Best surgery ever, best thing I ever did.
Yes to both!
Get fit before surgery
Stay fit after
I missed this thread earlier, but chiming in now 
I’m a little over 1 year post reduction, and I haven’t regretted it for a second. I do have scarring, but I can honestly tell you… I cried 8 times in the first week post reduction just because for the first time in fifteen years, I knew what it was like to live without constant back/neck/shoulder pain. I was fit before (dancer, riding, and did a lot of aerial/pole), but no amount of strengthening my core made it possible to live without pain. Waking up the morning after, the post-surgery soreness was LESS than the pain I’d lived with on a daily basis. I was pretty comfy moving around within a week, and by 2 weeks I was back at work and doing just fine. Pre-surgery, I was living on muscle relaxers and pain medication to try and control the pain. I haven’t taken a single muscle relaxer since the surgery. My riding ability has grown incredibly, and daily life has just gotten easier. It’s also even easier to be physically active. And, as a bonus, no more ugly under-boob skin rashes!
I went from a J cup to a DD/DDD, and the only reason I didn’t go lower was because my surgeon felt we couldn’t do too much at once without compromising the blood flow and risking complications. He said to give it a year, and then go back for more if needed.
If you are currently a J… do it now. You will save yourself a whole lot of pain, which will be much worse by the time you are 40. Just think… how much downward drag a J cup has versus a C cup.
You will have plenty left!
Make sure if you get it done, they do a lift as well as the reduction. My MD said the lift was as important and I just said, sure…but she was so right. It is amazing to have them “up” where they belong. My nipples no longer point at the ground:lol:.
I had one done in 2009 at 52. Absolutely the best $10K I have ever spent. I didn’t even screw around with insurance. I had saved the money and did it. I was only a E-ish but the girls were very droopy as I was almost instantly a D with on onset of menses at 11. I literally felt the weight off my chest when I woke up. My scars are minimally visible. My MD did a very nice job. I have plenty left to display (C cup) and kicked myself repeatedly for not doing it much earlier.
If you want to be active, you will be doing your body a big favor.
I had back problems from college on. One shoulder has been done for severe impingement and the other will need something sometime for bone spurs and impingement. They just aren’t meant to hold something that big, especially with straps compromising the joint. For certain, core strength is always important but as you are now, the weight is not distributed well and will make it harder.
Good luck.
Susan
Well, I did one, and got the other as a result. I am normally a 34/36 H. About a year ago I was tired of being sore and started very, very gently lifting a 10 lb bar. I had heard that deadlifts are as good for the core as planks, etc but much easier on my back (have a bad neck), so I lifted that bar. Holding it straight out in front of me engaged my back and my core, which felt good and didn’t make any of my pain any worse. After a while, I found I could lift a slightly heavier bar so I did that. Always very gently, just a few minutes before bed- maybe 3 -5 minutes, tops. It helped me sleep better and my neck didn’t hurt. I kept on with the bar and got a slightly heavier one after a while. I did also start drinking way more water and made a few diet changes that weren’t all that challenging. I didn’t want to hurt physically or mentally. Next thing I know, I’ve lost 40 lbs and am now a 32 FF bra size. My back feels better, my core is really good at holding me up, and I never, ever felt deprived or sore.
The choice you make is very personal and no one can choose for you. I hope you find pain relief and comfort in whatever path you choose.
I had a breast reduction 8 months ago - BEST decision of my life (at “about to turn 59” ), better late than never, right? I have had a bad back for about 15 years; both wear and tear (from riding, sailing, lifting), and then toting my DD around when she was a baby - I had her at 37.
I was only a D cup (DD when I was heavier and probably an E when breastfeeding!), but at 5’3" and around 120 I ALWAYS found them cumbersome, in my way, a nuisance, and contributory to a struggle with posture AND of course my back issues…
I am now a small B (the right one is a bit larger :-/) and am DELIGHTED with the result; I feel like a new person, and FREE!!! I am unencumbered, can go braless without shame, don’t have to tote the pendulous sacks with me everywhere, can stand up straighter, have better BALANCE, can wear more tops, RIDE better, no bouncing, I can BREATHE (no tight underwires needed), and I’m just finding everything easier. I feel younger. As with everyone else, I wonder “WHY did I not do this sooner?” Well, it’s a lot of money, and even with my back issues I wasn’t “large enough” to justify getting it covered by insurance. I’m fit and pretty lean, so the response of my doctors (most of them, maybe not the chiro), was “why??” Well, because they have bothered me from the time I was in my late teens, and I have hated them - and the attention they brought - and they interfere with all of my athletic endeavors.
Has it “fixed” my back pain? I wish I could say yes.
It has improved some, but a good bit of this is also as a result of my dutiful workout/stretching routine, and my concentrated core work; 7 days a week of it. :sigh:
SO, strengthening your core does help (support) your back - another thing I wish I had done earlier, as in back when my back pain began!
That can be your first order of business, try it and see whether it helps. It’s most beneficial if you do it religiously (but maybe this is only in my case since I need to do everything in my fitness regimen religiously due to my advanced age! :p)
You are still young, so the whole breastfeeding thing is a potential problem if kids are in your future, IF you want to breastfeed (I am personally very glad I did.)
You can always have it done later, it’s never too late (well, maybe it is eventually, LOL), but you do have time.
In my case the post-surgical pain was quite bad, but I have pain issues to begin with and don’t respond the way other people do to opioids. I was okay (or better) after about 5 or 6 days, and others don’t have pain that last that long so don’t use me as an example. The positive post-surgical benefits?? PRICELESS!!
Being a guy I am not in a position to comment on the first part of the question. But I can on the second because this comes up a lot with some of my riders. Riders whose backgrounds are mainly with Eventing and or H/J who work with my re-schools but also want to learn how to gallop, work with racehorses.
They often say how much their back is effected and how their abs gets sore also. They also wonder how come this old guy can make it look so easy and still walk around and do a lot of physical work after getting on a bunch of sets and or break and train youngsters along with getting bounced from time to time.
When I was in my late 20s having grown up riding from time to time but far more high end skiing, water skiing, climbing, backpacking, rock climbing etc. I was always “naturally fit”. But with age and responsibilities my athletic activates took a back sit.
I started getting terrible back pain. Would wake up in the middle of the night and have to get up and walk around, try and sleep in a fetal position. I went to a much respected Chiro in NYC. Took x-rays and said I had some compression issues, narrowing, etc. He said not surprising given my athletic background especially competition skiing water skiing, riding, carrying very heavy loads up mountains. All of which subjects ones’ back to “unnatural” forces. Especially falls, watch a slow-mo vid of a ski racer falling at 60+ mph, water skier falling at 40+, steeplechase jock coming off at 30+.
The “Doc” had me on weekly visits (I had health insurance). Sure I felt great after leaving, slept well for a couple of days etc. But I wasn’t getting “better”. Changed to another highly recommended Chrio. Of course he had to take x-rays also. This was in the 80s pre-digital. I got a call later in the day saying I had to get to a hospital right away because it looks like I have some serious “holes” in my stomach. He had me freaked out until I told him I had been to the dentist. Turned out that the “holes” were just bits of the metal fillings I had swallowed.
No improvement from the new Chrio either. I stopped going but what I did do was go back to the basics of “core strengthen”. Started doing the dreaded sit-ups and push-ups just about every morning before taking a shower. Within a few months I could whip off 100 of each. Some days 200. Did this for years and years. I also had a chin-up bar cheap and easy to install. Slacked off when I moved back to the farm side of horses. Plenty of physical labor of all sorts when you have a big farm, lots of horses and short on labor.
I have joined gyms from time to time. The machines they offer are very good for developing, strengthen things that just sit-ups and push-ups, chin-ups, pull-up can’t. But I can say for fact that these basic will make a WORLD of difference in core strength. Strengthening the abs and lower back muscles brings everything together into a nice symbiotic relationship that greatly benefits the back. Push-ups strengthen the upper back and shoulders. Chin and pull ups a different set of muscles.
An old girl friend who has been a fitness instructor for years and is on the curvy side of things tells her curry clients who like their figure other than the associated back issues. When they strengthen their core the extra “load” will hardly be noticeable. It just takes more work than surgery.
Being the minority, a horse guy that works with far more women than guys. I guess I am accepted as one of the “gals” when barn chatter brings the subject of being curvy or not. Most say seem to say it is more “social” pressure that makes them think about reducing things. But in the end it can just be a personal thing for whatever the reasons. When they ask my opinion I laugh, not a fair question nor can I give a fair answer. Other than I happened to like curvy, thick women. Not only the way they look but also they seem to have strong self-esteem with moxie.
Hope I am not out of line commenting on the subject. I’m probably they only guy on the forum to comment on the subject.
My comments were, I hope more focused on simple and effective ways to strengthen one’s core. Riding subjects anyone’s back to “unnatural forces” and with good core strength they will ride better and more comfortably.
As a mammography tech, I can tell you that I haven’t met one person who has regretted having breast reduction. I’ve met a few who regret the implants for various reasons.
Hey guys,
Timely resurrection of this thread. My plastic surgeon consult is in a few weeks (yes, it takes that long in Canada, but I’m not an emerg so I’m not complaining!) and in the interim I have been working hard with a physiotherapist.
I can say, the core training has made an INCREDIBLE amount of difference to my strength and my back has never felt better. I can’t believe for a reasonably fit person how weak my core was - turns out I was just compensating EVERYWHERE else.
I have a list of questions ready to go for the surgeon, but my current thought/plan is the following:
If physio and strengthening continue to reduce or eliminate my symptoms, I will keep doing so until I’m around 40 (I’m 31 now), and likely that will make any concerns about breast feeding or needing to re-do the surgery after kids a moot point.
But, I’m not stupid enough to think that I will for SURE be in my 60s and doing planks - you never know what injuries I will accrue along the way - so I will re-evaluate in my late 30s and likely have surgery in early 40s.
My main big concern with having the surgery now is shallow: I like my breasts. They’re fun, I enjoy them and Woohoo - I grew them myself! I am hoping my plan above gives me the best of both worlds, pain free and yet practical.
Wish me luck in my consult…
