36 years old, 5'6", 120lbs, 12.9 BWD, 440cc Mentor MemoryGel, smooth round, moderate plus profile Xtra

My stats:
36 years old
No kids, no plans for kids
32B before
Slim build
Under the muscle
Inframammary fold incision

I was super skinny growing up and was generally accepting of my tiny boobs, they seemed to fit my body. About 2.5 years ago I started working out hard, gaining muscle, and saw how my body could transform and saw the potential, and it felt really good. I began to research implants as one more improvement I could make. On the one hand, I figured they'd make me look more feminine, better in clothes, on the other hand, there's no guarantee what they'll look like (I struggled with that the most), there may be complications, and you have to maintain them for life. I definitely debated a lot!

I had rhinoplasty when I was 25 and it was a tough recovery for me, so I had a healthy respect for going under the knife, but despite that I felt like it was worth it and figured implants would be too. It also sounded like an easier surgery and recovery.

I first began scheduling consultations the summer of 2018. I met with a couple doctors and had one scheduled with Dr. Richards. Unfortunately, I started having a flare up of rheumatoid arthritis, had to go on methotrexate, and realized it wouldn't be possible to have surgery while having a flare and on methotrexate. Flash forward a year later, my arthritis was under control and I scheduled a consultation with Dr. Richards. The consultation was very thorough, we spent a lot of time with the patient coordinator going through what to expect with the surgery, trying on sizers, and asking questions. Dr Richards measured me and recommended I go with MPP to achieve a more natural look. They did computer images with both MPP and HP. I was still torn about what size to go with and still hung up on the uncertainty of what they would look like.

My surgery was scheduled for Nov 18th and, in the meantime, I studied the implant charts on the mentor website to find an implant that would fit me perfectly. I knew I wanted at least 400cc but not more than 500cc. I liked aspects of both the MPP and HP profiles. They now make an implant that's in between MPP and HP called MPP Xtra, so I thought that would be perfect for me. I tried to find a cc with a width closest to my BWD, so I decided on 440cc.

This is getting crazy long, so I'll talk about the surgery in another post!

I had my pre op appointment 2 weeks before surgery. This included meeting with the nurse, who gave me all my instructions for before and after surgery. I basically had to stop taking any medication except for my prescription meds, only Tylenol for pain, no tea, all supplements, alcohol for two weeks before and a week after surgery. I made the final decision on size, 440cc MPP Xtra.

Surgery day went smoothly. It was convenient that I was the first surgery of the day and also that they have an operating room in their office. I met with the nurse and the anesthesiologist when I got there, the nurse put in an IV, and then we walked back to the operating room. The next thing I remember is being wheeled out to the car.

I was worried about nausea, so they had given me something for it during surgery and also a prescription for anti-nausea meds, which I didn’t end up needing.

The immediate recovery went really well too. The pain was very minimal, more discomfort than pain, and I managed it with Tylenol. Probably the worst part was just being uncomfortable, everything felt super tight and it felt like I couldn’t even stand up straight. My back started to be sore too from not being able to move and having to stay propped up. And the recovery bra was super tight and uncomfortable.

At one week PO I saw the nurse for a surgery follow up. She gave me a band to wear to help the implants drop and showed me how to do breast massages. She said I could take my surgical strips off at three weeks if they hadn’t already fallen off and I bought both silicone strips and silicone gel to help with scar healing (it was not cheap!). I also went back to work at a week PO and didn’t have any issues with that (I sit in front of a computer all day though).

Just before I hit the 3 week mark I started to notice my breasts seemed a lot pinker. They didn’t seem hot to the touch, weren’t painful, the incisions looked fine, and I didn’t have a fever, so I didn’t think they were infected, but I got increasingly concerned that the pinkness wasn’t going away. I emailed the nurse with pictures and she told me to come in. The nurse and surgeon looked at my breasts but couldn’t figure out what was causing the pinkness. I guess it gave me some peace of mind that they didn’t think they were infected either, but I was still concerned about what was causing it and would it ever go away.

Including pictures of their progression from week to week. Honestly, I can’t see much difference. The change definitely requires a lot of patience. My right side is dropping faster. My left was a bit smaller to begin with and I wonder if the implants will make the size difference even more noticeable.