Finally Made The Decision! Minneapolis, MN

I'm so excited! I've FINALLY made the decision to get my breast augmentation done! It's something that I've thought about for almost ten years, and seriously considered for about the past year. I've spent a ton of time researching the procedure, plastic surgeons, my ideal post-op size, etc... And I've finally set the date with my surgeon!!

Before I dive into my story, here's a little bit of info about me. I'm 23 years old, about 5'7" and around 125-130 pounds. Since I started working out regularly (weightlifting mostly), I've lost some weight and toned up, but the trade off involved losing the small volume of breast tissue that I had in the first place! I went from a 32B to a now somewhat full-ish 32A. I was a gymnast for almost 13 years growing up, so my legs and booty are a bit more muscular -- and when paired with small boobs my bottom half looks much bigger! No bueno, haha!

I had a tough time picking my surgeon to be honest. I live in the Minneapolis area and knew I wanted to go to a local surgeon. However, there are SO many surgeons in the area, and there were a ton of factors that went into deciding. In the end I knew I wanted to have my augmentation done at Minneapolis Plastic Surgery. Dr. Gervais and Dr. Tholen are both amazing plastic surgeons - both incredibly talented, qualified and funny men.

I ended up having consultations with both surgeons (separately), and at first I was convinced I was going to go with Dr. Gervais. My consultation with Dr. Gervais went amazingly - his head nurse is so incredibly sweet, she spent a half hour chatting with me and answering all my questions and concerns before turning on a short informational video while I waited for Dr. Gervais. Once the video was done he came in the room to answer any additional questions, walk me through the procedure and post-op, take my measurements, and answer even more questions before sending me off to try on implants. Dr. Gervais was very very professional, and treated me so kindly and I could tell that he truly cares about his patients. I left feeling very confident in Dr. Gervais, and even scheduled my surgery date that day before leaving the clinic!

My consultation with Dr. Tholen on the other hand, did not go very well at all, to be completely honest. My appointment was at 7:45am during the week (I work 8am-6pm in downtown Minneapolis Monday through Friday) I waited for 30 minutes in the waiting room before being escorted into the consultation room, where his nurse asked if I had any questions before leaving me to wait for Dr. Tholen. I changed into the little robe I was given for my consultation and then waited another 15 minutes before he came into the room - mind you I've waited at least 45 minutes now. Once Dr. Tholen finally came into the room, he greeted me and proceeded to rush through some basic information (I honestly can't remember all that we talked about). Dr. Tholen's assistant seemed a bit snippy and had a bit of an attitude - she left halfway through my consultation, and when she came back she stood in the doorway and annoyingly clicked her pen constantly (mind you she left the door halfway open while I'm still sitting in my open front robe. RUDE!). Dr. Tholen didn't go into as much detail as Dr. Gervais did, and instead when I asked Dr. Tholen about the difference in technique (he supports the use of bands and not wearing bras while Dr. Gervais doesn't use bands and puts his patients in surgical bras immediately post-op), Dr. Tholen seemed to talk down about Dr. Gervais' technique and the quality and commonality of annually checking in on his patients after their procedures. I was pretty surprised by this, and pretty put off by it as well. When I was ushered off to try on the implants, Dr. Tholen's assistant wasn't much help. She first put me in almost 460cc implants, then when I requested something a little bit smaller (those suckers were HUGE!), she dropped me down to 350cc sizers...a bit of a difference. When I asked her for something just a little bit bigger, she sized me up to 400cc's, then said those were the only implants I was able to try on that day (in my consultation with Dr. Gervais, his nurse sized me in at least six different implant sizes - mind you I would be getting the exact same type of implant, incision site, and under the muscle.) Shortly after I put in the last sizers she said my consultation was over and ushered me out into the waiting room after collecting my items.

At the end of the day, I was convinced I was going with Dr. Gervais. I had such an amazing consultation with him, he nurse was absolutely AMAZING, and I liked the look of his results. However... After doing a ton of additional research after the not-so-great consultation with Dr. Tholen, I ended up deciding to go with him. He has ten more years experience than his partner, has more natural looking results (most of his post-op pics are a few years post-op rather than the typical 2-3 months followup). I read a lot of reviews from Gervais' patients saying that his followup care wasn't great (nonexistent for most - one woman said she felt tossed out after her augmentation!) There were a few additional reasons behind my choice, but I am confident in my choice with Dr. Tholen. I've set my surgery date for mid-June, just about a month away from today!!

I can’t believe it—already 13 days away? I set up a countdown app on my phone and I remember it being 47 days away…and now it’s so close! I’ve started getting more and more nervous—seeing the check go through (I paid in full up front for the extra 3% discount) really made it real! But I’m still mostly excited, I can’t wait to have my dream boobs FINALLY—beautiful, fun, perky and squishy!

A few updates!
A few weeks ago I had contacted my chosen surgeon, Dr. Tholen, in followup to my consultation and asked some additional questions. After a week of no response I resent the email, hoping to hear from him (I had also called the clinic hoping to talk to Dr. Tholen, but he was in surgery and I was told by the receptionist that he would follow up with me concerning my email. A few days after that, Sarah (the woman who takes care of financing and had also scheduled my surgery) called me to discuss payment, walked me through what to do prior to the augmentation, what to do after the augmentation, etc. I had mentioned to her that I had tried sending Dr. Tholen some questions and that I still hadn’t heard back from him. Sarah told me that email is probably the worst way to contact my surgeon because he receives a TON of emails each and every day (completely understandable.) She passed along my email to him and told me that he would get back to me asap.
Anyway, I ended up going into the clinic the same day Sarah called me to discuss payment. Excitingly, I didn’t have to wait very long at all to talk to Sarah, and paying was super quick, easy, and painless (aside from the part where I had never written a check that large!) While talking to her, Sarah mentioned that Dr. Tholen was just getting out of surgery and might have time to sit with me to answer my questions. I did end up getting to talk to Dr. Tholen and discussed the previous consultation and my frustrations, he was more than happy to thoroughly answer all of my questions, took the time to walk me through the procedure & anything I needed to know prior to surgery day, etc. In total, I got to spend just over a half hour talking to Dr. Tholen, which I am so thankful for. I am extremely confident in my choice to go with him over the other surgeons I have looked at and considered!

Sorry for the long post, I can't hardly handle my excitement!!

I’ve been watching so many YouTube videos of girls talking about their breast augmentation surgery, trying to get an idea of what the first few days are going to be like—everything from pain, pressure, swelling, how high up will the implants sit, etc. to ease my nerves and curiosity.

I’m still trying to decide what the final “look” is that I want! I’m 5’6”, 125 pounds and currently a small 32B. What do you think?!

Have a great weekend!