27 Year Old No Longer Willing to Live with Pain

I cannot adequately put into words how much reading about other people's experiences going through a breast reduction has helped me finally decide to go through with surgery. I knew for a long time that it was available as an option, and I toyed around with the idea, but several factors kept me from considering it as a serious possibility: not thinking I was that big, seeing woman larger than me who hadn't done surgery, feeling guilty and lazy for not trying hard enough to do back exercises or look for better bras, not fully realizing how it was affecting my health and quality of life, fear of surgery, etc. I'm sure many of these feelings and thoughts are familiar to you. But finding this website and reading stories from other people who had successfully done surgery and how much it had improved their lives gave me that push I needed to overcome my anxiety (of which I have much), fear, and laziness (I'll be honest, the amount of work and social interaction I knew I would have to go through was a deterrent). So to give back what little I can, I have decided to share my story. If it helps just one other woman it'll be worth it. I will make another post soon with pictures and more detail on my current situation.

I doubt any of these symptoms will shock you, chances are you've experienced many of them, but I think it's important to paint the entire picture of my "before". I have back and shoulders pain that makes my nightly foam roller routine essential. I have marks, scars, and indents from my bra. I currently wear a 38DDD Maidenform bra which has provided the most support and coverage out of the bras I've found, which I just buy over and over again as my boobs decimate the elastic. Unfortunately, the trade off has been that a couple of times, when the bras has fit the most snuggly, I've gotten a painful cyst on my left shoulder where the bra strap rubbed my skin. Not pretty. Also, as a twenty something who pretty much deals with acne everywhere, the sweat from the cleavage any bra inevitably creates gives me acne marks in between my breasts. I actually haven't had a rash under my breast in a really long time, but maybe that is just because I rarely let my sagging boobs hang free nowadays, except in the shower obviously. Going braless is as uncomfortable and sweaty as you would expect. As I mentioned, I currently wear 38DDD bras, but recently I have realized I really am more of a G cup. I bought a Lane Bryant sports bra online that's a 38G and it is the first real sports bra I have found that actually covers all of my chest. I was previously wearing a tight lumpy granny bra by Hanes. Having a real sports bra that combats moisture has made my new foray into kickboxing much more comfortable. Though my back still screams when I take the bra off. Anyway, I think that's enough of my sob story for now. I know many women have had it much worse. But I'm still really looking forward to smaller boobs, and hopefully fewer of these problems.

Note: I'm having trouble uploading photos from my tablet, so I will put them in a separate post.

Finally, here are my before pictures. I know I find the reviews with before and after pictures the most helpful. And the way I see it, these won't be my boobs much longer, so it doesn't matter who can see them.