Size does matter: Why big breasts are a big problem
Last week I went to a consultation two plastic surgeons. Although this is a deliberate breast reduction, both doctors asked several times whether I was sure that I wanted size B, and whether it would be too small. Surprisingly, the cult of the big breasts did not bypass the professionals, who are regularly approached by women with the request to reduce it.
I want to tell you why E-size breasts are not luck and not luck, but a lot of worries and restrictions, and why I want to reduce it. In the lists of reasons for which patients seek breast reduction, aesthetics usually occupies the last place, and in the first place - pain, discomfort, skin irritation and restriction of physical activity. And this is not all the difficulties and troubles that creates a big chest.
I regularly go in for sports, go for a massage and walk a lot. My muscles, ligaments and bones are in excellent condition (even the anesthesiologist who gave me epidural anesthesia during labor, noted that the intervertebral ligament is very strong and said that this is typical of athletes). Apparently, it is only because of the lifestyle that I manage to somehow control the pain in the cervical and thoracic spine, but the discomfort is almost always felt. It is uncomfortable for me to sleep, because in one position the chest does not fit between me and the bed, and in the other there is discomfort in the already tired neck.
On one of the first visits to a plastic surgeon, I found out that, unlike magnifying mammoplasty, which in most cases (if you don’t take recovery from a mastectomy for breast cancer) is a purely aesthetic intervention and is subject to VAT (and in Spain, where I live , this is 21%), in my case, the reduction can be done for medical reasons with zero taxes. In America, such operations are sometimes fully paid by insurance companies because they are considered restorative.
The glandular tissue itself also hurts and bothers, because almost all bras, even sports, seamless or silk, squeeze something. I got so used to this pain that once I missed the acute onset of purulent mastitis, and I realized that it was happening to me only when the temperature jumped to 39.5. It was during lactation, when the son was six weeks old, and from further breastfeeding had to be abandoned. By the way, in terms of milk production, big breasts do not give any advantages: the baby was hungry, thin, and cried all the time until we started giving him a mixture, because my milk was not enough. In most cases, breast size is due to adipose tissue, not glandular tissue, and does not affect milk synthesis.
Big breasts are an extra part of the body that sweats and rubbed. “Standing” large breasts are almost never: if only in the first months after prosthetics, and then it will still hang, if the implants are heavy. In the heat, water is collected under the breast, and wet spots appear on the laundry. The fold between the skin on the chest and the lower surface of the breast is constantly itchy and irritated, and acne can appear on it. Scrubs and cleansers dry and injure thin skin, and you need to constantly moisturize it, and any excess cream again leads to clogged pores and acne, and the circle closes. If there are moles on the chest or under it, they also need special attention, because they are subject to constant friction.
For many years I have not had a single swimsuit that would really sit well and not cause inconvenience. From the beautiful strings, the neck begins to ache in the fitting room. All the swimsuits that I have are wildly expensive and take up half a box due to the huge hard cups designed to somehow hold the chest in place. About to fly to the resort and buy a swimsuit on the spot, in the tourist shop, there is no question. In any case, on the beach, I feel best in shorts and a T-shirt, because then the chest attracts less attention. I didn’t find a single sports swimsuit for chest size E on the Internet at all, even without reference to price and geography of delivery.
Many brands of lingerie do not release bras that are larger than C or D in size. Again, you have to buy expensive lingerie, wear them for several years, and wash them by hand, because this is a special purchase that requires a long search. I almost always buy British brands online lingerie; on the one hand, it is convenient, on the other - I am deprived of the pleasure to walk around the store, touch the lace and try on it as much as I like.
I envy those who can walk without a bra. Those who believe that wearing a bra is to indulge public opinion have simply never experienced the pain of walking without it. Now on Facebook there is a video with a good start (“bras are too expensive”), but with a strange final message: instead of “bras should be cheaper” they say that they simply do not have to be worn. But when the breast dictates the presence of a bra, the choice - whether to wear it or not - simply does not exist. Unfortunately, it remains true to hope that manufacturers will become more generous, develop super technologies and reduce prices.
I try to find bras for playing sports in American and English online stores, which often do not even make delivery to where I live. Sports underwear brands like adidas or Nike for me does not exist, because it does not exist in nature: they do not produce such sizes. Mikey with built-in "support" cause a nervous laugh - seriously, is it support? For sports? In the appendage, I would say that if I only need one sports bra for a rocking chair under a T-shirt, then for running I have to put on two, one on the other.
I squat with a lot of weight, but until I reduce my chest, I will not have the correct squat technique. Sit low does not work simply because of the displaced center of gravity. With push-ups, the same problem - the chest rests on the floor, and the arms are still half-bent. Sometimes I shudder, seeing myself in profile somewhere in the window - on the sensations my back is even, and in the reflection you can see a slight tilt forward.
And then there is the feeling of being an elephant in a china shop. When I enter a cramped space or a full subway car, I want to shrink and fall off so as not to touch or drop anything. Here, of course, my tendency to touch the walls and furniture plays a role, filling bruises and not noticing it, but a large chest definitely adds a sense of its own bulkiness and sluggishness.
I can not wear tight or things with a neckline, because they look at me. They look as if I specifically emphasize the chest and provoke it, although it is simply big and emphasizes itself if it is not actively attempted to disguise it. I do not have a single shirt (not fastened on the chest), and I only wear jackets unbuttoned. For about twenty years now I have been trying to buy a leather jacket and have not found one in size in which I could normally raise my arms. Some things for me simply do not exist - for example, dresses with an open back, which need to be worn without underwear.
I had to forget about shopping with personal presence in stores: Spanish XL (and occasionally L) are fastened on my chest, but great in all other places (and often short in sleeves, but this is a separate story about the difference of proportions). Many European brands do not do things that fit well on a big chest. Or even crawling on it without cod. In recent years, I buy everything online in America and every time I am glad that I basically have this opportunity.
Constant glances, from neat eyes to straight lines, when a person talks as if not with me, but with my breasts - this is the norm of my life for many years. It is worth thinking, to stretch a little or straighten your shoulders (and I often need it because of discomfort in the thoracic spine) - and it’s better to rest your eyes on a book or iPhone, because everyone is looking around. They look not only and not so much as at the sex object, as at the museum exhibit, and, frankly, I do not know what is worse.
I have some nicely fitting dresses that I don’t wear because I know that they will stare at me. I walk in closed T-shirts, even in the very heat, not only because they protect from the sun, but also because I better sweat and overheat than feel like an object of other people's views. I do not understand why I should defend myself against the aggressors and wear not what I like, but what will make me less noticeable, but, unfortunately, I have to do it. It is stupid, but I allow myself to wear some things only when I go out with my husband, because then I feel protected - they look, they look, but at least they are silent. It turns out that with an underlined chest you are automatically an object, and the lesser of two evils is to create conditions so that this is not so obvious to yourself.
It is worth mentioning in a conversation the inconvenience or problems associated with big breasts - and everyone thinks that you are flirting: "Come on, everyone wants a big breast." In fact, it is not; most want a rounded, not saggy, neat chest of size B or C, and not at all large. In one study, it turned out that both men and women like medium and large breasts equally; at the same time, large breasts were meant to be size D. That is, the authors of the study, like many clothing manufacturers, simply ignored the existence of women with really big breasts.
At the same time, increasing mammoplasty is indeed the most popular operation, much simpler technically than a reduction or a lift, and more often carried out for aesthetic rather than medical reasons. At the Russian forum dedicated to plastic surgery, 250 thousand messages in the section "Mammoplasty (breast augmentation)" and only 30 thousand in the section "Lift and Reduce Breasts." It is possible that such popularity of implants gives the impression that “everyone wants a big breast,” although in most cases they want just a little more or a bit rounder than they are.
And most people have personal preferences, and now I just do not like the big breasts aesthetically. I have already said that I consider all people beautiful because they came into being at all, because life is a real miracle; but it does not contradict the fact that someone likes blue eyes more than brown, and someone else is attracted by curly hair. I like healthy skin, white teeth, thick eyebrows and small breasts, and I'm working on it. In my plans before the end of this year, breast reduction, and then I will definitely tell you whether my expectations from the operation were met.
Photo: staras - stock.adobe.com, ryanking999 - stock.adobe.com, staras- stock.adobe.com
