Breast Reductions are More Common Than You Think

B By Maria Qualtere

She was staring in the mirror of a fitting room at Nordstrom’s when she heard the news: her breasts, freshly measured, clocked in at a 32DDD, the equivalent of an F-cup. Emma Smith (name changed due to anonymity request) broke down into tears. Images of dresses that never fit her on top, and bathing suits that covered only a fraction of her assets came front and center. At that moment, Smith decided she needed to go under the knife.

Plastic surgeons performed 83,241 breast reduction surgeries last year, with nearly 13,500 of them on 20-somethings like Smith. Socially, we accept that these symbols of womanhood take on many forms—perky or droopy, pointy or round, according to breast expert Elisabeth Dale, author of “Boobs: A Guide to Your Girls.” But when they reach supersized status, breasts present both physical and psychological problems for the women carrying them. It is then that breast reduction surgery becomes a feasible and highly recommended option by doctors and past patients.

Alex Piechota, a senior at Syracuse University, waited four years to have the surgery. She found out it was an option her senior year of high school, but insurance companies denied her requests until her junior year at SU. As a 36DDD, people around her recommended she go down to just a C, but she chose B-cup. “I absolutely did not want any remains of large boobs,” she said. “I wanted to go as small as I could without looking weird for my body type.”

Piechota’s rocky relationship with her breasts began in high school. As a cheerleader, she forced her endowments into two layers of sports bras at a time and visited a chiropractor three to four times a week for back and shoulder problems. According to a study published in the Journal of Health Psychology, women primarily downsize to reduce physical symptoms such as shoulder, back, and neck pain. The extra weight on top also contributes to bad posture. Smith, a senior at SU, was diagnosed with scoliosis at a young age. When her cup size surged, her doctor advised that surgery should be part of her future plans.

In addition to health problems, both Piechota and Smith faced unwanted attention from peers. In Piechota’s case, high school classmates took notice and made uncomfortable comments. Her next-door neighbor nicknamed her “Boobs,” and she dreaded wearing a bathing suit because she couldn’t avoid remarks from men she’d never met. “I really hated the attention I was getting because I thought I was more than just my chest size,” she said.

It didn’t bother Smith when people looked at her chest, because she never had small breasts and never really knew the difference. But on Halloween in 2009, she reached another breaking point. She dressed as “white trash” and wore a white wife-beater, jean shorts, and an Ed Hardy hat. A male partygoer asked her if her breasts were real or part of her costume. “I didn’t know what to answer, I just stared at him,” she said.

For both girls, shopping became a dreaded activity. When it came time to find a prom dress, Piechota purchased a size 16 to fit her top, and tailored the rest to a size 8. Smith could barely zip a size 14, but the rest of the dress draped loosely around her waist and swallowed her 4-foot-11-inches frame. In the spring of her junior year, Smith studied abroad in Madrid, Spain and couldn’t find anything in European clothing stores that fit her. While still abroad, she made the appointment to have the surgery stateside, met the doctor the day after she returned home, and had the surgery six days later.

After a four-hour procedure, she successfully went from an F to a C-cup. Though the recovery process was a bit grueling, and prohibited her from summer activities such as tanning and swimming, her new, proportional figure made it worthwhile. “I looked down, and for the first time in a while, I was able to actually see my feet,” Smith said.

Piechota’s surgery occured in August 2010, and by September she was back to her normal routine, which included dance classes. “I remember the first time I leaped in a studio [post-operation], I literally felt 10 pounds lighter,” she said. In fact, the total weight removed from her breasts in the reduction process was roughly 10 pounds.

To prep for the surgery, plastic surgeons mark up the chest in permanent marker to denote incisions. Lines are drawn around the nipple and down from the center of it. During the procedure, the breasts are cut open, fat is removed, and the nipples are relocated. The six-week recovery period ensures that the breast muscle heals together properly, and that all nerve endings operate correctly due to the nerve damage that occurs during the surgery. Although it is a major operation, breast reduction patients are often the happiest plastic surgery patients, said Dale. “They don’t mind the scars, or care if their boobs are perfect,” she said. “They’re just grateful to have a positive relationship with their breasts for the first time in their lives.”

The psychological health benefits of breast reduction surgery—increased self-esteem, energy, and motivation—that accompany the physical health benefits make the surgery such a patient-pleaser. “Just being able to look in the mirror and be completely happy with myself, going to the chiropractor and having him say, ‘This is the best you’ve looked in the eight years I’ve seen you’—that kind of stuff is what makes it completely worth it,” said Piechota. “It was a liberating, powerful thing.”

The notion that “bigger is better” has become taboo to the women who are putting their health first and having the surgery. Women are not only having breast reductions—there has been a 6 percent increase in the amount of reduction surgeries in the past year—but women, including celebrities, are having breast implants removed, according to Dale. Celebrities like Queen Latifah and Drew Barrymore have had breast reductions, while Victoria Beckham, Sharon Osbourne, and even Pamela Anderson have had implants removed for many of the same reasons women have reductions—the weight of the breasts is uncomfortable and clothes are harder to fit into. In 2010, 14,991 patients who had undergone breast augmentations had their implants removed. “One woman told me she got implants and said it’s like driving a Porsche all the time when sometimes you just want to get into a minivan. You don’t want to be big all the time,” Dale said. Still, Dale believes that our society is greatly affected by airbrushed celebrities and magazine covers, most of whom she said are a B or C-cup, making that size seem like the “normal size.” In reality, the average bra size of a woman today is an E-cup, a size that most undergarment stores do not even have in stock.

Pre-surgery, both Piechota and Smith said they were busting out of their bras, adding another inconvenience as a result of their chest size. This was a common problem not because women’s breasts are too large, but rather the bra industry does not properly cater to the well-endowed. “Women tend to blame their bodies rather than the fact we can’t easily buy a custom-made bra,” Dale said. “When a bra doesn’t fit, rather than thinking ‘Oh, it’s like jeans, I have to try on 22 pairs before I find one that makes my butt look perfect,’ we instead think, ‘What’s wrong with my boobs?’”

Every woman has a different relationship with her breasts, but Dale said women think of breasts in two sizes—too big or too small. It’s when the “too big” starts to interfere with everyday life that breast reductions become a viable option, and, most importantly, a decision women make for themselves. “When you have big boobs, you know the downfalls of it. You know you have back problems, and you know you don’t get much face time,” said Smith. “I didn’t worry what guys were going to think when I got the surgery—that wasn’t even a thought in my mind.”

While big breasts may seem an enviable asset to attract the opposite sex, Dale said this is a myth. “Just because you show a man a 32 oz. steak doesn’t mean he can eat that 32 oz. steak,” she said. “He may very well prefer to eat a 12 oz. steak, and I think it’s the same way with breasts.” After her drastic downsize, Piechota has been active with “plenty of guys,” and believes the idolized notion that bigger breasts are better is “out of control.” In the end, she agrees with Dale, that breast size doesn’t matter to men. “Maybe they do prefer large breasts, or small breasts, but in the end it doesn’t matter because they’re seeing boobs,” she said. “The end prize is there—it doesn’t matter what size they are.”

Breast reduction surgery produces numerous benefits, but at the top of the list is the power it gives to women to feel more confident about themselves. Everyday occurrences like face-to-face conversations, changing clothes, and looking in the mirror become more pleasant, and shopping is no longer daunting, according to a study about women’s reasons for getting breast reductions, published in the Plastic Surgical Nursing Journal.

Post-surgery, Smith had another dressing room breakdown. She was shopping for a formal dress, and burst into tears when a size 4 dress zipped all the way to the top. She bought it on the spot.

“I went from a size 14 to a 4,” she said. “It’s a really ugly dress, and I’ve never worn it, but I had to buy it because it fit me.”