28 with 36H Boobies Needing a Reduction! Kaiser Member - Irvine, CA

This morning I saw my plastic surgeon for the first consult. It was a pretty seamless visit. The PS talked with me about the reasons I want a reduction, examined and measured my breasts, went over risks and benefits, showed me some pictures and sent the surgery request. I do need to lose a few pounds before my surgery date to get my BMI under the 30 limit but that should be easy since it's only 8lbs. The surgery center will call me within the week to schedule surgery and pre-op visits and the surgeon estimated that it would probably be in a month or two. Perfect! I can go into the new year with new boobies! =]

In Southern California, Kaiser Permanente requires candidates to go through a pre-consult class. In the class they go over basic information (that could easily be gathered in 5 minutes of googling), check that your BMI is in range, and if so you can schedule your consult at the end. If your BMI is 34.9 or under you may schedule a consult but you are advised that you absolutely will not be offered a surgery until your BMI is 30 or less. I scheduled my consult for this upcoming Monday at 8:30a.m. They said surgeries are scheduled about 2-3 months out for some surgeons and 4-6 for the female surgeon or chief surgeon. I'll update y'all after my official consult on Monday!

Hi! My name is Jackie and like many of you, I am so ready to get these babies smaller. By the time I was 13 I was wearing a DD bra and I swear they never stopped growing! For years I've thought about a breast reduction but never gave it a ton of consideration because I never felt like I could afford it and didn't know it was possible for insurance to cover it. More recently my breasts have given me more trouble than ever in my life as I've gone back to school and find that even just sitting at the computer for 30-60 minutes to type up a paper hurts me so bad I have to lay down for an hour or more. My back hurts every day and I'm constantly readjusting myself. Sitting sucks. I can't sit down anywhere for very long and this seriously interferes with my life. I've also been getting rashes under my boobs lately.

Beyond the many physical discomforts, there is the damage this has done to my self esteem. I walk around feeling like a giant pair of boobs. I don't feel like I'm seen by men as a person and it seems like everyone has their mind made up about me before they even know me just based on my appearance. Strangers make comments. Girls I am just casually associated with and not even friends with touch my boobs thinking it's somehow okay (don't worry, I tell them not to). Dating is awful. I feel like I'm just some fetish to guys and not an actual person. I know women experience harassment often, but many of the things I've gone through in regards to harassment are extreme in comparison to what my small chested friends have been through. It really makes me sad. And to top it all off it's really hard to find bras and bathing suits that fit that aren't crazy expensive! I also have to buy dresses 2-3 sizes bigger than my pant size. =(

Anyway, I've done the first step through Kaiser and got my referral to Plastic Surgery. I have also booked the consult class that is required before an actual consultation. If anyone has information to share about the process through Kaiser including what happens in the consult class I'd love to hear about it. It's super hard to find stuff online about Kaiser's process.

Thanks to you all for reading.