Effect 2
The
Effect of a Breast Reduction on my Life
In 2001, more
than 99,000 women had a breast reduction. When I talked to the doctor about
getting the surgery done myself he had told me he had already done several that
week. It’s hard to believe that so many women went through and are going
through the same thing as me. I wish that I could meet someone personally and
talk to them about the experience, but it’s not something that people always
openly discuss. The drastic change of a breast reduction, emotionally,
physically and socially comes with insecurities, fears and an all too sweet
relief in the end.
Even after a breast reduction, insecurities from before often stay with you because changing your breast size is a big change. I can’t help but feel insecure knowing that I will always have scars, a lot of possible partners would most likely not bother with me and I can’t blame them. Luckily I have a long-term boyfriend who supports me and helps me through it because I wouldn’t know how to tell a possible new boyfriend about the surgery. It’s hard to believe that what I went through is classified by so many as ‘plastic surgery’ because it wasn’t about looking better, it was about making myself feel better.
Effect 3
I know feel comfortable in my own skin, something I hadn’t felt since my breasts first appeared. As a kid I had promised myself a few things, and two of those promises were broken because of this surgery: Never to have any of my private areas photographed/filmed and never to have plastic surgery to alter how I look. I find my promise to my childhood was the hardest thing to break when deciding on wither to do the surgery or not. The idea of having my before and after pictures on government filmed just didn’t sit well with me, what’s worse is I don’t think they took them when I was awake. I think people look at me differently now, and I like starting fresh in college were my friends don’t know for the meantime. I’ve heard people talked about how they want bigger breasts and I hear the odd story about people who are suspected of having a breast reduction. I often want to speak up, just so people will take my opinion seriously. A breast reduction just isn’t something for people to feel better mentally about themselves, because there will just be new problems in the end.
There are a lot of possible complications that might occur after a surgery, and they scare me to death. In the future I’ll be able to find out wither or not I can breast feed, something I never got and something I might never be able to do. Some people of course tell me it’s for the best anyways because breast-feeding will ruin your chest in the end
Effect 4
and it even hurts some. The scars might never completely heal, or might not fade as well as they should have, this will always be odd because it’s liked I’m marked about what has happened to me. An even worse fear I have is the chance that I might grow into an awful size again. Not even a month after the surgery I went from a C cup to a D cup, which devastated me, after I went through so much I had to deal with the chance that in the future I might have to go through the surgery again. I should be thankful though, there is a high chance that my breasts could have grown back unbalanced, which is why the doctors request you to wait until you are older. There is nothing like not knowing what could affect you in the future, the reduction will keep effecting my life for years to come.
Even after all the pain the surgery has caused me, I haven’t felt this great in years. I’m thrilled to find a bra that fits me right, and it doesn’t even cost me eighty dollars! Bras are easy to find, and I can shop at Victoria Secrets, which is what every girl secretly needs once or twice in their life. When going out, I don’t feel like everyone is staring at my chest anymore. I can walk around with pride in a tank top if I want, without looking easy. I feel cute, I feel in proportion, and most of all I feel normal again. I’ve lost weight too because of the surgery, I now can move around easier and I started to do sports again, since I was able to fit into a sports bra again and not get total chest pains when running.
Effect 5
Sleep is the best through, I remember before how my chest always would get in my way, but now I can sleep comfortably on my side, or even on my back and I can even see my stomach when I sit up. No matter what pain this surgery cost, it was very worth it in the end.
The drastic change of a breast reduction, emotionally, physically and socially comes with insecurities, fears and an all too sweet relief in the end. Going through a breast reduction can change your life for years to come, it can make you feel better about yourself, but it can always make you feel worse. You need to put a lot of thought into wither you really want one or not, because once you decide you will be stuck with this choice forever.
