From this point forward, I will be wearing support as much as possible day and night, but I do need to purchase some new items given that I had my size wrong.
Hope this information is useful. Best of luck to everyone! I will update my progress again after my next check-up which is at the end of June, but questions are always welcome. Take care!
Updated on 10 Dec 2023:
Time flies! Hope everyone is doing well.
Quick update, I experienced an event with my implants that scared me, so I wanted to share that in case it resonates with anyone else. Short version: implant flipped, got it handled, still doing great!
Longer version: June appointment came and went, no issues. October appointment came and went, also no issues! Yay. Then, about a week ago or so, I was changing my shirt and noticed my left breast looked really wonky. The implants, when they sit right, have this really nice curve under the boob that is like more like a C-shape or a 1/4th circle wedge shape. This is what I look for when I do routine checks. This time, my left breast appeared to be elevated off of my chest instead of curving into it. It was very similar to the shape and curve that a contact lens has when you hold it on the tip of your finger ready to place it in your eye. This left the surface of the breast very flat. (I included three photos that show the images I sent to my care team clearly showing something looked different, imbalanced, and off.) Luckily, I did not have any pain or any other kind of discomfort. I simply noticed it did not look right one day. Whatever had happened to cause it must have happened recently since I check them regularly.
Naturally, I got really nervous. Tears were pooling in my eyes. A lot of thoughts were running through my head about what it could be, and my biggest urge was to get online and just investigate. Instead, I realized it was before the end of day and I called Dr. Waldorf's office asking for an appointment. They asked me to share photos if I could of what was going on, which I did, and shortly after I got a call telling me that it seemed most likely from the photos alone that the implant had flipped. They scheduled me within days to go to the office to see if they could flip it back or if it is something else. I made it a point NOT to Google anything at all. I just stayed away from it all until the appointment, and took it easy, made sure to stay on my back, etc. My husband was extremely supportive through it all, telling me to calm down until we knew for sure what was going on. And then we would just go from there.
At the appointment, I thought I would meet with one of the nurses but instead Dr. Waldorf came to see me herself. That was amazing, and I am so happy and grateful she did! She was very calm and was already wondering if I was looking different from the few days before when it was really obvious. This means it is possible for the implant to both flip and return to its original position on its own (but this does NOT mean that you should not communicate and report any and all issues to your care team!). She rotated it back for me herself. It was a five-minute appointment, and the results were visible immediately. And that was it.
From this experience, I learned that the implant flipping and the implant bottoming out are related but not necessarily the same. Flipping can occur for a variety of reasons (For me, the most likely culprit was a moment of spontaneous passion with my husband in a non-gravity friendly position and without support. ;P ) such as the pocket being too large, physical impact (including rough sex), bottoming out, and so on. Depending on what the cause is, the solution may be different. It may be enough to just rotate them back or another surgical intervention may be necessary. Always communicate any and all concerns with your care provider.
The last few photos are what I look like now after the implant was flipped back. Overall, I am very satisfied with my results, and even more so given this experience. I hope this helps anyone who may be experiencing anxiety or stress through this process. Dealing with this stuff is part of the journey, and I think this is why picking the right surgeon matters so much. The journey will come with ups and downs no matter what, so, if you know that this journey is one you genuinely want to embark on, then it's the team standing by your side as you go through it that makes all the difference.
Finally, here is a link to an article that has a great picture of a properly positioned implant and a flipped implant. It shows how the flipped implant contributes to a flattened breast shape: https://centreforsurgery.com/breast-implant-flipped-or-rotated/
Questions welcome. Take care!
Updated on 6 Apr 2025:
Hello!
I wrote at the beginning of my journey that in order to be as safe as possible, I would go after my desired size in steps. It has been about two years since the first surgery. I had my breast implant exchange procedure a few days ago. I went from Natrelle 415cc to Motiva RSF+ 625cc. For anyone who may be curious, I posted a new review regarding that process.
Take care!
Updated on 18 Apr 2025:
If you would like to read about my implant revision procedure to increase the implant size from 415 cc to 625 cc, you can find my new review here: https://www.realself.com/review/breast-implant-revision-natrelle-415cc-motiva-rsf-625-cc
Best wishes!