Breast Implants Gone After Five Years! - Orange County, CA

I am 30 years old professional, 5'7" and 115 lbs, now living in New York City. When I was 20 years old I moved to Los Angeles from Portland and was surrounded by full augmented breasts. I was a 34A at the time and had a lot of insecurities - one of them being my breast size. Five years later, I made the decision to get breast implants. I had a roommate at the time with breast implants and a boyfriend who was supportive of my decision - his beautiful x-girlfriend also had them. My roommate recommended her doctor in Orange County where I increased my cup size to a large B/small C with 265cc silicone implants. I was happy with my results the first few years, but looking back now I don't think I was ever fully comfortable with them - I would always wear sports bras and clothing/bikini tops that completely covered my breasts. I did not have a lot of breast tissue to begin with and given my small frame, I wished I would have gotten smaller implants. I never liked big breasts on thin women, I just wanted to have something there and was tired of wearing padded bras - a small B or 150 cc would have been a better fit.

After moving to New York few years ago, my insecurity escalated. The culture here is more conservative and natural beauty is emphasized and preferred. I found myself surrounded by attractive thin woman who had natural small breasts and were very confident. I felt especially uncomfortable during intimacy - every new guy would pop the "fake book" question in the first few minutes after taking my shirt off and I had to constantly explain myself. A few months ago, I met a conservative man and he ended our short romance after only two months. I thought part of the reason for the break-up was him being turned off by implants - perhaps it was just my insecurity overanalyzing. I heard that some men here would not date nor even hook-up with a girl who had implants. The more I thought about it, the whole idea of cutting your body open and sticking plastic balloons under the breasts and then proudly advocating them just seemed so bizarre and unattractive to me. This recent break-up was the final straw for me and lead me to the explant decision. What I really needed to work on was my confidence, which I always lacked.

Based on my research, the starting cost for implant removal in NYC was $6,000, but luckily, my original doctor in Orange County agreed to do it for $900. I booked my trip and had the procedure done on 12/3/13 using local anesthesia. I was concerned about my incision scar - cutting on top of the old scar, in my mind, could only lead to the same or worse scar. I requested my doctor to do scar revision by remove the old scar tissue at the time of surgery in hopes of getting a smaller scar and then doing everything in my power to eliminate it after - scar therapy, laser, etc. - which I was too lazy to do after getting my implants. He seemed hesitant, claiming that I already had a great scar and the scar revision was not necessary, but I insisted. For those concerned about their scar, I was also recommended waiting a year and then doing scar revision (around $200) by having a doctor neatly cut out the scar from the top skin layer (versus cutting through all skin layers during surgery) leading to much better scar results. My doctor also recommended getting flesh colored tattoo - for those with white scars.

It's two days post-op and I feel so liberated and happy. I finally feel like myself. I need to wear bandages around my breasts, along with incision tape, for two week. My breasts seem a bit smaller than I remember - this could be due to the fact that I lost 5 lbs since getting the implants. My breasts also feel a bit jello-like, which should improve according to other post and reviews on here. Another difference is my breasts seem to droop a little, which I actually prefer. I am excited to see the final results. I have plans to gain the 5 lbs back that I lost over the past 5 years - does not seem like much, but I think it makes a slight difference in my breast size - and hitting the gym five days a week again.

Things are going well, removed bandages few days ago and going back to the gym today. Also started scar therapy with silicone strips, Cortisol for two weeks and Mederma after Cortisol for another two weeks.

More photos. There is some slight breast "fluffing", but mostly just better lighting in these pictures. Too early to tell how the scar will look, hoping things will improve.