
“I remember lifting my blanket and my chest looked flat. I was so excited. I don’t think you can quite understand the emotional and psychological impact unless you’ve lived it yourself.”
When we asked women to explain exactly what it’s like to make the decision to have, and then actually have, a breast reduction, the overwhelming response was one of relief.
One likened it to having bricks lifted off your chest. Another said, before undergoing breast reduction surgery at 17, she felt like she was looking at a 35-year-old woman’s body, after breastfeeding, when she saw her reflection in the mirror.
While breast reductions and breast lifts may have been taboo a decade ago, more and more women are using the surgical procedure – which The Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons Inc (ASPS) defines as reducing the size of overly large breasts – to take control of their own bodies.
In the 2017-2018 financial years, 11,886 individual breast reduction claims were made, the Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows. That number has increased by 1,289 from 2016-2017, and is more than 2000 greater than it was five years ago.
Women of all ages are getting breast reductions – the stats show the procedure is most common among women aged 45-54, followed closely by 35-44 and 15-24.
While we’re here and talking about our breast health, here’s a recap of some of the many shapes and sizes breasts come in – perky, saggy, uneven and everything in between. Post continues after video.
For the women we spoke to having a breast reduction, they felt they had always been defined by their breasts. Their breasts entered rooms before they did, wouldn’t fit into the clothes they wanted to wear, attracted attention they didn’t ask for, and, in some cases, caused severe neck, shoulder and back pain.
They were also often the target of envy, something 24-year-old Alexia could never understand. Who would want to carry the physical and emotional burden of large breasts, literally, on their chest?
Top Comments
It's fascinating to hear the other side of the problem I had for so many years. I was a 32A (US sized) for years all through highschool, and horribly insecure about it. My friends had larger breasts and thought that my complimenting theirs gave them a pass to tease me about mine. I finally gave up waiting for them to grow when I was 19 and just tried to accept that I was what I was. At almost 20, I got a hormonal IUD and could have cried when my breasts immediately shrank away to nothing, not even able to fill out an A cup. I was just starting a new relationship at the time and felt hideously insecure that my new boyfriend was only ever going to know what my chest looked like at its very worst. Thankfully, they grew back after about 3 months, slightly fuller than they had been before, and I promised myself not to ever hate them for being too small again. At 22, I realised my nipples no longer fit into my old bras and I thought I must have grown to a B cup after all. I was shocked to find out I was a C! Now at almost 26, I'm a 32G and most bra shops in the US don't carry my size anymore. On the whole I'm happy and for the first time I don't need to wear a pushup bra to feel like a woman. I married the boyfriend and his reactions to my body have always been extremely satisfying. I do wonder how far it's going to go, though. By the time I'm 30 I could be telling people to "be careful what you wish for," and when I'm 40 maybe I'll be posting my story up with the stories above.