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Old 02-28-2012, 08:29 AM
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nikkiARNGwife nikkiARNGwife is offline
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It's been 11 years since I had mine and still one of the best decisions ever...I copied this from another thread from a while back that I posted...

I was probably about 125 lbs and 5'7" at the time...my breasts were HUGE...they had always been..I developed early and by the time I was a senior in high school they were a 34 DD cup..and they didn't stop growing. I had horrible back pains, terrible self-esteem and was so young at the time it was just ridiculous.

My first advice is to go to a specialty bra shop and get FITTED. A lot of people think they're at DDD cup b/c that's the biggest they can find in stores and I was the same way, for years I would smoosh mine into DDD cups and even at one point wore one bra to hold them up and another on top of that to minimize them. Finally I went to a specialty shop and had myself measured and found out I was wearing a bra 3 sizes too small. I paid 160 dollars for 2 bras that fit for the first time in my life and left that shop determined to have a reduction...in fact I called and made an appt with my OB the next day.

I told him my concerns and he agreed there was no doubt my insurance would pay for it. (I had blue cross at the time before I was married) He referred me to a plastic surgeon and I was approved within a couple of months. I was teaching at the time so I scheduled my surgery during the summer b/c the recovery is slow..not so much as in the actual healing time, but you can't lift or do heavy stuff for several weeks.

The surgery itself was a 23 hr admit so I stayed overnight and was on a morphine drip. I had incisions (okay this may be a little TMI but here it is lol) from my armpit all the way under each breast..from the midpoint under my breast up to my nipple and entirely surrounding my nipple. I will warn you...DON"T LOOK AT THEM the first couple of days. When I got home - 2 days post op I was going to be all brave and change my bandages myself...I was standing in the bathroom, took one look and passed out cold. So at first you're going to think WHAT HAVE I DONE..but that's only for like a day lol..by 1 week post op the soreness was almost completely gone and I was beginning to heal very nicely. By 2 weeks the swelling was almost gone and I bought my first ever size C cup bra lol.

As far as how much they take I told him that knowing they would get larger after surgery (they will) I wanted as much out as possible.

I didn't have any complications other than one little stitch got a touch infected..and out of about 100 stitches I thought that was pretty good lol.

It's a major surgery and the pain is not fun, but compared to my C-section pain it was way more tolerable.

One of my concerns going in was breast feeding b/c I knew I wanted to one day. He said that I should be able to and I did produce milk and attempt to breast feed with both kiddos, but was never really that successful...DS was a preemie so we had latch issues..I was never sure if it was my supply with him, but with DD I had no latch issues and she seemed to nurse fine but was not gaining weight...I'm not positive it was to do with the surgery but even so I would have still gone through with it.

You may also develop what is called "fat necrosis" which is basically tissue in your breast that "dies" and forms itself into hard balls. I found one in 2006 and totally freaked b/c I thought it was a lump but after having it checked found out that it was necrosis and due to my surgery. I have a very large area of it but I also had a very extensive surgery with 7 1/2 lbs removed and bascilly my breasts picked up and put back where they were supposed to be lol...

sorry to write a book, but it's something that was really life changing for me

ETA: fat necrosis is completely benign and painless..just like scarring on the inside and they will grow some..especially if you gain weight..11 years later I'm in a D cup now but they are still perky which they had NEVER been and when I lose weight I usually get back into a C cup. In all my surgeon removed 7 1/2 lbs from my breasts.
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