Sometimes, too much of a good thing... well...

[cjsmith]

Anybody here ever undergone breast reduction?

I do not mean "have heard about it" or "a friend's sister once" or "I read some horror stories on the web" -- I would like to hear from someone who's been through it. If that's you, I'd love it if you were willing to answer some (any or all of the) questions I have. Comments are screened for your privacy. I will be careful to re-screen comments immediately after replying to them, unless you tell me explicitly that it's okay to unscreen. Sadly, I've been hit by anonymous comment spam too often to enable anonymous comments.

Feel free to link to this post.

I'm considering a mild reduction via liposuction, the least invasive procedure I can find out there. Given what I've read on the web so far, I think I'd even qualify for insurance coverage for reduction. I'd like to know as much as I can before I make any decision. Medical facts and statistics I can read on the web; personal experiences, joys and regrets, and the details of daily life during recovery are harder to come by.

- Did you do the surgical (knife) method or the liposuction method? Why? Are you content with your choice?

- How long was recovery: a) until you went back to work, b) until you were basically comfortable, c) until you could do anything you could do before, d) until there weren't gory visible reminders of the procedure?

- Anything you didn't expect during the prep, procedure, recovery?

- Are you happy, overall, that you did it?

- What benefits were you hoping to achieve by having this done? Did you get those benefits? Any unexpected bonus positives?

- What negatives did you foresee? Did they come to pass? Any unexpected regrets?

- How much did it cost? Did insurance cover any part of it?

- Did this affect your self-image, how much you like your physical appearance, in any way positive or negative? If you have a partner who was with you before/during/after, to your knowledge did it affect how he or she enjoys your physical appearance, in any way positive or negative?

- What other question(s) should I be asking you? Anything else you want to add?

edit: Screening isn't working! Someone other than me, please put a test comment?
edit edit: Yep, it's working.

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It probably wouldn't help my feet, although I've heard secondhand that I would suddenly notice the weight of my hair and thus might wind up shrinking that a bit too. :-)

I've been growing steadily since I was a young teen. I think it's due at least in part to the hormones, which I can't discontinue without much worse surgery. This boobage has gotten out of hand. Um, pun not intended!

Thanks for the web link!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

http://www.bfar.org, breast feeding after reduction.

Title Nine doesn't appear to go small enough in the band size for me. I admit I've considered trying their Last Resort bra anyway. Fifty-six smackers for something I can't try on and is billed as too large... well, that's why I haven't tried it yet, but it could make me postpone surgery, so it might still be worth a shot.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yes, their return policy does seem good. And I would be unsurprised to find clueful phone people at Title Nine.

I'm not sure I know my real bra size because nothing has ever fit properly. I wear a 32D which is very obviously too big in the band and very obviously too small in the cup. I would guess I'm a 30 or 28, with whatever letters the manufacturer thinks are one or two sizes past D. For any major masher bra, I suspect the exact rib/cup combo might not matter as much as the total diameter and crush strength. Heh, I just said "crush strength" when talking about boobage! :-)