29yo/124lbs/5'4/No Kids: 590cc UHP

Alright, well I didn't think I'd be looking into getting my boobs done until I was done having kids. At least that was the general plan. I always planned on a mommy makeover kind of thing eventually, but things change. Now that I'm 29 years old and not planning on having kids for another 5 ish years, the question of "why wait?" came up and I thought, "hmm well I can afford it right now..." so I started looking into it.

As a teenager, I lived in a push-up bra and wore low cut tops all the time. For the past couple years I have lived in sports bras because of pain from collarbone surgery. After that surgery, I was instructed to sleep on my back, wear a brace, and not use my arm for nearly 2 months. I felt like my breast muscle on the recovering side may have atrophied a little but I worked towards regaining strength and fixing whatever damage was done.

Losing weight (not on purpose) has changed my breasts as well. I lost about 10 pounds (125-->114) in April on account of stress and I looked wayyyy too skinny. I'd experienced this once before in 2008 and was really bothered by the fact that my boobs didn't come back. I remember being asked, "hey so where did your boobs go?" and being upset about it. My natural breasts aren't bad or saggy, but they don't fill out my shirt or cute lingerie. VS says I'm a 32D but I think their sizing is a load of BS.

I want my boobs to be rounder, full cleavage. I don't necessarily want them to look natural, though it seems like a lot of people are aiming for that. Oddly, my mom just had her implants removed last month so I'm not real sure how to bring the topic up with her. I'm hyper aware of the capsular risk because of her experience (she's had corrective surgery for scar tissue 4 times now) and will not be going with an "affordable" doctor nearby. Living in southern California gives me a ton of surgeon options. Working in Newport Beach gives me the option to go gets consults during my lunch hour, but I'm leaning towards going with a Beverly Hills doctor right now.

So here I am researching types of implants, incisions, doctors, and trying to find dream boob pictures for references.

Scheduled my first consultation with Dr. Justin West. I have scheduled 2 other consults so far; another Orange County doctor close enough to use my lunch hour, and another up in Beverly Hills that I lucked out on getting a Saturday morning appointment at the end of the month. There's also another consultation I haven't completed yet with a doctor in LA, but it's via email... So that's interesting. I need to take photos for that.

So my appointment with Dr. West is this Friday afternoon and I've claimed to be going to the dentist. Honestly, why the hell would I ever tell anyone at work about this? It's none of their business and it makes for an awkward exchange, I haven't even talked to my own mother about it. Anyways, I have no idea what to expect but I'm going to make a couple of notes so I remember all my questions so I can more easily address my concerns. Namely, my mom had her implants removed last month (hence, I have said nothing to her) because she had a bad case of capsular/scar tissue. Not sure what sort of aftercare or follow-up was done for her, but I think it could've gone better with a more involved surgeon. I want to ask each doctor about their methods for preventing scar tissue build up and malformation because I sure as hell want my BA to turn out great and stay that way as long as possible. I'm a little nervous about all this, choosing the right doctor, that is. Not taking off my shirt and asking questions. I'll update this post after my visit!

I woke up early to drive to LA yesterday for a consultation with Dr. Eugene Kim in Beverly Hills. I have been following his Instagram since finding overwhelmingly positive reviews on RealSelf and Yelp. I had my boyfriend come with me to get carpool lane access and have some moral support. If I missed any info or couldn't think of a question, he'd be there to cover it. And he was, so yay.

The office is what I would expect of a Beverly Hills doctor, very nice and very busy on a Saturday morning (it was abnormally busy because both he & Dr. David Kim were in). They only do 2 Saturdays a month so I was super excited to get an appointment that didn't involve taking time off of work... I know I'll need to save my time off for the surgery recovery. Anyways, we played with the sample implants in the room a bit before Dr. Kim came in. I got a good vibe from him right away, very personable and wants to give you the best results possible.

He had 4 big questions; incision preference, silicone or saline, my goal size, and placement over or under the muscle. I was able to answer all of them before showing him my goal photo (I have a couple but I only showed him my favorite). Silicone, D cup, unders, incision at the underboob crease. Pretty straight forward since I have no previous surgeries or medical conditions.

He warned me of the bs that is bra cup sizing and that going up to a D, could end up putting me into much larger bra sizes. Yep, my Victoria Secret 34C is a lie. I'm probably actually a B cup naked.

So high profile silicone or gummy round implants were recommended for the look I'm wanting. Somewhere between 400-500cc as he uses sizers before placing the actual implants during surgery.

There are some perks to the gummy ones, last longer (supposedly 15-20 years), they're textured and don't require massage post-op, and they have a lower rate of rupture and capsular contracture. But they're much firmer than regular silicone which has a very natural breasts tissue feel. Dude, the saline ones feel like a water balloon. I handed it back in 2 seconds.

So my decision now lies in which profile I want to have... Silicone HP or Ultra HP, gummy comes in HP (no Ultra HP). Dr. Kim started that the UHP would get me closer to the look I want but comes with higher rush if stretch marks, more difficultly healing, and risk of bottoming out. So I'm looking into that decision.

Pricing and pre/post-op care was covered in a meeting with his assistant after my exam. The gummy would be 9k and the regular silicone would be 8k. They do pre-op bloodwork and surgery in the same building by the way. Since it is slower during September and October, they offered $500 off if I scheduled surgery during those months---which I'm very comfortable with an October date. Plus if you book within 2 weeks of your consult, it's also $500 off. So I just need to call and book is what it sounds like.

Now to just figure out how to take a week off of work. Plenty of advance notice, and I work a desk job so no problem going back, but I haven't been there long enough to have health benefits... October 1st! I think October will be the magic month to use all sick and vacation time I possibly can. Maybe even go without pay for a day or so.