45 Years Old, Nursed Three Years, Fulfilled 30-year Desire - Minneapolis, MN

I spent most of my adult life discontent with the size of my breasts. I wore padded bras everywhere I went. When I had children in my thirties and nursed successfully, I did make a sort of peace with my breasts: they performed beautifully and did exactly what they were designed to do. I felt as if I could perhaps move on. As time went by, however, I realized my already long nipples had gotten even longer with nursing. When flaccid, they literally hung down over my areola. I decided I could do without the larger breasts...I had no stretch marks and no sagging...but the long nipples were so unsightly to me. So I began researching nipple reduction. One day, I came across a "before" picture that resembled my body exactly. The patient had reduced her nipple length and also gotten implants. The result was so spectacular I reconsidered implants.

To back up a few years, I very seriously considered implants in my late twenties. This was the late 1990s. I was so disillusioned by the idea of having to replace them every ten years (a "fact" I have since learned is erroneous) that I decided not to do it. I'm glad I waited, for many reasons. One reason is I'm glad I nursed my children with natural breasts. I'm also glad I met my husband with small breasts; he fell in love with the me as God made me. Third, I'm glad I waited because silicone is preferable to saline, in my opinion, and it wasn't available in the late 1990s.

At any rate, I did a ton of research and decided to ask my gynecologist if she recommended anyone in the Twin Cities area. She gave me the names of three surgeons. I went to two of them. I liked them both, but still felt unsure. One day, I was researching online and found Dr. Tholen. I realized his practice was close to my home. I watched a short video clip of him. I liked his demeanor immediately. I booked an appointment. The minute he walked in the door and shook my hand, I "knew" he would be my surgeon. My confidence in this initial meeting was only enhanced with the next 45 minutes of chit chat. He was down-to-earth, confident, interested, passionate, a good listener, easy to be around, and had an artistic eye. He truly seemed like the proverbial "kid in a candy store", meaning he seemed like he absolutely has found his passion and really enjoys his work. I did not feel like I was going to be a patient on a conveyor belt, or a project to "knock out" before hitting the golf course.

Dr. Tholen looked at the pictures I brought in, talked with me and listened to my desires, and his office was very gracious when I asked for one more visit before surgery just to review my vision and concerns. I am very health conscious and really scrutinized this concept of putting a foreign object in my body. I asked Dr. Tholen a ton of questions. One thing that really impressed me is that he had typed up a report that summarized his findings on breast augmentation and best practices. I had been doing my own research for months and found that we were in complete sync. That gave me a measure of confidence that he and I saw eye-to-eye on this procedure.

I was implanted with 450 CC moderate profile silicone implants, under the muscle. I also had a nipple reduction. As Dr. Tholen predicted, I had no post-operative nausea whatsoever. It is a long recovery, so don't be mislead by people who say it's a cakewalk. You will feel sore and tight for weeks and weeks. You will sleep on your back for weeks and weeks. It took me about three months to feel like I could truly sleep on my side again. And the settling of the implants is very slow and steady. If you stare at your body you will go nuts. They will look pretty weird for awhile. I'm four months post-op and they are still dropping. I'm still numb at the lower pole. The nipples, too, looked very strange when the bandages came off, but they too healed slowly and rounded off to look normal again.

I'm not terribly interested in posting my own before and after files. I am going to post the picture I showed Dr. Tholen when I went in for a consultation. I look almost exactly like the before AND after pic. I settled on 370 CC implants and he ended up putting in 450 CC. That sounded big to me but I'm 5'9" and have a broad back and shoulders and you really need to trust his judgment! The placement is gorgeous. I did not have a lot of natural breast tissue but I did have a nicely shaped, albeit small, breast before. The moderate profile implant is just lovely if you want that natural slope of a breast. I actually am quite surprised how natural they look and feel. I can tell you with complete confidence that I visited three surgeons and Dr. Tholen is, simply put, a spectacular surgeon. Follow his advice to the letter, get very clear about what you want, and he will come through for you!