29 Years Old, Saying "Goodbye!" to my Tuberous Breasts! - St. Louis Park, MN

I never thought my breasts were attractive. My mother also has tuberous breasts, but we didn't know that it was a congenital defect. We just thought ours were different. It wasn't until I failed to produce more than drops of breast milk when I had my first child. I researched and researched and finally found my answer: tuberous breasts and insufficient glandular tissue.
Knowing I had always wanted implants to "fix" my breasts, I approached my doctor. She confirmed my self diagnosis and informed me that my insurance would cover reconstruction. It has been nearly four years since that diagnosis, and I have experienced countless bumps in the road. But finally I am having them fixed this coming summer! I'll finally have normal looking breasts!

Many people have no idea what tuberous breast defect is (many of those people are doctors) and many of them don't realize they may have it too.

If you've ever been pregnant, your asked "do you plan on breastfeeding?" Whatever your personal decision is/was, that's not my place to judge. But many of us say, "yes, I plan to breastfeed." I was one of those women. I took the classes, talked to lactation consultants, and I kept being told the same thing, all women can breastfeed. I asked a certain LLC after a class if she could take a look at me because I wasn't experiencing breast pain or changes like my fellow pregnant people. My breasts were still the same, save for nipple darkening. She said that breast come in all different shapes and sizes** and I should be fine. I didn't believe her for one minute. She dismissed all my concerns as paranoia and first time mom jitters. When my first child was born, I made drops. Literally. Drops. I drank tons of water, pumped all the time when my baby wasn't attached, took fenugreek. Nothing worked. I threw in the towel and it didn't effect me. I just kinda thought "Oh well!" And moved on. By the time I got pregnant with my second, I was determined NOT to quit. I WOULD breastfeed! But this time, I had learned a thing or two. I had self-diagnosed myself with insufficient glandular tissue and tuberous breasts. (Let me interject here a second: tuberous breast defect=\=insufficient glandular tissue in every case. You can have great looking boobs that look like they could make milk for days but end up finding out you have IGT once you have a child. On the flip side, you can have tuberous breasts but still have enough mammary tissue to make enough milk for your baby. Sadly, the amount of mammary tissue cannot be fully determined until you go through pregnancy and child birth. There is a way to get an idea of your mammary tissue amount, dye injected through your nipples and then either an x-Ray or mammogram. But since most doctors don't know jackshit about IGT or tuberous breasts, this option may not be known to them.)
Anyways, I went to a new LLC class and asked in front of all the soon to be mommies there, "what about tuberous breasts and IGT?" She didn't know what to say. I had to clarify what those things were and she still just shrugged.

When my second child was born, I produced more milk, but not enough to sustain him. IGT can self correct the more pregnancies you have, but obviously that's not a quick fix nor an answer for many women. I made about 1oz total without any supplements. I took more milk plus, encapsulated Brewers yeast, encapsulated oatmeal, I even encapsulated my own placenta, a whole bunch of myo-inositol, and plenty of water. I put my son to breast as often as he liked and had marathon pumping sessions. This time, I had two wonderful women on my side. They actually listened. They helped diagnose and correct my son's posterior tongue tie, which helped him be able to remove my milk much more affectively. They also supplied me with an SNS (supplemental nursing system). It helped keep our breastfeeding relationship going long after I would have quit. With all the outside help, I was able to hand express 2oz total per day in addition to whatever he was getting out. I was very happy that we were able to breastfeed until he felt he was done (around 9 months old, a little earlier than I had hoped, but oh well).

About five months after my son was born, I got the official tuberous breast stamp by my PCM. She had given me breast exams before, but I had always been lying down. Once I showed her in a normal sitting position, she exclaimed "Oh wow! Yup, those are tuberous!" She offered to do the nipple ink injection (galactogram) to determine the extent of my missing mammary glands. I declined, I knew I didn't have enough. Knowing exactly how much I was missing wouldn't change much. I was referred to a plastic surgeon and went off to meet him. He confirmed (again) but told me I had to stop breastfeeding for 9 months before they would do surgery. I wasn't prepared for that yet, so here I am, nearly four years after the birth of my last child getting ready for the big day.

**In my personal opinion, normal breasts do not come in all different shapes. Breasts are naturally cone shaped with a wide, circular base that is set close to your sternum with a lowish mammary fold. Tuberous breast are usually wide set, well away from the sternum. Have a high mammary fold and virtually no lower pole. All different sizes? Yes. All different shapes? I disagree.

Dr. Christensen, if you read this, I apologize in advance for being probably one of most annoying, picky, and know-it-all-y patients. Having researched and researched why my boobs are so messed up looking for the majority of my adult life so far, I've learned a lot more about the "perfect breasts" than I have about my condition. It seems humans care only about how breasts look than how they function :[
The most "beautiful" breasts are called "beckoning breasts". They have 45% of their volume on the top pole (TP) and 55% of their volume on the bottom pole (BT) and the nipple angles up at a 20 degrees. This is not only what the majority of the world considers perfect, but what I consider perfect as well. I'm personally not a fan of the high profile implants, they remind me of bubbles rather than breasts (no offense to those readers who opted for the high profile or are wanting that profile).

My doctor has her work cut out for her considering I have zero lower pole. Going from 0% to 55% is going to be an interesting challenge.

My magic number goal: 45-55-20!