BREAST IMPLANT SIZING 101
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Happy -- I have a small dog-ear (at end of incision at inner quadrant of my MX side) that has flattened out over time but still its there... so when I have nip surgery my PS said she would fix it. I had it with TEs and asked her to fix it at exchange but she didn't, I think because she figured she'd get it at nip surgery. To be honest I've waited so long and it has flattened so much that I'm tempted to tell her not to bother at this point.
With all that said, you absolutely should insist that your PS fix yours if it bothers you.
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Exchange surgery coming up - PS has decided to go with 600 cc implant (HP, round, smooth, mentor, I think). My 550 expander is now overfilled to 575 with no problems. We will fill to 600.
I am wondering if I will be a B or C cup with this? I am 5'6, 140 pounds, 33" rib cage... ?
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Most of us seem to end up a D cup due to the width of these implants... but, really, it's difficult to say until you have healed and can get a good fitting.
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Fearless_One: Just so you know, you will be smaller than your TEs....I would GUESS you might be a "C" cup....but if you read the header above, you will get a better idea about predictions. Actually though, once you have the implants, if you send me a photo, I am pretty good about coming close to your cup size. But unless I have seen photos, until those puppies are installed, all bets are off.
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Thank you, ladies...Whippetmom, I will be sure to send you a photo. A large B or "possible" C will be fine with me :-)
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Lilah and Cindy are right about the "D" cup phenomenon....I just do not want to alarm anyone though. It is just a letter and has nothing to do with how you will look. It is just that, as some gals have mentioned, breast implants often necessitate a larger cup size, but you will never fill out that cup the same way you would if you had breast fat and connective tissue to augment that implant. With breast recon, it is just skin and implant and perhaps a little Alloderm sling.0
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All of us could write a book looking back on our journeys and in that book all of would have a list of things that we wish we knew as we began the reconstruction journey. One of the things I would write in my book would be, "Don't get hung up on cup size."
The bold in the header to this thread is so true about not being able to predict it.
Yet, we're so hung up on it. Some observations I've noticed in the year plus since I've belonged to BCO and have been reading the reconstruction forums and the picture forum:
1) Most of us were wearing the wrong cup size to begin with and we really don't know (although we think we do) what we're talking about when we talk cup size.
2) We would do better, I think, to talk to our PS in terms of what we had before (the size of our natural breasts) instead of saying I want to be "B" or "C" of "A" cup say, "I want to be bigger/smaller than I was before." It's in our pathology report how many cc's of breast tissue they're removed ... use that as a reference, not cup size.
3) Cup size IS just a letter! Love what whippetmom said above. Will quote it again:
"It is just a letter and has nothing to do with how you look. It is just that, as some gals have mentioned, breats implants often necessitate a larger cup size, but you will never fill out that cup the same way you would if you had breast fat and connective tissue to augment that implant. With breast reconstruction, it is just skin and implant and perhaps a little Alloderm sling."
AMEN! It's true! All of us that have gone before are witnesses! Please, oh please, please, don't be dismayed at your cup size. Implants are WIDE! But you will never have the projection of a natural breast. You may be a "D" "DD" "E" "F" ... whatever, but a reconstruction "DD" is not the same as a natural "DD."
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Ok, this is my chapter to the reconstruction book.
I'll get off my soap box now.
From the bra thread, to the pic forum, there is a lot of dismay over cup size and I just want you all to know, please don't get hung up on it!
[sorry whippetmom to hog your thread. I've just seen this theme so much recently, it's been building and maybe I should write a book! LOL!
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Ugh I am sorry -- I should have said that: you may wear a D but you will look smaller... like a C...
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For those of us that have the alloderm "sling", does this help with projection at all when we get our implants?
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Um, not really Fearless. Well, I mean, the Alloderm is in the lower pole and the lower pole is where projection naturally occurs, but it is a pretty thin filament of grafting material.
Lilah....tee, hee, hee...there you go, scaring off the gals who want baby-boobies!
Dawne-Hope - Sing it sister!!!
Edited to state: Well, you know, reconsidering here....the Alloderm does support the lower pole, and vis a vis that support, can lend to projecting that implant in some form or fashion. So I might revise my answer to "maybe" or "sort of"....totally noncommittal here....
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Well, I just know I am looking forward to my exchange - I do hear the implants are much softer....
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Much softer indeed..... 0
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Good, because I feel like I am carrying watermelons, lol!
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I swear they are squishier than my old dense boobs. The expanders were not squishy.
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Squishy is good, though - squishy is soft. But I worry because everyone says they are "wide" , like pancakes. I worry there won't be much "projection"?
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Mine are fuller "wider'" but I wanted that. Mine don't seem like pancakes at all and I only had mid profile implants.
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I am glad to hear that :-) I know he will be using HP implants, so hopefully I will be happy, too...
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Squishy boobs! Allelulia! You ladies give me something to look forward to! Right now, at mid expansion, it feels like I am sporting plastic headlights. I try to make wide turns in the shopping aisles.
And Whippetmom - How can I ever thank you? During my next PS appointment I will NOT be sitting on that paper-covered plastic chair saying "duh...I don't know..." The guidance you provide is SO empowering. Not to mention the boost to my vocabulary!
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Yes, Urban_Mom....I agree - am looking forward to squishiness....
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Namaste!
Just wanted to comment about cup size and not getting what one had hoped for. I was a 42 C Pre mastectomy. My rib cage is 38, my wt is currently 188, ht 5 ft 3 inches. I had TEs expanded to 800 and got Gummi bears 410 -685 grams which have a 7.1 projection. I had hoped for a B but I ended up being a 42 AA. Even with the 7.1cm projection of my gummies they are tiny in regaards to projection. The weight of my breast tissue removed was near 1400 grams each so I guess I couldn't expect 685 grams to replace 1400 grams and end up anywhere near where I was. I am trying to loose weight to decrease my band size to see if it will increase the appearance of the projection.
Karla
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Hanta Yo.....Losing weight will indeed do what you want it to do....
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Posted this on another thread so sorry for the repeat:
Just got back from seeing my PS and PA. They ordered about 5 different sets of implants in a variety of styles (Natrelle 15, 20, and 45) and volumes (450 to 700cc) for my exchange next week. It sounds like they'll be prepared for anything
. All's good!0 -
Wow Tina! That's quite an array of styles/sizes...kinda like not knowing the gender of the baby when you are pregnant... you'll find out the news at the hospital!
So now my curiousity is peaked
.... when the PS's "try out" the sizes the day of surgery...I'm assuming that means they actually insert them into your body, prop you up and see how they look?? So I'm assuming they have to throw away all those implants if they have been in your body? Does the PS charge insurance for that or do they eat the cost? Do you know Deborah? 0 -
Susan my PS only brought in 2 sizes in one style. I have a feeling they can tell once they "get in there". I doubt they try them all on.0
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Namaste!
It is my understanding that the PS will use "sizers" to test out the different implants in the space. Only the "final choice" implants will actually go inside. The sizers will be thrown away but they are not nearly as elaborate or expensive as the implants.
Karla
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Karla is correct on that issue. They use inexpensive, disposable saline "sizers".
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I will be expanded to 600 in a 550 expander, and PS wants to go with a 600 cc implant. Does this sound right? Wouldn't that be kind of a tight "fit"? I have only one more fill to go and have had no problems.
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Fearless -- the pancake thing (also sometimes called "hamburger buns") is a temporary situation with the smooth round silicone... basically you will read a phrase called "drop and fluff"... this refers to the transformation that happens after exchange and continues for 3 - 6 months. So how you look when you wake up from surgery .... even how you look a month after surgery... will go through changes until (somewhere around 3 months but as long as 6 months post exchange) your implants settle into a really nice shape. Its subtle but a lot of ladies who take photos over time capture it.
As for projection -- you will have projection for sure... but how much depends, of course, on the size of your implant and the type of implant as well. I hope this helps.
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Deborah - really, you should write a book! I like the way the foobs look now (@ 180 ccs) - I'll get another 30 cc's in another week or so and that'll give him his "room to work." I just want to be a solid 34 A... Also, I just visited with my friend who I did not know had implants - she had had them for 10+ years and loves 'em - and they look amazing. They are saline... I never considered saline... is it worth thinking about? My friend is an MD and she says that they are safer in regard to potential leakage (btw she is not a BC patient - hers are strictly cosmetic)...
And Deborah if you ever decide to write a book on this, I will copy-edit it for free!
whippetmom wrote:Sounds good Sara. I like the way he thinks!
Once you get your final fill, come back and let me know how you are feeling about the size and then we can refine the numbers again if necessary!0 -
Most of us prefer silicone for breast reconstruction. Especially for thin gals. It is different if you are using saline for an augmentation - and you have breast tissue - fat and connective tissue. Rippling is a problem with saline implants. Also, silicone can survive a fall better than saline.
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