The following is an excerpt from an article written by my patient about her breast reduction in The Cut section of New York Magazine.  She’ll tell you her story in her words, but I wanted to add my comments.

I met this patient in consultation for a breast reduction last year.  She had been thinking about having her breasts reduced in size and lifted for over 20 years; she finally felt like the time was right.  She was thinking about moving to a clothing-optional locale in Hawai’i and didn’t want her large, pendulous breasts to get in the way.

She hadn’t had a recent mammogram so I sent her for a standard screening mammogram before surgery, since a breast reduction not only removes some tissue permanently, but it rearranges the remaining tissue in a new architecture.  If there is an area of concern, we want to know about it BEFORE surgery since it could be removed or rearranged after the reduction and lift.

They found a cancer, and her surgery ended up treating two problems at the same time.  She had a lumpectomy to remove the tumor and a breast reconstruction using the breast reduction and lift technique.

Here is part of her story:

“… Last summer, I made an appointment with a plastic surgeon, intending to get myself a nicer pair of breasts. I had a few weeks off between Christmas and New Year’s, and I could tack on a week or two of vacation time. Also, I had the $14,000 in my savings account, I don’t have any kids to send to college, and I’m not buying a new car any time soon. “What am I saving for?” I asked myself.

It’s September 2017, and I’m back at Kalani, having dinner with a friend. “I’m getting a breast reduction in December. I want to retire here eventually, and I want to start spending more time on the Big Island, and I don’t want to be an old lady on the nude beach with saggy boobs.”

I sit in the bathtub, trying to relax my racing mind. “People will think I am so frivolous. Will anyone help me recover from surgery? Won’t people at work think it’s weird that I never used to wear T-shirts and now I wear them every day? Won’t they wonder why I look different? Won’t they wonder where I was for four weeks?”

I’m waiting to see the nurse practitioner at the UCSF Breast Center. In preparation for my plastic surgery, I had a mammogram. Then I got called back for a diagnostic mammogram and a breast ultrasound. Then the intern called the resident in, and she ultrasounded me. Then the resident told me that I needed to come back tomorrow and see the nurse practitioner and get a fine needle aspiration, a procedure where they numb the breast, insert a series of hollow needles into the lump, draw out fluid and examine it to determine if it is cancerous. It was. I had stage 1A invasive breast cancer.

My phone rings as we wait for the nurse practitioner to come in. It’s my plastic surgeon. “Hi, Emily, it’s Dr. H. I saw your diagnostic mammogram and I wanted to give you the names of some surgical oncologists I work with. Maybe we can keep your original surgery date and we can both operate at the same time. We’ve done that before.” I move the phone away from my face and waved over my friend. “It’s my plastic surgeon. I need a pen. She is giving me the names of surgical oncologists.” My friend hugs me and gives me a pen. “At least now that I have breast cancer I’ll feel less ashamed about asking people for help with my recovery,” I say. We crack up.

My friend comes with me to the surgical oncologist’s. The doctor is explaining what she will do in the surgery. “I’ll remove the lump and remove some lymph nodes and then Dr. H will do the reduction and reconstruction. Or, if you decide on a full mastectomy, of course, I’ll do that without Dr. H.” She starts to explain something else and I interrupt. “Wait — did you just say ‘full mastectomy?’” She replies, “Yes. It’s a more intricate surgery with more potential complications, but it is an option for you.” “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I say. Turns out I am kind of attached to my breasts, after all.

…  I’m six months out from having the lumpectomy and reduction. My former unruly breasts are now tiny and cancer-free. Having a breast reduction is the best thing I have ever done for myself. “Sounds like this whole ordeal has been a net positive for you,” my friend J said.
I was talking to a friend at work the other day, and he was telling me about a book he read about happiness. “In the book, it basically says that money doesn’t buy happiness except when it comes to one thing. And the one thing, this book found, after interviewing and studying hundreds of people, is breasts.” This sounds right to me. “Make ‘em bigger, make ‘em smaller, make ‘em how you want ‘em.” I said.

I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in a few years after a doctor’s appointment. “C told me what’s going on. How are you doing?” “Doing good. Good prognosis. Getting through it,” I said as my eyes kept going back to her chest. “Yeah. I had breast reduction a few years ago. I’m so happy.” she said. I chatted with a friend from New York who I only ever knew as small-framed and petite. “I had it done in high school,” she told me.

To the friend from the pool party last month and the friend I met for coffee the other day and the friend at work who confided in me and everyone else I have talked to about this ever since I made the appointment with the plastic surgeon last year: Get the breasts you want. If you can afford them, get them. It will make your life so much better. What are you waiting for?”

To hear her entire story, visit this link for the full article.  The moral of her story is two-fold:

• If you want your breasts or body to be a certain way, you can make it happen!  Plastic Surgery is not for everyone, but it can help regular women and men achieve their particular goals for their bodies.
• If you are at risk of breast cancer (as all women are), screening is vital to catch problems like early stage breast cancer early, when they can be effectively treated.

To learn more about breast reductions, breast lifts, breast reconstruction by local tissue rearrangement or any other Plastic Surgery issue, visit my website for more information.

~ Karen M. Horton, M.D.