To want to get a breast reduction done privately?

[basilbrush]

I am 35 and have breastfed 3DC for a year each. With the last baby, my boobs didn't shrink back like they did before. They were always big (D cup) but now they are a massive F cup. I am a size 10 on the bottom half so this makes me look even more out of proportion. I am a healthy BMI but I have been dieting in desperation to see if results in a cup size reduction. Although I lost 7lbs, my bra size has not changed one bit.

Shallow as it sounds, all this is making me very miserable. I have a cupboard full of clothes I can't wear and at work, I feel like my chest is the focus of the conversation, rather than anything else. I find myself in tears a couple of times a week as I try to get dressed... I am very proud of myself for breastfeeding my children but now don't feel like myself anymore.

I could afford just about to save up for a BR (breast reduction) over the next year and it is something I really want to do. My DH is dead set against it, however. He is wonderful and supportive in all other ways but this seems to really upset him. His main reasons are:

1. Risks of the operation / complications etc which are totally avoidable as it's not a vital procedure
2. I am being shallow / superficial and should just get a grip and learn to love myself. There are people with much bigger problems in the world etc
3. I am setting a negative example to my daughters about body image
4. I am selfishly wasting money (5-6K) that we need in our savings
5. I may have permanent scarring that he may find ugly and off-putting

I can see that he has very valid points apart from perhaps the last one...? AIBU?

[badbride]

Sorry, bad grammar there: I mean second only to root canal work as a favourite activity!

[goodasitgets]

When you say breastbone, are you meaning the centre wires aren't lying flat?

[Lweji]

Badbride, are you selecting the correct cup size for the 34 bands? If the cup is too small, it will raise the wires. You should go up one cup size from 36 to 34 band.

[Lweji]

On the other hand, I checked with my sister, who would be a size 8, but no boobs, and she is a 34 band, tight!

[Lweji]

OP, could you get a well fitting bra, or a reduction bra, and adjust your clothes so that the breasts fit better.
A good fitting bra positions your breasts so that they don't give that huge cleavage on show and the right clothes won't show them off so much. Think V necks.

[goodasitgets]

Between the variation in women and the horrendous bra fitters it's a wonder anyone wears the right bra
I'm a size 16 but wear a 32 or 34 band

[Theodorakiss]

Went for maximum scar minimum risk.best ever being able to buy a bra that fitted without having to lift them in. Now 34c but a bit scary,look like a scarred 20 year old in the mirror ratherthan a 40 year old with boobs that, in the bath, cover my belly button

[treaclesoda]

The variation in women is something that manufacturers have taken a long time to catch on to.

I mean, when I was a teenager and started buying my clothes in grown up shops, womens clothing came in a 10, 12 or 14. I'm only in my 30s, so we're only talking 20 years ago. It took a long time for shops to start selling longer leg lengths, shorter leg lengths etc. Bra manufacturers have finally realised that there are more then 32-38 back sizes, and more than B to D cups.

Now, if we could get manufacturers (aside from Pepperberry, whose clothes are always disappointing) to realise that women of the same basic size might have smaller or bigger boobs, we might have everything sorted.

I can but dream...

[EmmaBemma]

I have had a breast reduction and am happy to talk about my experiences if you think it would help. Certainly there is scarring but after nearly 10 years it is very faint and not raised at all, and my husband does not in the slightest find it off-putting and never really has, though we were both a bit alarmed by my immediate post-operative appearance. I can honestly say, without exaggeration, that it changed my life and is the best £3600 I ever spent! I did qualify for surgery on NHS but the waiting list in my area was 18 months and I didn't want to wait that long once I'd made the decision.

All that said, obviously it's ultimately your decision and I'd never advise anyone to have plastic surgery. It could well be, as people suggest here, that some properly fitting bras and clothes would make all the difference to how you're feeling.

[Lweji]

I'd certainly give a go at proper clothes and bras before deciding for surgery.

[badbride]

goodasitgets and Lweiji -- don't want to derail the thread, so briefly: yes, I do pick a larger cup size when going from 36 to 34. Sometimes the wires don't sit flat in the middle of my chest, other times they do, but the cups are a bit too big. Sometimes they're fine. Ugh. TBH, it's been so long since I went shopping (hate it so much) that I can't remember for sure! But I do know that more 36s fit me than 34s.

So, OP, fret not, the crappy high-street bra system in this country may be partly to blame for your troubles, and could be helped, as others have said, by a trip to a proper underwear shop.

[PennyJennyPie]

This comment is completely unscientific and you should probably disregard it but personally I would never do a breast reduction despite an E cup gone up to an H cup now when BFing. The reason for this is that both I and my mum thought that her breast reduction was one of the reasons she got breast cancer and died at 62. Basically, it is major surgery so why cut it open if it is not needed?

But again,completely unscientifically and I am sure that if there was a scientific link it would be publicised so you should make up your own mind.

[Bogeyface]

Penny that is not only completely unhelpful but utter crap. I am so sorry that you lost your mum but posting comments like that on a thread where several of us have had this surgery is scaremongering.

In fact, studies have suggested that BR surgery can reduce a womans chance of getting breast cancer. I suggest you think before you post something like this in future.

[Gruntfuttock]

I am horrified to learn from this thread that they can grow back to their pre-op size after a reduction!

I am 40G and desperate to have a reduction, but it would break my heart if I went to all the expense, not to mention risks of surgery and discomfort/pain and recovery, only to find myself back to square one after a while.

[Bogeyface]

Mine did grow to a significant size when I put weight on with having the kids but they shrank again when I lost the weight, which they never did pre surgery, they were massive whether I was a size 10 or 20.

[Lazysuzanne]

I'm quite shocked to hear that people have had breast reduction ops only to find that their breasts had reverted to the former size a few years down the line.

I appreciate that some of what is removed is fat tissue which can be regained but I'd have thought that the skin 'envelope' of the breast would have also been reshaped & made smaller so that even if some fat had been regained the breast would have a more uplifted shape still?

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

Grunt I used to think I was a 40 back, I now wear a 34 despite being a very similar weight.

What is your actually under-boob measurement before you start adding anything on in the manner of M&S?

[LustyBusty]

downstairsmixup only 10 inches? I'm waist 36, back 39 and hanging boobies 53. that makes me über freak? Perhaps a name change is in order?

[PatPig]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassiere_measurement#Calculating_cup_volume_and_breast_weight

F cup can be anything between 4.1lb per breast (44F), and 1.2lb (28F). 28F is not small, but it is below average (36D is the average, equivalent to 28FF).

[Gruntfuttock]

Alibabaandthe40nappies unfortunately I really am a 40G after putting on a lot of weight when I was prescribed SSRI type anti-depressants. I but my bras from the wonderful Bravissimo and the bra fits perfectly. I bloody hate being this size though.

Even when I was slimmer (size 10/12) I was a 34DD. It's rotten being top-heavy because of the way clothes look, but I am also 'short-waisted' too, meaning my top half is very short but my inside leg measurement is 33".

[DownstairsMixUp]

Ha wow lusty busty should we start a freaks only boon thread? Minimum 9 inch difference for being accepted!

Out of curisioty though I measure 28 inches under bust currently and 38 bent over. What would that make me?

[Binkyridesagain]

Downstairs, 28G. I think. I'm counting on my fingers whilst 2 teens are arguing and I keep losing count.

[DownstairsMixUp]

Thanks :) I've lost weight so finding current 30 back size bras are riding up my back!

[SorrelForbes]

DownstairsMixUp That's a 10" difference so try a 28GG.