breast solutions
by Jenny Bryan
Until she was 11, Elaine's breasts grew at the same rate as the other girls in her class. Then, almost overnight, they grew very big. At 17, she was a 36HH, and the effect of her large breasts on the people around her was inescapable.
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'I'd walk with my head facing down to the floor because of people staring at me for one thing and one thing only – my big breasts. Men generally talked into my chest and not with eye-to-eye contact,' she says.
Elaine is the first to say that her problem was hardly life threatening, but it was affecting her mentally and physically. Her large breasts embarrassed her and took away her confidence. They also gave her backache. She leaned forward when she walked and found herself bent over when she sat at her desk. On her shoulders were deep marks where her bra straps cut into her skin.
breast reduction
Elaine decided enough was enough and asked to see a breast specialist. He made some careful measurements of Elaine's rib cage, the size of her breasts and the distance from the top of her breastbone (her sternal notch) down to her nipples. All women's breasts drop slightly with age, but Elaine's consultant explained that, at 17, the distance from her sternal notch to each nipple should be 18-22cm. In Elaine's case it was much greater – 32cm. The diameter of her nipples was about twice the expected size too. Elaine was a suitable candidate for surgery to reduce the size of her breasts.
Each year, about 3,800 breast reduction operations are carried out on the NHS but, as big breasts are not considered a serious medical problem, women usually have to wait about two years for surgery. It's a major operation that takes about four hours and leaves some scarring and loss of breast sensation. In most cases it is unlikely a woman will be able to breast feed successfully.
An incision is usually made around the nipple and then upwards from the crease under the breast and around the areola. Leaving the nipple in place, the surgeons carefully strip away the top layer of skin on the lower part of the breast, separating the underlying fat and removing large amounts of white breast tissue from beneath.
The remaining breast tissue, including the nipple, is then gently pushed back under the skin and the incisions closed. A circular incision is made in the skin of the reshaped breast allowing the nipple to be gently pulled through. Moving on to the second breast, the surgeons do their best to ensure that it matches the first breast as closely as possible in size and shape.
Having made her decision to have breast reduction surgery, Elaine is convinced she is doing the right thing:
'I'm scared in a way because I've never had an operation before, but I'm glad that I'm going for it. I've got up and I'm doing something about my problem.'
(July 2004, resources updated January 2005)
