415cc HP Natrelle Inspira | 32B to 32DDD | 5’5”, 120lb, 21 y/o

It's been many years of hard thoughts, mirror stare-offs and self-consciousness leading up to this review, but hopefully this means that the end is near (sort of). I am currently living in Austin, TX and had considered traveling for my surgery so that I could achieve the best possible result, but after doing some research on the doctors in my area, it seemed like I wasn't missing out on anything by staying in Texas. I had consultations with three doctors: Ven Erella, Sergio Maggi and Dustin Reid. All of them were exceptionally charming and made me feel very comfortable; in the end it was a tough decision, but I went with Dr. Reid, mostly because he had the highest level of training and had received the most recognition from his practice out of the three. My surgery is booked for January 4, 2018 and I just had my pre-op a few days ago!
Some stats of mine:
21 years old
5'5"
120 lb (or 115-125)
32B to begin with
athletic build
12/12.5 BWD
Going for a D cup - probably Natrelle Inspira Silicone Round Full Profile 385cc or 415cc

Welp, I'm one week in and so far everything has been great. I love my size; definitely no boob greed here. Sometimes I wonder if I've gone too big, but I have to keep reminding myself that they are not done healing yet. The day of surgery went really smoothly. Obviously it was still a very frightening, unique experience but Dr. Reid, his nurses and the anesthesiologist made me feel really comfortable. Everyone says walking into the operating room is the worst part, but to me, it just felt like a special moment. It's important to think of the "big picture" in times like these and not just see it in a literal sense. That is what helped me. Plus, everything moves so fast anyways, you hardly have time to really think about what's going on. As I walked into the operating room, I saw the table to my right and a big TV screen in front of me with all of the wish pictures I had provided. I made an effort not to look too much around the room, for fear I'd catch a glimpse of a scalpel or something and lose my [RS bleep]. Lol. I laid down on the table, the anesthesiologist let me know he was putting something in my IV that would make me "not care about anything" haha. That was pleasant to hear. I felt a rush of cold and then my vision started to slow down immediately, sort of like being really drunk. He was right, it did make me not care about anything, which made my last moments of consciousness very peaceful. I knew I was in good hands. Next thing I knew, my eyes were opening slowly and the rest of my body was coming back to life. I was laying in a comfy bed, inside a recovery room, wearing panties and the Coobie bra they gave me. My mom was sitting in a chair a few feet away smiling and greeting me as I re-entered the world with my new set of [RS bleep]. I felt happy and relieved once I realized it was over. I ended up going with the 415s and I'm loving them so far, although I think I would have been just as satisfied with the 385s. The first few days of recovery went by pretty fast due to all the heavy meds making me sleepy. I got the Exparel injection as well, which I think helped a tremendous amount. The worst part of my whole recovery so far has been the tightness I feel on my skin. It was so bad the first couple days, I couldn't even stand up straight. The skin feels so taught and stretched to the maximum - definitely not a good feeling. But, they have made lots of progress within this first week and don't feel nearly as tight anymore. I had my first post-op appointment yesterday and that was the first thing my patient coordinator noticed. Apparently my swelling was still pretty bad too, and she seemed to be concerned about the skin between my breasts the most. I was instructed to keep a rolled up washcloth between them whenever I could, continue sleeping elevated and continue taking the muscle relaxer every 8 hours. After doing some research later I realized I was doing all these things to help prevent Symmastia. This realization absolutely terrified me and now I am taking every measure to insure that doesn't happen. It would be a true nightmare. Dr. Reid is an amazing plastic surgeon, though, and I have confidence that nothing is severe yet and he and his team will take the best possible care of me, no matter what. Now, onto the next few weeks of massaging and moisturizing 24/7!

What a fun and interesting month it has been! Time is honestly flying and they are looking and feeling better and better by the day.

Things I've learned:

- MOISTURIZE. Starting on day 1. For the entire first week, I didn't put anything on my skin because I wasn't instructed to. At my first post-op, they seemed concerned about the dryness of my skin and ordered me to moisturize immediately and often to prevent stretch marks. I'm now using coconut oil, two types of body butter, bio-oil, shea butter and vitamin E oil in rotation. No stretch marks here!!

- After the initial pain is over, I don't think it's possible to massage too much. You'd be surprised at how soft they get so soon after surgery!! It's exciting to see the progress. I try to give mine a squeeze every few hours.

- DON'T ITCH. I hadn't done my research before satisfying the occasional itches I would get on my skin, but it turns out itching them is terrible and only worsens your chances of stretch marks. Just keep moisturizing instead and use hydrocortisone if the itching gets too bad!

- Proceed with caution when working in the kitchen. I thought I was all clear to start chopping veggies and getting back to my normal cooking practices after a week or two, but I didn't realize how much I use my chest muscles when handling heavy pans and stuff. It left me sorer than I needed to be.

- When you think the swelling is all gone, there's probably quite a bit left. I was starting to let my opinions form by the one-week mark based on the size they were at that point, but after another week had passed and I compared photos, I saw that the true size of the implants was still hiding behind a wall of swelling. Oops!

- You may inflict self-consciousness upon your smaller-chested friends when you break the news to them. This was something I never considered and it has been heart-wrenching every time I've encountered it. To think that my efforts to help myself feel better have, in return, imposed those same feelings I had on other people just sucks. And not just any people, some of my closest friends, whom I care about a lot and want to see thrive and love themselves. A couple of them have mentioned that they now want boob jobs and might begin looking into them. If I can use my experience to help lead my friends to a happier life, then hooray! But the thought of them having to endure the bad stuff first, especially if it's brought on by my actions / results, makes me sad.

- Lastly, those 3D portrayals are a load of [RS bleep]. I know I'm only a month in, but my actual results do not compare to my 3D images at all, in terms of size or shape. I wouldn't take them into consideration too much when making your decision. I found the use of wish pictures to be much more accurate.

Other than that, I could say that my recovery has been pretty flawless! I got the strap at my 3-week appointment (if you don't know what the strap is, it's an elastic band that you wrap tightly around the top of your boobs to help force them into taking a more natural shape) and it's been doing wonders for me so far. I'm trying to be really careful not to overdo it so they don't bottom out! That would be terrible.

I seriously couldn't be happier with my results. Every step of this process has been like a dream come true and I would definitely say it's been well worth the time and money spent. My boyfriend is absolutely ecstatic and can't wait to see them in a week when I go visit him (we're long-distance). My friends are all very happy and excited for me, too. This experience is so much fun. I will always remember it for being such a sweet time in my life where my self-esteem finally changed directions. Each day is like waking up on Christmas morning because I get to put on a new shirt that I haven't seen myself in post-surgery and see their crazy fast progress in the mirror. I could go on forever, but my point is, this has been a wonderful month for me and I would recommend both this procedure and my surgeon to anyone who is looking for a more comfortable reality.

I'll update again at 3 months!

Side note: I got sized for a bra today, just to see what they were at, and they put me down for 32DDD... holy cow.