I used to have perky breasts. What happened?

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Joyce

By Dr. Ted

No crystal ball can predict how much and how soon your breasts will lose their shape and firmness, but you can blame the following factors for the droop (medically known as ptosis).

When you are pregnant, the developing placenta stimulates the release of hormones, causing your milk glands – and your breasts – to grow and swell. This rapid growth can also cause the skin to stretch. When the milk is gone, your breasts might return to their original size or get bigger, smaller, or droopier.

Although the number of pregnancies and your pre-pregnancy breast size are factors in post-pregnancy sagging, breastfeeding itself is not.

Significant weight gain and loss – yo-yo dieting – can also affect your breasts. When you lose weight, it not only reduces the size of your waist and thighs, but it might also reduce the size of your breasts – sometimes dramatically. If the skin and ligaments don’t retract when some of the fat disappears, you could be left with saggy or empty-looking breasts.

As women age and their hormone levels drop, the lobules (the part of the breast where milk is produced) shrink, and breast volume is lost. In addition, the body’s elastin fibers, which keep the skin from drooping, and collagen fibers, which give tissue strength and flexibility, decrease. Smoking can speed up this process. That’s because the carcinogens in the smoke cause those elastin fibers to break down in the body.

Breasts can start drooping at any age depending on your genes and the elasticity of your skin. That’s why it’s not uncommon for teens to have droopy breasts. Some girls say that they were “born with saggy breasts” or that they “just developed this way.” The rate of droop is largely determined by genetics, although pregnancy and weight changes factor in. And while a bra will keep your breasts from sagging while you are wearing it, there is little evidence that wearing a bra delays or prevents breast droopiness.

Did you ever wonder what your breasts would be like in outer space where there is no gravity? (They’d look like they would if you go swimming braless.) Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke did. In his book Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke wrote, “Some women should not be allowed aboard a space ship; weightlessness did things to their breasts that were too damn distracting.”

Did you ever wonder what your breasts would look like in outer space where there is no gravity? They’d look like they would if you go swimming braless.

Gravity gets a bad rap. The pull of gravity on your breasts – or your face – isn’t a significant factor in droopiness. It’s more like the skin isn’t as strong as it once was, and it begins to fall down – like a pair of sweatpants that has lost its elastic.

If you are thinking about having breast lift surgery to perk up your breasts, you’ll need to know your true starting size. Losing 10 percent or more of your body weight could make your breasts smaller, so you should wait until you have reached your dietary goal before you have breast augmentation surgery. To know your post-pregnancy breast size, it’s best to wait at least six months after you have stopped breastfeeding or, if you are not breastfeeding, six months after childbirth. At that point, you’ll be able to see if you want more breast volume or if you are a candidate for a lift.

Next time: Learn how to take the “pencil test” to see if you are a candidate for a lift.

I’m hoping to get pregnant in the next year. Should I wait to get breast implants?

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Joyce

Written by Dr. Ted

It’s no surprise that this question comes up frequently during consultation. My patients range in age from 18 to 63, but the large majority of them are in their 20s and 30s – prime childbearing years.

The bottom line is this: If you are thinking about having a child in the next year or working on it now, I would suggest that you wait because your post-pregnancy breasts might look quite a bit different from your current pair.

During pregnancy, your breasts will enlarge from hormonal changes and milk production. In fact, many women report that they grew at least a full cup size, sometimes more. Those women who started out smaller often tell me that they liked being bigger and fuller.

“Those early pregnancy breasts are something to behold . . . It’s a fleeting time, those early breasts, but for a couple months, before the tummy catches up, it’s as though you get a free boob job,” wrote Sasha Brown-Worsham in “The Five Stages of Pregnancy Breasts,” which appeared online in The Stir.

Some women who start out with a D cup aren’t so enamored with their new breast size: In an online forum, one mom wrote, “Before pregnancy, I was a solid 36D. I am now 36 DDD (which is equivalent to 36E), and I am only 12 weeks pregnant! I think the 4 pounds I have gained during my 1st trimester have gone straight to my boobs, and I am kind scared to see how big I will be by the end.”

After your pregnancy, your breasts might return to their original size or get smaller, bigger or droopier. There’s no way to predict the future; as Alphamom writes in “Postpartum, Posteverything Boobs,” it depends on a lot. “Genetics. Your age. Your cup size. How long you breastfed. Number of children. Basically, it’s a total freaking wild card.”

You won’t know the outcome until six months after you have stopped breastfeeding or, if you are not breastfeeding, six months after childbirth. In order to choose breast implants that will make you proportional, you need to know your proportions – and your true starting size. See before and after photos.

However, if parenthood is further down the road and you are anxious to enjoy new breasts now, you don’t have to wait. You just have to understand that you might need a revision after your pregnancy.

Do You Get a Lot of Exotic Dancers?

Posted on January 3, 2013 by anoki123

By Dr. Ted

That’s one of the questions that men most frequently ask me, although many women are wondering the same thing. The answer is no. Only about 1 percent of my patients are exotic dancers.

A few notes about that 1 percent: Exotic dancers could make a case for deducting their breast implants as a business expense. The precedent was set in 1994 by Cynthia Hess, who goes by the stage name Chesty Love. When she tried to write off the cost of her breast augmentation, the IRS objected, so she took her case to tax court. A judge ruled that her breasts were necessary stage props.

Patients who are dancers tell me they can “prance” as early as 7-10 days after surgery; it takes about three weeks until they are comfortable again using the pole.

About the 99 percent: My patients range in age from 18 to 63 and include bartenders, nurses, hairstylists, veterinarians, housecleaners, doctors, construction workers, ballroom dancers, stay-at-home moms, company executives, waitresses, fitness trainers, cheerleaders, policewomen who want to know how soon they can put their bulletproof vests back on, and women in all branches of the military who have e-mailed us from Iraq and Afghanistan to set up appointments for when they are back in the United States. This is not a complete list.

You can’t make generalizations about the women who get breast implants, and there are a lot of them: In 2010, about 336,000 women in the United States had breast augmentation; worldwide that number exceeded 1.5 million. Women who live in Brazil (which ranks right behind the U.S. in number of breast augmentations done each year) are lucky; breast augmentations are deductible there.

Neither should you make assumptions about the reasons women get implants. Sorry, guys. Women don’t get implants to please you. That might be an outcome, but it’s not the motivation. They get them to please themselves – to make themselves feel more feminine and sexy, to have a figure that’s more proportional, and to fit better in their dresses, bikinis and tank tops.