BREAST IMPLANT SIZING 101
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Happy New Year to everyone! I am praying that we all have a bright and bouncy 2014! ((((HUGS)))).
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Speaking of 'bouncy' I noticed a week or so ago as I was lightly jogging down a flight of stairs at work that my boobs actually had a tiny little bit of bounce to them! Not much and nothing like the original saggy-baggy ones, but that's the first time in over a year - yay!!!
It never ceases to amaze me at what different sorts of things I consider milestones now - lol!
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lol!!! Sweet...I remember the first time after exchange that was hurrying across the parking lot at work and realized they moved!!!! Lol. I stopped for a second just to process. Ha!!!
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Yeah, after I was fully recovered from BMX and was back to working out and running people would be just aghast and cringe about how that must hurt. I would simply jump up and down several times to show them that those suckers did NOT move at ALL! The reactions I get sometimes from people who haven't been close friends to someone post mastectomy are quite hilarious.
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Smaarty... If Allergan 410 anatomicals, corresponding implants would be 410-MF 470 gm or 520 gms. Have no idea what your PS means by "Velcro" implants. Personally, I would recommend Allergan Style 20, 600 ccs.
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krisnanbrandy: Did you contact Lilah re: the pictures forum entrance?
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I just sent a request to Lilah...thank you for the suggestion. I did get access to FORCE's picture gallery but there was only one picture of implants on a body size and type like mine. So, it would be great to get a better sense of what the implants might look like. With gratitude...Dina
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I'm just about 4 weeks out from my exchange and tried on regular bras today, just for fun. Well, it wasn't fun at all. I don't wear a bra anymore but my doctor said if I was doing anything that made me bounce, I should get a sports bra. As long as I was there, I couldn't resist seeing what size I am and what I look like in a regular bra. Such a disappointment. I knew my Allergan 410 gummies, style FF 740's were wide, like all implants, and would fit a D, but would not fill out the cups in spite of their full projection. I was hoping I could find a style - perhaps a stretchy kind, that would fit. No such luck. Even in a C, I couldn't fill out the cup. There was at least a half inch missing at the end of the cup. Better than the D, but still not good. Having mounds, not cone shaped breasts, makes bra shopping an exercise in futility. So nevermind, I won't bother looking anywhere else. I'll continue to enjoy my no-bra freedom except when it's exercise time and I have to put on the new sports bra.
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Not sure where you shopped or what you tried, but it took my quite a few tries to find "the one."
The bra thread here also suggests that European bras seem to fit recon breasts better. Chantelle, Freya, ...
My best fit so far though, is the Wacoal Awareness line. It IS very stretchy in the cup and so supportive and soft. I love it!
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Thanks Dulcigirl, I saw some of those on Amazon a little while ago. Any particular style or they all about the same?
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I have two:
85567 is an underwire. This is the one I wear ALL the time.
85276 is wireless. Very comfy. I wear it to sleep in quite often.
If you can go to a Nordstroms or nice dept store and try them it would be best. I think the band runs a little tight. But I love the fit of the cups and the side support. And the material. I just wish they went on sale cuz I really need to get a couple more!
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Thanks Dulcigirl, I am going to try one of these tomorrow and then go online to see if I can get them cheaper than the $60 price I see at Macy's and Nordstrom's. They have 85276 on e-Bay from $18.99- $32.99 if they have your size. Amazon has them too but they don't show them by the style number so I'm not sure it's the same style or just looks the same. Anyway, they are a lot cheaper there as well.
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Yep. I'm watching a few on ebay. Hope it works for you! I have rounds, so we may be shaped differently, but the cups are so stretchy.
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Sandra, I have Allergan 410 FF 595s and was fitted with an Amoena Lara Comfort SB #0956 36D so maybe a different size of that style might be worth trying tomorrow too. My bra does crease a little at the IMF on one side but even in a tight knit top, you can't see that.
For a sports bra, I wear Moving Comfort style #300511 L/G. Sandra, you don't have to pull it over your head! It hooks in the back and has adjustable straps.
Dulcigirl, your suggestions look so pretty! I'm going to try those too! Thank you!
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Hi Dulcigirl thanks for this info. I just need to figure out the size. before MX i was a 36DD now i am not sure. I ll look for these in ebay too.
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Friendships, thanks for the new ideas. I'll look online and see if they have those at Nordstrom's or Macy's like the Wacoal brand Dulci recommended.
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Dulcigirl and Sandra I actual had a retail score the other day at Bergners (sister company Bon-Ton, CarsonsElder-Berman, Bounckers) Found 3 Wacoal's on the yellow dot clearance section with an additional 20% off, ended up paying $15-20 for each of them
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You scored Catey!
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Thank you Dulcigirl for answering Sandra's comment re: bras. I agree wholeheartedly!
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Sandra-if you don't mind me asking, how long between the last fill and the exchange? Did the TEs bug you under your underarms? If so, Did that get better after the exchange?
Good luck with the bras.
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Sandra: The link below isn't a particularly active thread anymore, but it has lots of great bra info. If I remember correctly - a couple of bras per year are paid by insurance after BMX whether you've had reconstruction or not.
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Smaarty, I had only one TE and yes it was certainly annoying. I could feel the edges of it and it kept digging into my ribs when I sat down. I would reach down and try to pull it up a bit to get relief. It was not a problem on the side or underarm because I had no feeling there. All the soft tissue and parts of three muscles were removed along with the implant and there wasn't enough skin to cover a similar sized implant. The TE had to be positioned further in on my chest, closer to the other side that still had an implant. There was perhaps a finger tip width between them. The TE was expanded until it was 740 cc's, tight as a drum and shiny. At the exchange, the extra skin was used to pull across towards my armpit to cover the new implant. I will have another surgery to try to fix some of the scars under my arm and do some fat grafting since it is literally skin and bone there. (The PS is hoping he can use the "mudflaps" on each side.) The muscles are short from the side of the new implant to the shoulder, inhibiting movement. That will be revised in a future surgery. So I have two more to go, although they should be minor compared to the three I've had already.
I got the TE on Sept. 6th and my exchange was Dec. 6th. The first fill was 3 weeks after the TE was placed. My PS has his patients wait at least one month before the exchange. He is a reconstructive surgeon who does phenomenal work with TE's on burn patients so my little problems are nothing to him.
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My TEs were SO under my arms, I walked like John Wayne!!!
And they touched in the middle. I knew there was no way I could ever get an underwire bra to fit in between those immovable boulders.
But not to worry! All that can be fixed at Exchange. Thanks to some fancy stitchery by the PS, my Girls don't slide into my pits when I lie on my side, and I can wear underwires just fine by moving The Girls around to fit exactly into the bra. Cleavage galore!
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just adding my thoughts here about bras. I bought a bunch a couple months after exchange, had uni revision back beginning of July. The ones that work the best seem to be Bali, stretchy kind fit and feel best for me - they also "adapt" as they settled. My favorite styles are: 3484, 3488, 3463, 3550, 4085. These are available at Kohls, different colors, they go on sale, plus discount so they work for my budget. Most are comfortable enough to wear to sleep.
I was told that it takes a while to settle. Have one bra that worked great for many months, now for some reason, it gaps so it's staying in the drawer.
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thanks guys for the TE info. My right side bugs me more, even though the BC was on the left. Understand the sitting on your ribs. After next week's fill the surgery should be February 19 if all goes well. Hoping that the irritation calms down once I'm done filling. Geeee, what a learning experience!
Sandra, thanks, hope all continues well for you.
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Bras are like running shoes. They wear out. I ran track in high school and college and we bought new shoes every three months. Depending on how many bras you have in your wardrobe and are in your rotation, their average life expectancy is 3 months - 1 year. The elastic wears out.
If you've never been professionally fitted in a store like Nordstrom's, or Dillard's or Macy's or a specialty bra store it really is worth it to do it. Nordstrom has fitters that are certified to fit women who have had breast cancer, reconstruction. They are professionals.
Know, ladies, that most of us were wearing the wrong size of bra before breast cancer. We were wearing a bra with too big of a band size and too small of a cup size. If you've never measured under your ribcage, get a soft measuring tape and measure right under the IMF. Depending on European or U.S. standards … go up 2-4 inches of that measurement. I prefer 2 inches (European). Reconstructed breasts are tricky because we don't have the projection of natural breasts but implants are usually wider … so your cup size will likely be (much) bigger than what you may think. Don't freak out about cup size. If you go down a band size, you need to go up a cup size.
Go get fitted by a professional. You're not obligated to buy anything plus it's fun!
And you might learn something and feel beautiful too. 0 -
This is one of my favorite videos describing how a bra should fit. Scroll down to the second video, "Bra Size Basics."
http://blog.lindasonline.com/category/braducationa…
Here is a direct link to it
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Do TE's look bigger or smaller in clothes compared to implants, or do they look about the same? I know it has been said around here many times to add 100cc's or so to an implant to get the same look you are getting with TEs, but I assume that is in the nude? I know that sometimes TEs can do some weird things during the expansion process (travel to odd places or distort into odd shapes), but we haven't had that experience, at least not yet. My wife is filled to 350 in a 400 cc TE and they look very natural so far. At this point, can you start trying on clothes and tops and get an accurate view of how implants would look under clothing? Obviously the bra you choose makes a difference, I assume. DW's PS wants her to continue to wear a compression bra throughout the expansion process. While this flattens the appearance of the TEs under clothing, that might actually be a good thing because from what I see on the dimensions, the implants will have less projection than the TEs?
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Whitenack - typically an implant of the same cc capacity as the TE will appear smaller than the TE. The TEs are designed with a firm back so all the expansion goes out from the body rather than expanding into the ribcage. The implants are what I refer to as a more 'relaxed' fit. They're not rigid on the back which means they're able to mold themselves to the ribcage. Since they relax into the ribcage you lose some projection if they're the same capacity as the TEs. I exchanged 750cc TEs for 750cc implants. The TEs were over-expanded by 150cc (they were 600cc TEs) and looked quite bulbous. Not freakishly bulbous but definitely not anywhere near a natural look. The 750cc implants have a much softer, natural, 'relaxed' look and are quite the perfect size for me.
So, from my experience and what I've read here, you need to either over-expand to where you're larger than you want to end up and then exchange to a similar size implant to look natural, or you need to exchange to a larger implant than the TE to maintain the same appearance as far as size.
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My clothes fit very differently with my TE's! I had trouble zipping my winter jacket up and could not button several shirts. The TE's were higher and harder. No compression bra would have compressed them. My implants now are the same cc's, but I can button my shirts and zip my jacket and even wear a sweatshirt under it. Part of that is due to them just settling into a more normal position, I think. My personal opinion? Yes...in clothes or naked the implants will appear smaller than the TE's. I thought my TE's were big, but I like my implants.
As far as the bra thing goes...if I wore a pushup I could change things, but in a normal bra? I look the same in a tank top with or without a bra. When I had TE's no bra changed the "size" or position. I wore a Genie bra with little foam inserts just to smooth things out a bit.
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