Thursday, June 16, 2005

Breast augmentation consult

It took well over a month to get in, but I finally had my breast augmentation consult with Dr. Gray today. After filling out the regular patient information, I was in his office reviewing with him some general stuff. We then started discussing the details of breast augmentation surgery.

He drew two breasts on a piece of paper and showed me the places that incisions can be made to insert the implants. He mentioned the incisions under the breasts, in the armpit, and along the areola. He didn’t like all three for a variety of reasons...the huge scar, the noticeable scar in the armpit and significant bleeding, and the presence of the scar along the areola.

He said he preferred the incision at the nipple, which could then allow him to adjust the muscle at the bottom to allow it to droop more. He suggests using smooth, round implants since they provide a better appearance.

The surgery itself would be outpatient surgery. After 3 weeks, I should be back to walking around normally without feeling sore or tired; after 6 weeks, I would be at full speed. For the first few days following surgery, I shouldn’t do much.

The stitches remain for 2 weeks. I believe he said that after one month, the implants would still be fairly high, after 2 they would look OK, and after 4 months, they will have settled into their final shape.

He said that if the nipple is small, he sometimes has to have an extra jagged zig-zag cut to get the implant in. I asked if there would be a scar, and he said there would be.

After getting me in the exam room and looking at my current breasts, he said he would have to use a triple zig-zag on me since I had such small nipples. Not good news.

He also put me in this black leotard and taped the back straps together. He then placed some sizer implants in place and wanted me to see how it looked and felt. I think he started me off with something in the 400cc range. When he first started going through his sizer drawers, he started with the larger sizes, but I almost wanted to tell him to go directly to the smallest ones.

He then moved down to 375cc and said that would be about as small as he would suggest. I told him that I was thinking more along the lines of 275cc and he said that would be a mistake. He said the 275cc size was more for a really small Asian girl, and that if I thought the 375cc was too big, this might not be the surgery for me. He said I would need the larger implant since the larger size was larger more in the diameter than in the thickness. Since I have a larger chest than a genetic girl, I would need fuller breasts so that they don’t look disproportionate. He said the smaller implants would create a wider gap between the breasts and would start lower on the chest....and wouldn’t look good. Of course, getting them too big and having me top heavy also wouldn’t look too natural or good in my opinion. The thing is, he’s done a lot of breast augmentations, and a lot of breast augs on T’s as well. He knows what he is talking about, but I’ve noticed that surgeons always seem to go larger than what most women want. That’s what I am trying to compensate for.

He told me that one cup size is typically 200cc, so if I am a small A now, I would be a C cup with what he was suggesting. I'd just like to be a regular B, but they don't make implants that size that will make me look natural as well. Basically, T's need wider diameter implants and smaller profile implants than genetic women just to make up for our larger chests. I wonder if they even make such a thing.

So, the smaller implants aren’t as wide, and will leave a larger gap between my breasts. Making them too big leaves me feeling too chesty. And no matter what I do, I’ll probably have some type of scar wherever I put it. Because of an athletic commitment later this fall, I can’t get in before then and still maintain my fitness level, so the earliest I can have the breast augmentation is later this fall. Based on his scheduling delay, I have until about August at the earliest to decide on things.

No comments: