Lisa's Breast Augmentation Story

I am a 33 year old married woman with two beautiful children that I breastfed, my son, the youngest, for 15 months. I was not a stranger to breast augmentation as my mother and oldest sister had theirs done over 25 years ago and I should add that they have never experienced any trouble of any kind with their silicone implants.  I had thought on and off about breast augmentation throughout my life because I have never been anything but small, and in a world where your breasts can be viewed as part of your womanhood, it has not been an easy road to walk. I grew up always being picked on, never filling out an even an A cup unless I wore a smaller band, which was uncomfortable and it didn't change my cups size.  It just seemed to help me deal with being a 36AA.    

As a young 20 year old, I had experienced love and pain, and some of that was over the size of my breast. Being a Christian made it easier to deal with, yet I continued to wonder if I would ever find someone to love and marry when I didn't really feel I was as beautiful as most of the other women that had been created. I struggled with the thought of being alone for the rest of my life because my breasts were small, but God did provide me with a wonderful husband who is the greatest supporter I could have.  He loved and loves me in spite of what I considered to be a huge flaw, and to him I have always been beautiful.  

When I had my first child, my breasts grew. I didn't really fill out a B cup, but with nursing pads I did and they really did make a difference in how I felt. My husband was quite happy with them, as any man would be, because they were larger ,and yes, I believe more attractive.  When my daughter weaned at 9 months, I went back to being the same 36AA that I was before, and truly did miss what I had.  My husband and I discussed breast enlargement, but it never went anywhere, because to him I was beautiful and he was against me doing it.  Loving him as I do, I found no trouble in letting it be, yet the idea of implants remained.  I thought about it on and off for years, especially when my husband's brother made a rude comment about his teenage girlfriend having bigger breast than I, and he pointed out the fact that "hers were still growing."   How rude, but unfortunately, how true.  I believe I handled it very well, with a quick retort that left him speechless, but inside I cried for days because now not only were my small breast a hindrance to me, they had become a negative against my husband in his brothers and families eyes.    

I had our second child almost 5 years later, but this time my breast did not grow as much as they had with the first time. There was no issue with this, my son got plenty and I never really gave it much thought, until, after 15 months of breast feeding, I was left with basically just nipples.  The 36AAA's didn't even fit.  I began wearing formed bras to make it look like something was there.  I used silicone breast enhancers and wore very large shirts to cover the fact that I had nothing there to see.  Again, we talked about surgery, but again, I was told how beautiful I was and it was not needed.  I love my husband, he truly is the best, so I put it behind me once again.   

A turning point did come in my quest for breasts.  It was last year at a Christmas party.  I was given a beautiful gown to wear by a friend, and she and her husband and I and mine went to this party...but it was not fun.  I was instructed to wear the dress without a bra, but that was a joke in my case.  I had to buy a backless, strapless bra, which of course, did not fit. I had to stuff it and tape what breast tissue I had to make it look as though there was some type of cleavage and breast hidden deep within the gown.  I was so uncomfortable all night.  If fact, I was so afraid of embarrassment of something slipping or falling out or my tape showing that I gladly left early!  That is no way to feel at a $30.00 a head Christmas party, that is for sure!!!   

I began to look up breast augmentation online.  I found a plastic surgeon that had done someone I knew.  He had a free seminar and I convinced my husband to go.  It was great, and we decided that I could at least have a consultation, expecting full well that I may not have enough to implant into.  I had not done my research or I would have known this was not true.  At the consultation, things went well, and in discussing it and discussing it, we decided that my desires would finally be met and I could proceed and finally have bigger breasts!!!  I was so excited.  I had our tax return, found financing, and I was ready!  I had not set my date yet, but had planned to do that the next morning, but before I could, I got and email from a friend about a write up in the paper about my chosen surgeon.  It was horrible!  After reading what the paper had to say, I called his office, but instead of setting a date, I said I would not be returning.  I was devastated.   

I turned to the friends I had found online, which is where I met Nikki, and they were wonderful to me.  I was referred to a doctor in New York City.  I ended up filling out an online consultation, and sending him pictures.  His response was immediate and very positive.  

My sugars are well-maintained, and at 5 1/2 months out, my scars are virtually invisible, and have been that way for quite some time.  Diabetics sometimes don't heal well, but this has not been an issue for me.  My sugars are well maintained.  At 5 ½ months out, my scars are virtually invisible and they have been that way for a quite some time.  I have 600cc smooth, round, regular silicone gel breast implants placed completely submuscular via a periareolar incision.  My recovery has not been that difficult, plagued only with muscle spasms in the beginning because that is a large amount to place under the muscle and my body needed time to adjust.   

I am waiting for my left implant to drop more, but dropping is something we all go through when we have this surgery and you know what they say, "patience is a virtue."  I can only add to my story by saying this was the best thing I have ever done for myself.  I feel so complete and alive!  I wish I had done it sooner!  My breast may be enhanced, but they are mine and to me, they are real!  I feel them, I dress them, I experience things with them and I enjoy them.  They add to who I am because now I feel that I am the woman I was meant to be, and I am a true gift from God to my husband...a jewel on his arm.

*Update*

Well, much has happened since I wrote my story.  When I left off, I had been patiently waiting for my left implant to drop and it did, unfortunately, my right implant which dropped overnight at 3½ weeks dropped too far, and I was having problems with it.  The right implant was much lower than the left, and had no support.  It had a pulling, falling feeling which caused me to wear a bra at almost all times.  I also, unfortunately, had problems with my original plastic surgeon as well and ended up needing a new one.

You see, he never seemed to tell my husband and I the same story.  As an example, he told me to wait 8 to 10 months and he would repair me.  Then at an appointment at 8½ months, he said, " give them 1½ to 2 years."  Well that is unheard of, at least with all the research I have done, it's unheard of!  I was visibly lopsided even in clothes and he kept saying , they look "fine!"  He actually told me that, "They look good in clothes" so I "should be happy".  Well, I paid $8000.00 plus to look good in and out of clothes and so I left his practice in search of a surgeon to fix his work. 

On the second opinions appointments I went on, I learned that the crease on the right side was lowered too far in the initial surgery and that the pocket on the right side was made too large.  Then, on February 16, 2002, I woke up with pain in my cleavage area and my skin was lifting off my sternum!  When I flexed my pectoral muscles, the implants separated, but when I was not flexing, the skin was lifting!  This really cemented my thoughts that Dr. DeWire was who I needed to see.

Nikki, the owner of this site was online thank God and I did as she suggested and immediately put on a racer-back sports bra backwards, with an ace wrap between my breast to put pressure on the area that was lifting, and we all hoped it would not develop into symmastia.  Symmastia is when the pectoral muscles detaches from the sternum and the implants slide together in the middle giving a "figure eight" appearance or that of one boob, with no cleavage.  The repair is very difficult and if not done right, it often fails.  I had been told in my second opinions, that the diameter of my implants was "pushing the limits" of my body and that to go so big the first time around was very "daring."  I was also told that with such a large diameter implant, I ran the risk of symmastia or uniboob , but I didn't want to believe it could be happening to me.   My gosh , my surgeon had suggested this size for me!!!  He would know, wouldn't he???  But after thinking for a moment, perhaps not, since he didn't seem to care about my results, they were "fine" after all.  My longtime dream of having nice breast crumbled before me, as I watched in disbelief.  

Well, I had emailed Dr. DeWire in hopes that he could repair me and when he responded I was very hopeful!  He did see the problem with my right breast, it/they were not "fine" as I had been told and far from "perfect" which was another word my original surgeon had used.   As hard as it was to know something was wrong, it felt good to know I wasn't seeing things. 

I traveled by train 9 hours down to Richmond, Virginia to consult with Dr. DeWire and he was well worth the trip!  He saw so much more with what was going on with my breast, than I did... where I thought there were only two problems, he saw many small things or "nuances" that were occurring with my breast.  He saw that I had two different shapes to my breast which resulted from the pockets not being the made the same size.  My right pocket was bigger and positioned more to the center of my chest than my left, in fact, it even extended slightly over the midline of my sternum.  The crease on the right was also too low and with the positioning of the implant, my nipple pointed more outward than my left nipple.  He also saw that I had "attenuated" cleavage.  It was so very close and when I flexed, a definite striation of the muscle appeared across my right breast.  That is to say, I had the appearance of lines, like fingers stretching across that breast.  This, he said was occurring because the muscle on the right side was cut and perhaps it ripped further on its own was no longer attached well, causing the lines that appeared when the muscle was in flexion.  Those lines showed where the muscle was attached and where it was not or not well anyway.  His words hit me like a charging bull, I had symmastia!  Even with this, he was not done with his assessment, he also pointed out that I had ripples.  I didn't know I did, I thought the bottom of the pocket just wasn't well rounded or something ,  but it was ripples.  Dr. DeWire also said, it looked as though, I had some asymmetry prior to my BA, as my nipples where not level to begin with, but it was hard to tell with the pictures from my first surgeon because the were not taken well, my shoulders where not completely in the pictures and so a true idea or measurement could not be seen or done. 

Well, I wondered with all that was wrong, was there anything that could be done or would explant be my only option.  A million thoughts ran through my head, from fear and terror of surgery to humiliation for ever letting a doctor do to me what my first surgeon had done.  As I sat there, Dr. DeWire told me that he could attempt a symmastia repair which would entail sewing my cleavage down with permanent sutures to prevent further release of the pectoralis muscle as well as sewing up the right pocket with permanent sutures to repair the bottoming out.  He also discussed with me the fact that I would need to change to Mentor HP silicones, perhaps 550's or 500's because they have a smaller diameter than what I had, and that was needed as not to stress the symmastia repair. I agreed to the repair, I didn't feel I could say no and live with what Dr. X had done to me. He had cut my muscle too far and then put in implants that were too big for my body and did so into pockets were not even big enough for the implants!  My first PS just stuffed them into the pockets he could make on me, so they were squished which caused better projection for this implant, but also rippling and they were subsequently firmer because of this squeezing.  The 600cc is so huge that when it is sitting on the table or counter or your hand, it can be likened to the top of a Country Crock butter tub! And its projection is maybe only 1.5 inches. These implants that I had where trying to spread out to the size they were supposed to be and put more pressure on my already over dissected muscle and I ended up with symmastia!  I had to have the surgery and I  knew Dr. DeWire was who needed to do it! Looking back, I should have run when I found out Dr."X " was not certified.  Hind site is indeed 20/20.

On Friday, June 14th, I had my repair with Dr. DeWire of Richmond, Virginia.  Surgery was less than the expected 4 hours, which was fabulous to wake up to and it went well!  My left side did not need repairing, but my right side most certainly did!  My right had bottomed out and so Dr. DeWire sewed it up into a more normal position, and I love it!  He also had to sew down my pectoralis muscle on my right side as that side was only being held by a few strands of fascia.

The initial pain wasn't too bad in the recovery room, I hurt basically only where I had to be sewn up.  The areas of internal suturing did hurt and continued too, but on a lessening level as time went on.  All things aside, I have found it a small thing to bear to have my symmastia and bottoming out fixed.

I suppose the pain issues could have been better, but I struggle with taking pain meds.  After my first breast augmentation, I was given Percocet and it gave me a migraine!  I have also proven to be allergic to codeine and Anaprox and so I am not left with many choices... Morphine and Lortab also do not react well in my body, so the thought of prescription pain meds tend to bring a bit of fear to me and this time was no different.  I did however try the pain med I was given and I had some luck with it, as it did not cause me to have a migraine, but unfortunately, it didn't do much for the pain either.  Dr. DeWire suggest Motrin and I found that by using it, I had a much better pain relief effect, yet nothing made me pain free in the area's of my internal sutures. 

The next day, Saturday, at my first post op visit, Dr. DeWire stated he was pleased with the result and my husband and I agreed!  He helped me to put on my thong bra and it and I became one, for a total of 6 weeks at very least.  It is a specially made bra that applies pressure to my sternal area, aiding in the healing of my symmastia repair as well as helping to hold up my bottoming out.  I was also told that I could wear an underwire over the thong bra as needed for added support, which I have done on a few occasions.

The space between my breasts is an amazing site to see!  I lived for almost a year with what many call, "butt crack cleavage" and I am so glad to be free of that!  With that kind of cleavage, or lack there of, as my implants did touch, I found that many underwires would dig into my flesh because there was no space for them to sit!  Bras became uncomfortable and yet a needed thing because of the bottoming out I had on the right side.  I, at many times, felt to explant, and give up on my dream was better than to deal with and suffer with my original augmentation outcome.  I can't truly explain the devastation that my first surgeon brought upon me, nor the immense elation that I felt after a long weekend in Virginia, but I can tell you, with the love and support of my husband and that of my friends on the Breast Implants Forum, I didn't give up and I didn't give in to the techniques of a bad surgeon.  And thank you Dr. DeWire for being the true artist that you are and for making my dream a reality.  

Update - It has been one year since Lisa had her redo, and she is doing wonderfully!

Lisa
 

 

 

 

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