“My Breast Tissue Doesn’t Stop Growing”: Meredith Marks Reveals She Just Had a Third Breast Reduction

The Real Housewives love to flaunt the results of their breast augmentations (longtime fans will remember Teresa Giudice’s infamous “bubbies’” and implant removals (RHOC’s Tamra Judge and Emily Simpson have been especially candid about theirs), but breast reductions haven’t been discussed much—until now. 

The Real Housewives of Salt Like City star Meredith Marks recently revealed that she’d just had her third breast reduction, in an attempt to deal with a medical condition that causes her breasts to continuously grow.

“My breast tissue doesn’t stop growing,” Marks said during an episode of Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea podcast. “It’s wild. Seriously, I have this weird issue, and I’m hoping this is [my final breast reduction]. I never wanted to be that big. I was always supposed to be a small C.” She also shared that while doctors haven’t diagnosed the condition, she suspects it to be both hormonal and genetic, adding that her mother’s breasts also started growing continuously when she was in her 40s.

We spoke with two doctors, neither of whom cited any type of specific medical condition that causes breasts to continuously grow—and keep growing. Hormones, however, may very well be at play. “With increased estrogen, breasts can grow in both fatty and ductal tissue. In perimenopause and menopause, there is a decrease in estrogen, which can decrease breast size,” explains Dr. Dhivya Srinivasa, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Thousand Oaks, California. “That said, there are also concurrent hormonal changes that lead to weight gain in some women and can then increase the fat volume in the breast. About one in five women will experience an increase in breast size during menopause despite the decreased estrogen, thought to be due to weight gain,” she points out. She also cites certain medications, including paroxetine, an antidepressant, and marijuana as other factors that can trigger breast growth. 

While changes to the breast, at any point in life, are common, having three breast reductions is not, notes Dr. Johnny Franco, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Austin, Texas. He says that having two is much more likely, particularly when someone undergoes their first reduction at a very young age, and subsequent breast changes then merit a second. Dr. Srinivasa agrees, adding that a secondary breast lift is much more common than even a secondary, much less tertiary, breast reduction.

To that point, 52-year-old Marks says she’ll undergo another surgery if needed. “So yes, if I have to, I will. That’s the thing, clothes are fitting better now. When you have to go up two sizes to accommodate your chest, nothing sits right. It’s just not good,” she said, adding that she wants to avoid looking “matronly.”  

Per Dr. Franco, undergoing multiple breast reductions comes with its own set of risks, the most common being issues with the nipple. “The challenging aspect of secondary or tertiary breast reduction is managing the blood supply to the nipple. The longer it’s been since a person’s last breast reduction, the better the body becomes at improving vascularity to the nipple complex,” he says. 

Dr. Srinivasa adds that the more times you cut around the nipple and rearrange tissues (as happens during a reduction), the more you risk losing blood flow to the area, which could ultimately occur in nipple loss. Changes in sensation are another potential risk: “Anytime you cut tissue, you cut the tiny nerves that travel through that tissue. Repeat surgery in the same area can damage nerve endings and cause permanent numbness or chronic pain,” she points out. 

Whether Marks undergoes any additional reductions remains to be seen, although viewers can expect to hear more about her surgery and the condition when season five of RHOSLC airs this week. According to Marks, she speaks with castmate Heather Gay about her condition during the first episode, resulting in some funny commentary from Gay.