Now look what went and happened while I was gone this weekend. I have to put on another Public Service Announcement show.
[Please understand and support 'verbally' your understanding of the bravery involved in this difficult and quite revealing post. BRAVERY!]
Someone came here searching for perky titties.
Let me assure you that this is not the proper residence to find perky titties.
Once in HS on an everything but 4th-base-fling, I was told I had the most pert breasts he'd ever seen.
Pert.
The guy was a jerk, but I treasure that part.
Pert.
I've had a breast post brewing for a while, say five months. My wounds about the subject were re-opened in June. I was putzing around, I believe, starting from a post at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery Blog. So many people want bigger breasts. Or, like my sister, want (get) breast reduction. Me, I just want them to point the right direction, sorta upwards would be nice. I guess I'd like a lift.
P sent me a funny t-shirt picture recently. Across the chest it read:
Please tell your boobs to quit staring at my eyes.Despite the fact that he, lovestruck fool, actually likes my package, I emailed him back:
Whatdya mean? Mine stare at your penis.So the scoop is out. I have awful breasts. The once pert ice cream cone (picture the cone attached horizontally to the chest) boobies now have the C-cup cones facing south.
I look like one of those topless starving African women in National Geographic. Except I'm fat now.
I grew up teased by none other than my mother and younger sister. They called my boobs ice cream cones, the sugar cone variety. My mother had big, saggy, heavy breasts that made her bra straps dig into her shoulders and my sister grew to have large, round melons she later had reduced, paid for by insurance b/c they mangled her 95 lb frame. Ma and sis would often come up and poke me on the sternum just b/c there wasn't much more than skin there. My otherwise tiny sister had so much breast flesh that the skin over her sternum had a vertical crease much like the very top of a butt crack. Bony sternum and all, I preferred mine, b/c I mistakenly thought they would be perky longer and less trouble down the road.
The fall happened when I was about 30 during my course of 6 months of depo lupron for endo, followed by 12 months of depo provera, followed by another 12+ months of no menses on bcps. It wracked my body, aged me, added 30ish lbs, and made the cones descend in a major way. And they made me feel unattractive, too. Double, well, triple whammy.
Aside from expensive surgery, the only thing I could do was accept them. Combine their direction with my flattened nipples and my breasts were less than sexual objects. Pumping for 7 months, b/c J would not breastfeed from said flattened nipples (few are actually inverted, contrary to popular opinion), corrected them to where they will generally, but not perfectly, pooch outward and semi-correctly when squeezed, rather than retreating due to the binding adhesions.
Hear that you women having trouble with breastfeeding due to flattened or inverted nipples!!! Pump for months and they will correct themselves if the baby isn't a voractious eater [and painfully yanks them out like my finicky kid would not] and isn't doing the correcting for you!!!! No Lactation Consultant will tell you this b/c they are fucking clueless!!!!
(Visit this surgeon's website for before/after pictures of surgically corrected nipples.)
As an additional aside, while I was trying to get J to breastfeed unsuccessfully, I read everything I could, to include the LLL "classic" The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. I am not providing a link b/c the book is hooey. I fucking ordered the book and looked up flattened/inverted nipples. They less than a paragraph to it. I was casually told that they must occur b/c the woman must be lacking in enough breast play with her husband in the bedroom. A woman does something (or not, actually) to deserve this deformity! This load of crap haunted me. According to the author, I guess I should have started breast play before puberty, b/c, fucktard LLL, this was the fucked up way I was born! Just like my mother before me!
Further as I come clean overall about breasts, I feel the same way about the recommended wearing of stupid flying saucer discs providing gentle pressure to the nips to try to correct them. Honey, they need Hoovers to pull them out, not yeast-infecting sweat-causing breast shells. [Evidently LLL has come out with the Evert-It Nipple Enhancer in the last 8 years. Doesn't look too effective, tho - a glorified syringe? They also seem to have come to realize that breast shells, the wearing of essentially a jock cup in your bra (yeah, I used to knock on them just the way J and his team mates knock on their cups now), is less than desirable, so they came up with the equally ineffective Soft Shell Breast Shells for Inverted Nipples. Oh, the bullshit advances in breastfeeding technology!]
There was some good news, tho. My breasts, after giving up the painful yet useful pump, finally became sexual objects when the nips revealed their sensitive selves. Wow! Nips that stick out feel/respond a hell of a lot better than those too shy to be coaxed out. Wow! Nips with personality. Wow! Nips that could actually stick into the mouth the next baby and not retreat when suckled! Wow!
Obviously that last part has been a very painful part of SIF. I worked so hard on the nips to make them functional to breastfeed the next baby. [tears] This is a tough SIF side effect that I haven't brought up here before. Tough.
Breasts a big deal to me? Without a doubt, yes.
Add to that the fact that I have not one, but the coveted two, accessory nipples (mine are faint like the bottom pic - supposedly one in 18 of us have a 3rd one) and I am over the top on the Deformed Mammaries Scale.
- saggy tube socks
- flattened nipples
- accessory nipples
Lucky freak, yes I am. At least the accessories didn't present themselves when I was pregnant or breastfeeding; I was expecting balloons on my abdomen like a nursing dog.
When I see cute pancake breasts/nips, I cringe. When I see ones that actually curve upwards, I want to cry.Tube socks and extra freckle-looking things. That's what I have. The tubes are not quite as wrinkly as the old hag in Something About Mary, but just give me some time.
So, as I was web searching in June, I came across something that rocked my world.
What I have his called a tubular or tuberous breast, not a tube sock. It is a birth defect. It must be genetic, b/c I believe my mother has the same.
Here are some definitions:
Tuberous breasts - A breast deformity where the breast is shaped like a tuberous plant such as a potato. It is a form of constricted breast.
Tubular breasts - A breast deformity where the breast and or nipple areola complex has a tubular or cucumber shape as opposed to the conical shape normally seen in a developing breast. It is a form of constricted breast.
Constricted Breasts - A general category of breast defects that share in common a short distance from the areola to the inframammary crease of the breast. This general category of breast deformities also includes tuberous breasts and tubular breasts.
Here are some descriptions.
THE TYPICAL PATIENT
- A patient with a small and tight breast that looks abnormal.
- Often associated with large areolae that are puffy and protrude.
- Features of a breast that is not round but narrower from top to bottom and with tight skin especially below the nipple.
And the best news, well, almost, is that these hooters can be fixed! I'll give you a few examples.Tubular hypoplastic breast [I presently resemble the 3rd from the top but with more space between the pair and better symmetry; I've never been so sparce as the one pictured right next to this part of the article.]
There is one exception to the rule about breast size/shape and breastfeeding ability, and that is that some (very few) women have insufficient glandular tissue in their breasts. In other words they simply don't have enough milk producing cells, and these women can then experience milk supply problems. This condition is called breast hypoplasia or hypoplastic breasts.
This kind of breast is underdeveloped (hypoplastic) in terms of the milk glands. They lack normal fullness and may look like 'empty sacks', and may seem bulbous or swollen at the tip. Many times hypoplastic breasts are widely spaced from each other, and narrow at the chest wall. Due to lack of glandular tissue, they have an elongated or tubular form, and often are quite small. The areola can be enlarged.
There may be a significant asymmetry. The breasts don't grow during pregnancy and there is no engorgement when the milk is supposed to come in after giving birth.
Scientists don't yet know for sure the reason for this underdevelopment. One theory is that at least in some women it would be linked to too little progesterone, since progesterone mediates the growth of alveoli (milk making glands).
If you happen to have these tubular hypoplastic (under-developed) breasts, talk to a lactation consultant before giving birth.
I resemble her right breast. With a good surgeon, I could look normal.
She's bigger than I am, but look how beautiful she is now!
To be able to wear cute clothes and go braless in public! To have a positive self image about one thing on my dysmorphic body!
Why, oh, why did I go through 25 years of breast exams and three Lactation Consultants to have to find this out on my own? How hard would it have been for someone to inform me that I have a breast deformity? Why the fuck did no "professional" tell me? It not only affected my self esteem, it affected my ability to feed my son!
Yes, I've known about the accessory nipples since I was 5; a thorough pediatric allergist found them. Yes, I've known about the flattened nipples forever b/c of my mother's experience; one LC told me that I was the 2nd worse case she'd ever seen.
But why nada on the tubular or tuberose breasts? From the links and descriptions, I don't think it is that rare.
For five months now, I've had these print outs next to my bed:
Tuberous Breast Deformity/Modified Mastoplexy
and
Tubular Breast Deformity/Breast Corrections [I resemble the first and third.]
For five months, I've realized that my defective breasts have a clinical description, one that was withheld from me. [I'll admit that I cried for a couple days in June knowing that I am physically deformed in yet another way. Wounded. I strongly believe that the breast issues and endo are related - tissue in the wrong places b/c of the 'mixed up conductor' theory in embryology. In fact, I believe that all girls/women who show up with an accessory nipple should be considered to have endo. Sure would help out on a lot of IF diagnoses, too.]
For five months, I have contemplated writing this post to let other Google women know that they're not alone. Bravery, I tell ya. Feel free to write and pat me on the back. Anytime.
For five months, I've wanted to say how wonderful it is to be able to Google stuff for myself, how wonderful the Internet it, how wonderful it is to blog and force myself to think about stuff I thought was useless to think about.
For five months, I did not know the following site existed. Performing this PSA dog show and researching more sites, I found this:
Breast Reconstruction for Deformities Unrelated to Cancer Treatment by AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLASTIC SURGEONS
ASPS Recommended Insurance Coverage Criteria for Third-Party Payers
DEFINITION: COSMETIC AND RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY
For reference, the following definition of cosmetic and reconstructive
surgery was adopted by the American Medical Association, June 1989:
Cosmetic surgery is performed to reshape normal structures of the body
in order to improve the patient's appearance and self-esteem.Reconstructive surgery is performed on abnormal structures of the body,
caused by congenital defects, developmental abnormalities, trauma,
infection, tumors, or disease. It is generally performed to improve
function, but may also be done to approximate a normal appearance.
Anomalies of breast: Code 757.6
■Tubular breast
■Absent breast or nipple (amastia)
■Breast asymmetry
■Breast hypoplasia/micromastia
■Accessory breast or nipple
■Supernumerary
TREATMENT
A variety of reconstruction techniques are available to accommodate a
wide range of breast defects. The technique(s) selected are dependent on
the nature of the defect, the patient's individual circumstances and the
surgeon's judgment. When developing the surgical plan, the surgeon must
correct underlying deficiencies as well as take into consideration the goal
of achieving bilateral symmetry. Depending on the individual patient
circumstances, surgery on the contralateral breast may be necessary to
achieve symmetry. Surgical procedures on the opposite breast may
include reduction mammaplasty and mastopexy with or without
augmentation.
In other words, THIS SHIT IS COVERED BY INSURANCE.
(.) (.) ----------> (*) (*)
~
See also My popular bosom to understand how many people visit this post daily.
PS: if you've had experience with surgery and tubular breasts (or flattened/inverted nipples) or have been frustrated by this/these defect(s), please speak up about your experience, how you learned your breasts have a diagnosis, how insurance worked for surgery, or why you choose to not have surgery. Be anonymous, if you desire. An awful lot of Googlers will benefit from your response and I would be equally grateful.
hypoplastic
tubular
tuberose
56 comments:
Funny, I've always had big boobs, and since my weight gain they have of course ventured further and further south. You could have called me pert when I was 11, very droopy by 20.
It's simply never occured to me that breastfeeding might be nigh unto impossible because of breast shape. Or, indeed, that there are so many shapes out there! Of course, I haven't actually seen any naked women besides myself outside of the movies since I was oh, 11, probably, so maybe that's par for the course.
Still, I'm glad you found a solution to your...problem? Is problem the right word?
Knowledge is power, no?
Hoping that you find the solution that you're looking for.
And yes, you're quite brave. But there's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm sure you'll be helping someone else quite a bit by posting this.
Yes, bravery would be the word I would use. It's always cathartic in my book to talk about things that are "wrong" with us in the hopes of helping someone else out who hasn't garnered the information we have yet. If surgery is going to help you physically and emotionally, then I say, go for it!
Thanks to those who commented. I appreciate it more than you know.
Well, good for you. Personally, I'm all about the lift. Can't wait to get one. Keep us posted on what you decide to do.
Wow, I've never heard of the tubular thing. As for the flat nipples, may I just say "You lucky bitch!" That was one of several lactation-related problems I had, but my milk supply was so crappy I had to give it up after 2 months. And now you're telling me that if I had just stuck with the pumping for several months longer, the nipples would have popped out and discovered their hidden nerve endings? Goddammit. I hatedhatedhated the pumping, but to facilitate an erogenous zone? Could've been worthwhile. Thanks for the education, Cricket.
You are very wise, and very brave. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Damn!
I was always hoping that when I get pregnent that they'll correct themselves, what with all the preparing for breast feeding and hormones.
I assumed that somewhere along the line in my puberty, my breasts just stopped listening to my hormones and gave up!
My boyfriend says he loves them just the way they are, but we shall see when it comes to the breast feeding. I still think they're horrible things, so only time will tell if I'll leave them like that or stuff them full of silicone.
But top marks on the googling! In fact, I did just the same thing! One day, just googling 'small breasts' and look what I find!
It's nice to know that I'm not alone though! What I wouldn't give for some A cup normal breasts!
I think I have hypoplastic breasts and google led me here. I don't hate my breasts because of their looks, but because of my inability to feed my son and soon perhaps my next baby. They are not nice looking, but that doesn't matter. I think it's rather 'teen' to worry about breast look so much that you go to plastic surgery.
Hi Today's Anon,
I am so glad to hear of someone who doesn't mind the appearance of their hypoplastic breasts. I do understand the breastfeeding issue, although mine could produce, awkward as it was.
However, I don't think it is any more immature to want to change one's birth defect breasts than it is to get braces on your teeth. I do not believe that making something aesthetically pleasing for one's self is wrong, selfish, a bad choice, or to be judged.
I am lucky enough to have enough breast tissue that a lift is in order - rearranging what I have. I would be less comfortable with an implant, but that is my preference and I'm lucky that it isn't an issue. Surgery alone carries enough risk to me.
It isn't 'teen' to want to fix a birth defect.
OMG. You and I could be twins, or our breasts could. I have the same "problem" and didn't know it was a "birth defect" until tonight!! I'm 32 and have successfully breastfed two babies. My poor sister has the same problem - but has only one fully developed breast. She wears a falsie on one side - nursed on the other! She had silicone implants at age 18 - my parents felt sorry for her since she had only one crappy boob - I had to live with my two. However, after her baby, her implants sort of disappeared - and they are the old kind - so they probably disintegrated. She's too stupid to have it checked out. I have been thinking about surgery for years - and now have a way to pay for it - and I live in the *best* place to have it done (southern California). I'll let you know if I can get my insurance to help!! Anyway, thank you so much for sharing your story. I feel much less alone.
Anon,
Thanks so much for writing. Seems like both you and your sister would qualify for insurance coverage. I'd love to know what you learn once you start on the road to correction.
hi, i found your post after googling "tubular breast deformity." i'm 25, but i had mine diagnosed when i was 18. however, my insurance provider at the time wouldn't cover a corrective procedure--they said it was cosmetic. granted, this could have been contested by the surgeon, but i didn't know that at the time. so you may want to put a disclaimer on your post. not all insurance providers cover corrective surgery for tubular breast deformity.
another problem that i've had is that every local surgeon that i've found insists on using an implant to correct the deformity. i really don't want big boobs at all, and the idea of an implant seems gross and unnecessary--i just want the weird gigantic nipples fixed. every surgeon summarily dismissed this idea, because every woman wants huge, shiny, distended sphere-boobs. anyway, just this week, i finally found a local clinic who will consider correcting it without an implant, but it took almost eight years.
thanks for your post!
Megan,
Please post again to let us know how things progress. Good luck.
As far as insurance goes, people post very little and I haven't gotten the nerve to pursue it myself to know more personally. I did get one email that said few plastic surgeons take insurance, so it doesn't matter whether it's covered or not, they're not going to take it.
I get a good number of hits on this page daily.
For clarification on the issue of insurance, one person emailed me several months ago that many plastic surgeons do not take insurance. So if insurance did cover a procedure, the doctor might not accept the level of payment allowed by the insurance. This means probably paying for any procedures out of pocket, filing on ones own, and hoping for the best regarding coverage.
So, insurance codes do not translate into insurance coverage, which does not translate into a doctor accepting a specific level of coverage.
As always, additional insights are welcomed.
I've still been to chicken to proceed. I'd appreciate more perspectives and more commenting.
THANK YOU thank you thank you for your candor, your humor, and most of all, your bravery! I, too, have tubular breasts that were often referred to as "snow cones" in the past. I got pregnant and had a baby 8 mos. ago and was absolutely dismayed, shocked, disappointed, ABANDONED by my gross, pointy, saggy, small breasts when it came time to feed my baby. Miraculously, in spite of an LC who "had never seen a case as bad as mine", trying Domperidone, crying buckets of tears, telling everyone in the universe about my deformed boobs, I managed to BF the baby (with heavy supplementation and several visits to Dr. Gabbay, who is wonderful) for 4.5 months before I finally threw my Pump in Style at the wall and told my husband to put it in the basement. We'll see how it goes for baby #2, when/if that happens...
Surgery? Absolutely. Once I'm done with the baby-making. I will love and enjoy and appreciate my new, surgically-improved boobs and more importantly, the self-esteem boost having them will no doubt bring!
Anyway, thank you again for your blog, I am SO GLAD to know that there are more of us out there...
Wow.
Thank god I'm not the only one.
I've taken the "extreme" option though and am booked in for surgery 13th April to fix the problem.
In my case, I have a "large" frame (size 12-14), absolutely zilch breast tissue but these huge nipples.
Caused me grief all my life< I feel a little "tacky" having surgery, but in my case its really the only option to fix.
Will let you know how I go!
Hi 3/30 Anon,
Please tell us how it goes after the surgery, then come back a few months later and let us know again.
Is insurance covering it? How did you choose your doctor? How were you originally diagnosed?
Hi there,
Well, I have a tubular breast deformity as well, and I had corrective surgery about eight years ago and am so happy I did! My insurance did pay, but at the time I was covered by an excellent BC/BS policy, and I'm not sure that all policies would cover it...
I also always knew there was something wrong with my breasts, but did not realize what until I went to see a plastic surgeon. I also did not care about size, but wanted to have the shape fixed. The guy gave free consultations. He took one look at my boobs and said "No way." Thanks a lot.
I happened to be in medical school at the time, and once I knew the name of the condition (I guess I can thank the surgeon above for THAT!) I asked some plastic surgeon friends about the condition and found some articles. I also found a surgeon who was willing to do a corrective procedure. However, what someone said above is right--they need to use implants. Basically, there was not enough breast tissue and/or skin present in mine to correct the problem without them. I chose saline ones, and got the smallest size possible (I think they were 200mL on the large side and 230mL on the small side). I had a great result and feel very lucky.
In any case, I'm 35 now and due with my first baby in a couple of weeks. I was checking the web today to find out about breastfeeding, and was so happy to find so many people discussing this topic, all through google searches! My question is if anyone has tried BFing after surgery? Because I think that could make even more problems.
In any case, I wish you luck with your decision. For me the surgery was more than well worth it, but again I have had the best result possible.
I am 21, have had ugly tuberous breats the whole time.... i wouldnt even call them breasts since they never developed beyong the cone shaped AA cone ( i cant call it a cup as cups are round).
I told my gyno, my primary care, that something is wrong with my breasts, they all said "breasts are always diffrent, blah blah blah, lots of women are unhpapy nothing is wrong with you"
I am sorry, but those dumb bitches have no clue, and thats what really pissed me off about the whole thing, i spend two years going back and forth saying something is wrong and NO ONE LISTENED TO ME.
I go in for the consult and the plastic surgeon says they are tuberous, i go home look it up online, and all my problems are solved.
I am happy there is a way to correct it.
I am getting my binelli lift and silicone implans on july 25th.
I am a large girl, 5-7 size 16, high muscle content, blah blah.... so i am going with a 700cc, which will be a D cup or so....... they look normal on me, i stop looking so manly and my body becomes nice and feminine.
A lot of people dont understand what its like to have ugly breats .... especially when breasts are such a big symbol of womenhood.
I am spending around 8k, i have tons of debt already, but i am going to shcool and got a full scholarship, so i dont feel as guilty as i could since my education is paid for... i figure i can invest in my breasts.
The people that know i am getting it done and have breasts think its crazy, i hate those people, how can they possibly know their their huge tits what its like to be deformed.
someone who got a gastric bypass told me that i am crazy for getting implants and that its complelty wrong and i am vain and so on, i wanted to slap her.
Anyways, I hope everyone considers fixing it b/c in my opinion breasts are extremely important to a woman, regardless of their size, there should be something there that more or less resembles breast.... to me its part of bieng a woman.
I can post B4 and After once i get them done if anyoen cares.
Anon, I care. I definitely care. Give us a link or we can work out a post somehow if you want.
By posting here, you're reaching a couple dozen people a day. This post is plumb devoured by Google. Many people research this problem and it makes me shocked that more people aren't already aware.
I went through similar with my gyn recently. She saw me laying down and a bit chilled, so things looked relatively normal, so she'd dismissed what we'd just discussed in her office about tuberous breasts, something she'd never heard of. At my follow up 6 months later, I sat waiting for her with my bra unhooked, so my breasts would loose the tension they get in the bra and elongate again. She wasn't even going to do a breast exam (it was a repeat pap visit) but I gave her the complete tour of my breasts, to include correcting her assumption from the last visit. I had to educate her on how my breasts aren't normal. She promptly gave me the name of a local plastic surgeon who does great breasts, so I've progressed a little bit, but not to the point of an appointment.
Good luck to you, though. I would love to hear back.
iHey, not a lot of people respond on here but ichecked back just to see if anyones said anything and lo and behold someone did.
Did you schedule a consult yet? or anything with yourPS. I was super excited and somewhat in disbelief , and still am since i found out its actually HAPPENING!
I will post pics on implantinfo.com definatley, and maybe i could somehow link from there to here....
That is another really good webiste and if you want to see b4 and after pics of tuberous breasts they have a decent amount.
*not trying to advertise*, please delete is this is making it seem like advertising, just trying to share a palce i found helpful.
surgery is 1 month away for me, i will have boobies soon. i cant blieve it
Anna,
Do post when you have pictures done. You can leave a link here.
I have not progressed on mine. I only have Medicare and I honestly have not looked into coverage. I have so little money, that it would be hard to come up with the funds.
That said, the fiance I had when I wrote this piece panned the idea of me having surgery. As shallow as it sounds, I don't think future guys will be quite so accommodating in this perfect-oriented world. I think P was more grossed out at the idea of scars; I think more guys would be (or have been, in my expereince) grossed out by wonky breasts than some surgical scars. I'd love to hear more ideas on this.
A little progress, I was told a great boob surgeon by my gyn - she'd seen a pair done by this surgeon the day before and considered them magnificant. I figure that's a pretty good endorsement.
If I ever have surgery, I would want to make sure that the nipples are corrected, too. I would want the invertedness (link to surgeon/pictures in the post) to go away and I don't like how they are puffy and medium large. I don't feel like just trimming the edge of the areola would be enough. Besides, the bumpy parts on the edge of the areola are nice and sensitive - are they just considered scrap?
I also don't think just clipping and raising would be enough. Like some of the descriptions said, tubular breasts have a fold underneath and it placed the breast high on the chest wall. I read someplace where this constriction/adhesion should be broken up so that the breast settles to a normal level. I would want that done, too.
Guess I've had enough time to think about this that I've become picky.
oh my GOSH did I really read this list of comments and find that so many other women have the same problem as me??? I thought I was the only sad soul in the universe.
I consulted a plastic surgeon once but I felt SO ashamed to show my hideous breasts. The only other person to see them is my husband. I changed my mind on surgery just cuz I think that I need to wait and find a surgeon who has experience with this condition. That was a while back and I haven't looked into it since then.
Okay, now I am 4 months pregnant. I was reading randomly online and guess what??? My tuberous breasts probably won't be able to breast feed my child! I feel DEVASTATED!
I'll try my best, but will just supplement with bottle feeding.
I was already thinking that it would be hard to breast feed in front of others with my nasty breasts. Ugh.
Anyway, kindred spirits...I am convinced that this is related to congenital progesterone deficiency----especially linked to polycystic ovarian syndrome, which I have.
Good luck to all of you.
I found this page through google and I would really like to thank you for writing this post. I felt somewhat relieved after I read the post and the comments, knowing there are other unfortunate women who shared or still suffer from the same problem as I do.Knowing that I'm not alone.
I'm 17 years old and I recently found out I'm "officialy deformed" as I suffer from a tuberous breast deformicy.
I wish I could go through a corrective surgury as soon as I can, but I have no idea how to bring this up to my mother and the thought of searching a good plastic surgeoun that will be able to make my breasts normal and beautiful (which will probably not be an easy thing to do), depresses me.
If anyone reads this, I noticed many of the women who commented, and the one who wrote this post are married. How did you manage to maintain a good healthy relationship despite having this deformicy? Because I just can't. Maybe I'm making too much of a deal about it, but it makes me feel so bad that my boyfriend has to put up with my disgusting breasts. It feels terrible being unatrractive in his eyes (and pants I guess,heh) just becuase of my bloody breast deformicy.
Knowing I'm not good enough for him really kills me. Why does he have to be the one with the deformed unattractive girlfriend?
Good thing is, my breasts look very very similar to this unfortonate girl's - http://www.thebreastexpert.com/breastdeformities/photo_deform_3.htm
and after surgery her breasts look very nice indeed.
Anyway that's about it. Sorry about this overly self-centered comment and thanks for the people who read this far.
xoxo
me
i have boobies, i dont know how to actually post a picture but please email me and i will send you one and then maybe someone else can post it for me?
my email malishka31@aol.com
Please somehow let me know your from this blog
these are my pictures , the photo album is labeled "anna"
http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/JulyRockets2006/photos/browse/7cc8
Anna, thanks for sharing, but you have to be a member of that Yahoo group to see it. Did you also post on implantinfo.com?
it takes a while for it to show up on implant info,
i will make a photobucket, will post sometime tonight
My 2 cents: Cosmetic surgeons will tell you anything is a deformity if it puts money in their pockets. Ask a shoe salesman if you need new shoes and see what he says.
I (male, 35) understand that having a different shape from the others you see in various media can cause self-consciousness. But I think it's really sad for women to be spending all this money (and many getting implants, which involve health risks) to make themselves conform to what the media say they should look like. Truth be told, many men find tuberous breasts attractive. The sexual term for them is "puffies". Take five minutes and look at sites that come up when you google that term. Why would there be websites devoted to women with breasts like yours if it weren't attractive? Think about this before you beat yourself up about being different or sign up for surgery.
ok and your like 1 guy in 1000000000000million.
and just because you like it doesnt mean we like it, our breasts arent there for your pleasure are they now .... it really has nothing to do with you guys, your not there when i look in the mirror and think, WTF IS WRONG WITH MY BODY... that though really has nothing to do with you.
Guys will sleep with us regardless of how or breasts look really, the average guy that is,... but do we feel comfortable being naked in front of you guys? do we feel confident? do we feel sexy?
no we dont.
By the way i just typed in puffies in google , and that is NOT TUBEROUS BREASTS!!!!!!!
I looked at 3-4 sites and all i saw was a normal nice boob with a somewhat enlarged puffy nipple area.... thats not tuberous breasts, thats just a tit variation.
tit variation does not equal tit deformity.
Once i get to a wirless hotspot, i will post a photbucket of my pictures, there was actually soemthing LEGITAMATLEY wrong and GROSSSSSLY unappealing about my breasts....the plastic surgery was not only well worth it, but mandatory in my opinon b/c a woman should have breasts, how would you feel having balls the size of peas? or having your whole scrotum the size of peas?.... yah i am sure your going to feel weird.
OK pictures.
Before
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y273/malishka31/100_1263.jpg
4 hours after
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y273/malishka31/2348e45e.jpg
Day 3
ttp://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y273/malishka31/2ad98787.jpg
Day 3/2 (dunno)
42dd bra
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y273/malishka31/100_1309.jpg
does this work
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y273/malishka31/100_1263.jpg[/IMG]
http://i7.photobucket.com/
albums/y273/malishka31/
100_1263.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/
albums/y273/malishka31/
2ad98787.jpg
Ok tell me if these two work and then i will post more.
I cut and pasted the 4 links and it worked fine.
Speaking of fine! Wow!
I'm shocked at the idea of DD, but you do what you gotta do. And they look great - not like a half a cantelope stuck on your chest. You didn't look to have much bruising either. I hope your recovery has been smooth and that you are satisfied. Thanks so much for sharing and continue to share as you want.
Did the doctor trim your areola? What about the nipples? They seem to protrude more 'after' but that might be from the swelling. I'm curious about the effects of working on the nipples themselves like the surgial nipple link in the main post.
Also, did the doctor lower the line of the crease below your breast? That's a thing with us, that crease is too high because of an adhesion. I've wondered how they jimmy the crease and loosen it up to make a rounder breast.
Again, congrats on a decision that looks like it's panned out so far!
Hey, thanks .. to me they look weird, and they have gone down in size a bit, it all depends on the type of bra, and i cant wear much but sports bras yet.
I had a benelli lift... that is what removed the tuberous effect for me, my breasts were very small as you saw so the benelli lift was enough to handle the tuberous problem.
Bascilly they cut around the aerola and then remove a donut shaped skin around it, then strecht the skin, shove the implant and sow you back up with pursestring sutures ...i did not have my aerola trimmeed but just by having a benelli lift a little bit of it gets removed.
My one boob had a lot more done to it than the other one in tersm of the lift, it had a lot more removed...... when i first saw my boobs i didnt really have much of a crease, the crease is developing slowly .... as they drop and settle, they were very high up in myu pits and up near the collar bone, they are slowly dropping and as they drop the crease is forming itself.
umm i dont know what else to post, not much else has happend besides that, .. i will post more pics soon.
by the way, i forgot to mention this b4 ... but when you were mentinoing the specific procedures to remove the tuberous effect before just placing the implant, i though the pictures on implantinfo.com ... there are some pictures on there, specificlly of tuberous brests b4/after... and some women just had the implant placed with no correction of the tuberou breast, and when you get a moderate sized implant and have moderate sized tuberous breasts to start with, it bascilly looks AWFUL! ........ you end up with a nice round boob, with another cone shaped smaller boob on it ... atleast thats what it lookes like to me, they still end up looking tuberous and not normal.
So, just a warning, if you have ample breast tissue and tuberou breasts ... and decide to opt for surgery, dont just get an implant, make sure there is something that is actually correcting the deformity, for me alift was enough.......... but .... my breats very tiny, so just removing some skin here and there was enough to form a round breast once the implant went in.
.....
my boobies went down in size, i went bra shopping and in some bras they are a nice full full C... or a nice D..... sometimes, but rarely its DD, it depends on how the bra is sown ...... but the C bra provides the most support .
However these are 42 C, so if i loose weight, i would go down to 40D and 38DD... relativly speaking....... because when i loose weight my tits stay the same size ...
I love fake boboies......... i had my friend touch them and she was plesantly surprised at how they
felt,silicone feels great.
i am now 20k in debt but its WELL WORTH IT.
That's cool, too, that you think they feel great from the outside. Important consideration. Down the road, I'd love for you to comment on how they feel from the inside, to include if you've retained your normal nipple sensation.
Thanks for all the great info and referrals. I can tell how much research you put into making this decision. I am so happy for you.
When my daughter was born, I had an absolute NIGHTMARE of a time trying to breastfeed her. I saw numerous lactation consultants, I bought breast shells, nipple shields, a $300 breast pump...I did everything possible, but it still took several months before we had a good breastfeeding relationship established. She just wouldn't latch right, for nearly six months. My nipples cracked and bled, I was constantly in pain. I felt like a failure.
No one ever said anything to me about hypoplastic breasts. Would you believe that it's only now, almost a year later, that I am realizing that I have them? My breasts look just like almost every photo I have seen of them so far. I can't believe I never knew, and that none of the people who were supposed to be helping me ever told me.
I am very thankful, and feel extremely fortunate, that I never encountered any problems with milk supply, and that eventually, I was able to get my baby to latch on and can now breastfeed her without any problems. However, I do think that abnormal breasts played a big part in the struggle to get her to latch, and I really wish someone had told me about this condition a long time ago.
I don't know why I'm leaving a comment, really. I guess just to say thank you. It's good to know that I'm not alone. I don't know what, if anything, I am going to do now, but, yeah...it's just good to finally know that it wasn't through some error I was making that I had such a rough time getting my baby to breastfeed.
This is very helpful, thanks. Several have asked for personal tales about bf success with hypoplastic breasts. You've given them an answer.
I've never seen a differentiation between the terms tubular and tuberous. I think of tubular as the most significantly hypoplastic, tube-like breasts, thinner than cones. I think of tuberous as being larger, perhaps more cone-like, later more like a big iris root.
I know that tuberous can produce enought to breastfeed, but you seem to say you've had success, albeit hard earned, with breasts more tubular. Wonderful to learn.
People/professionals in the know don't seem to think a patient's diagnosis would really matter, as if timeliness and disclosure are not important.
As it turns out, I was a miliatry wife for 15 years. It sucked and I constantly got the short end of the stick. I lost so much in that situation.
Now I learn I could have fucking had this done for free if someone had bothered to tell me why my breasts are like they are.
This was before and after having my son, with plenty of exams and LCs who had had the pleasure of my form by then.
Now it's too late and I am pissed all over again.
[But glad you commented.]
Don't get me started on sexism in medicine. Another sore spot.
If you want, do keep us/me posted on how your appointment goes and what you pursue. Anna posted pictures on Photobucket, which is pretty darned anonymous considering how many pictures of boobs there are out there. I guess it'd be best to say that it's as anonymous as you'd desire.
I helped my sister after her breast reduction almost 20 years ago. She was in the hospital 2 days and needed help for a week. I stuck around for a second week, but she didn't need me too much. Of course, she didn't have 2yo twins - I'd think before 2 weeks, you could be pretty mobile, cook, drive, etc, but not lift a lot yet. I'd bet they say no lifting over 5 lbs for 6 weeks, but that's conjecture. I'm sure one of these sites posts post-op instructions.
.
.
.
I looked up these post-op instructions for various breast surgeries:
http://www.mybodypart.com/breast-lift-post-op-instructions.html
http://ca.geocities.com/plastic-surgery@rogers.com/post-op_instructions_breast_augmentation.htm
(Says to not begin upper body weight traiining until 6 wks, but neither of these mention day-to-day lifting.)
http://www.justbreastimplants.com/surgery/tipsheet.htm
http://www.drzahir.com/PostOperInstructions.html
(talks about not lifting above head)
Good luck with whatever you decide.
I'm so glad I found this blog! I only recently had my diagnosis of tubular breasts confirmed (although it had been suspected for a few years) and it's really nice to hear other peoples stories & to know I'm not the only one - I really felt like I was for a long time! - so I thought I'd post my story incase it helps anyone else :)
I'm 22, and have a tubular breast deformity. Although I've developed a normal amount of breast tissue - about a 32C, but as this is significantly less than the 32F size that everyone else in my family has so it seems there's still some stunting of development - this has actually caused me more problems. Because of the tubular deformity problems like a tight mammary crease, when my breasts grew it stretched the small amount of skin overlying that area, rather than growing normally, and so has left me with GIGANTIC nipples (approx 8cm across, on boobs that really aren't that big in the first place!) - they've been like this since I was about 14/15 and I've spent years feeling utterly self-concious and miserable about them.
My breasts look almost normal when I'm cold and my nipples are erect and my areola contracted - this makes the areola seem much smaller and also 'pulls' the breast up - but otherwise they're very saggy and my nipple & areola basically looks like a beanie cap sat on the end of a cone-shaped breast! I wanted to leave a few years to see if my breasts would change as I matured, or to see if I could accept my breasts as they are, but it's got to the point where clearly neither of those things is ever going to happen - so I've started the ball rolling with getting them corrected.
I met with a surgeon who was recommended to me a few days ago, and it seems that I'll probably need two subsequent areola reductions (the same as a benelli lift) to give me an almost normal result - to stop the skin around the areola puckering after surgery he can only take a limited amount of areola tissue off at a time, so the first operation should take about 1.5cm off the diameter, and a second (at least a year after the first, to make sure everythings fully healed) should take a further 1cm. So it should leave me with 5.5cm diameter areolas and much perter breasts - my areolas will still be pretty big in comparison to my breast size, but that's the best result they can give me and it would certainly be a big improvement :)
My boyfriend has been brilliant during all of this - he made it very clear he's happy with my breasts the way they are, but that he'd support me whatever I decided to do. I've always found it amazing that he isn't as disgusted by my breasts as I am - but by some miracle he isn't, and I'm so grateful for that! I think he finds it hard though - we're both student doctors, so he knows as well as I do that it is a deformity, but I don't think he wants to call it that because he doesn't want to upset me; it's quite sweet really :) But I had times when I first found out about my diagnosis that I just wanted to cry and feel a bit sorry for myself for not having an entirely normal body, and those were really hard for him.
Anyway, I'm feeling much better now that I can get something done and exited to have started that process - so in 18months or so I should hopefully have something like normal breasts for the first time in my life! Thankyou again for writing this post - it's really helped me, and hopefully my post can help someone else (and I'm very sorry it's such a self-indulgence one - my experience of tubular breasts is sort of limited to just me atm!)
Kat x
Thank you for being so open about this. I could never shake the fact that there is something wrong with my tits...I called them my retarded boobs...which in hindsight, is not so pc. But, I finally found out what's wrong with these puppies. My only sibling-a sister also has the wonderful disfigurement. Neither one of us has had it fixed-yet.
Just wondering if anyone has been worried about having children because of this? I have one son-and feel the need to stop here. I don't want to tempt fate-wouldn't want a daughter to worry about when she hits puberty. It does make me sad that I won't have more children though-my son is my world!
I wasn't able to breastfeed-I pumped milk for 12 months. My nipples are huge though, and I need the XL horns. I was lucky enough to make more than enough-at my highest, I was producing more than 80 oz per day. I was stuck all day on that machine though, because the freaking milk would come out so slow.
So, to sum up: You rock for speaking so frankly about this shit.
And, did anyone consider not having kids because of it?
Honestly, I had not considered it a barrier to more children - heck, my body found it's own barriers to having any more kids. In the grand scheme, I am more worried about passing on familial asthma, allergies, endometriosis, heart disease, or mental illness.
Don't think boys are immune to this. I know a teenaged boy who has one side that is tubular - longer and skinnier than the other side, sticking out farther. It is definitely tubular and not some sort of man boobs b/c this kid is thin, a swimmer, hence me seeing him half naked all the time. I always want to say something about it, but could never find the way/time to do it tactfully. Now they've moved and my chance to educate face-to-face is lost.
Elle, congrats on those production numbers and making it 12 months. I, too, had a very slow release on it, tough to bet let down and had to use herbs, which I worried affected my son.
um yep i have considered that i would hate for my daughter to have this awful ugly problem. i pray she doesn't. my mom is normal. my sister is normal. hopefully she will be, too.
i have felt like enough of a freak to have the thought run thru my mind that i shouldn't reproduce.
do any of u have polycystic ovaries?
I have not heard of a PCOS connection, but I wouldn't rule anything out.
Hey--
I see that most of what's been written is from quite awhile ago already, but I just found it, I hope some of you are still out there......
I'm 22, I think I have this problem too, I have been absolutely disgusted and sad about my breasts ever since they started developing---I quickly realized something was wrong but was always too ashamed to talk about it with anyone. Now that I think I have a better idea of what exactly is the problem, and seeing that I'm 22 and my horrible insecurity about how my breasts look is preventing me from having relationships (things start to fall apart once anything physical happens--mostly because of how ashamed and uncomfortable I am), I really want to do something about it. I have two problems related to this, and wonder if anyone is still there, especially people around my age like Megan and Kat, could help...I've tried to discuss this with my mom (sadly I'm not financially independent yet so I need some involvement from parents if I do anything about this) but she wants to deny there's a problem, saying stuff like "if a man really loves you, he won't care about that," and she basically considers it insecurity/vanity/giving in to society's standards of beauty for women to want this corrected. Any suggestions on how to get this to make sense to her?
Secondly, I'm just beyond terrified of getting implants as part of fixing this problem, because I've heard horror stories of implants ripping (I saw some tv show where this caused death), causing infections, breast cancer, numbness, etc...Plus I can't imagine being like 80 years old and having them...what happens then?
If Megan is still around.....who was it who agreed to fix this without implants? and for the rest of you, do you have any sense of whether my fear of implants is well-founded?
I have yet to speak to a doctor, though I might get a chance to do so next month. I am a very shy person, so I'm terrified.
I am so grateful for everyone who wrote here....I've spent my life so far looking around and seeing that I was different from everyone else. I'm so relieved it's not just me. Thanks (ack! I'm crying now....)
Hi,
Thanks for speaking up. Although this post and a lot of the comments are old, it gets many visits each day. People are definitely reading.
I would hope that your mother would understand better if you say you want to have a birth defect corrected. Show her some of the pictures I've linked. To me, it's like eye glasses or hearing aids. Surgery would be giving you what you should have been born with.
Except for one guy (and he was 10 years my junior and I think his youth had something to do with it - "eww, can you do anything about them?" - asshole), I have had good luck with men liking my breasts. My retrained nipples are so responsive, they are exciting for a guy. My larger and sometimes puffy aerola are the preference for some guys. In fact, I think the guy I most recently broke up with will miss my breasts greatly. He's a connisseur and mine were delightful to him. Go figure.
(Look at saggysaggy.com to see what a lot of guys actually WANT to see.)
I have begun to think of first encounters with breasts as being like opening a package. Exotic and different are actually good to a large degree.
I need a lift, as mine are saggy and very heavy. I do not have the implant worries, so I have not tried to wrap my brain around those decisions. I have the impression of safety, but that isn't based on anything. That said, I tend to be pretty au naturel about things and would probably prefer to not have balloons in my chest, things that are obviously fake.
If the reason for needing fake is good, then more power to you. It's such a personal experience. I gather that most women are thrilled with the results. Besides, by the time you're 80, there will be someothing better out there for you to use. Or you can have them removed completely. I don't think of surgery as being the last decision you could make on the topic.
All my best.
I still gets dozens of searches that land here each day, so even if the post is old or comments aren't current, people are reading.
I am attempting to get others to read as well, as in a CA plastic surgeon.
Following is my second comment to him, as his comments are moderated and he chose not to post my first.
~~
I commented here before, but I guess you didn't think it applied.
I get so many hits each day regarding hypoplastic/tubular/tuberose breasts and here you have pictured one, yet you didn't mention any birth defects.
To show you how my post has taken on a life of its own, see here:
http://cricketchurping.blogspot.com/2005/10/tits-hooters-boobs-boulders-melons.html
Could you do a public service, too? Women desperately want the truth and that is what you consider to be your specialty. Please do a post of your own. A lot of women would be grateful. Dozens visit my post daily.
~~
That particular post of his had a video of before/after pictures.
http://haloscan.com/tb/drdisaia/3660997766371907219
One is hypoplastic with no mention of the disorder. With the title of the blog being Truth in Cosmetic Surgery, I would like a dose of truth about why this disorder is not labeled and why women are allowed to proceed without the knowledge that what they have is a birth defect.
So I challenge Dr. Disaia to give us Trust in Hypoplastic Breasts after he reads here and perhaps discovers for the first time how traumatic this condition is.
For a look at more hypoplastic and public (!) breasts, check out another mof my posts:
http://cricketchurping.blogspot.com/2006/02/mardi-gras-boobie-style.html
I'm only 18. And when I began researching this morning, I realized I have the same...condition. And after bawling my eyes out at what I found on the first few websites (It all seems so unfair, doesn't it? Everybody says God makes you the way you are, but...), I found your page.
And seeing those before and after pictures on the websites you cited meant the world to me. Knowing I'm not alone, and even though it sucks, there's somewhere to go from here. Options.
Thank you.
<3 michelle
P.S. If that insurance information turns out to be true in my case, you're an angel.
I am sososososo happy I found this blog.
I'm fairly certain I have tubular breasts. I'm 16, and I've always noticed that something's not quite right with my boobs. They don't really...curve. They just kind of flop down. I'm a size 14-15 with 34B breasts and HUGE nipples. I've always hated my boobs. My boyfriend loves them, but I'm not happy.
I don't know. Maybe I'll ask my mom about surgery? I really, really hate my boobs and I'd like to change how I feel.
Thanks so much for writing this!
this post is pretty old by now, but i am also realllllllly happy i found this. like many women who have commented, i also have always known there was something wrong with my breasts. i always thought that maybe they would change once i stopped growing or something. but that has not happened, i'm 19 (almost 20) now. i have severe asymmetry as one of my breasts is probably an A, while the other is a B. it has always caused me a lot of insecurity, added to the insecurity from being overweight. as of right now i am a 14/16. i never googled this until probably this past spring. all i got was sites about breastfeeding and PCOS. this helped A LOT with my own peace of mind. i now know that i am not alone. i'm not sure about surgery quite yet. i would love to have "normal" looking breasts, but i'm pretty afraid of surgery. i haven't told anyone about this quite yet. my mom's a nurse, but i don't know if she would know anything about this. i also don't know how my family would react to surgery. i would be totally fine with having this surgery as it is not cosmetic, but i'm still not sure.
this is kind of a irrelevant fact, but i have never had a boyfriend, and i think that my insecurities have interfeared with that. its nice to know that women with tubular breasts have boyfriends and husbands that love them just as they are. i always thought that once i had a boyfriend they would run in fear after seeing what i was working with. i still have hope! thanks so much for your bravery!
I had tuberous breast. I found out from researching breast implants online. I started looking it up around 18 when I realized my breasts weren't going to just change one day. I emailed a surgeon and she informed me that it was covered by provincial health care (i am in Canada).
A few years later I moved to Halifax nova scotia where I booked a consult with a PS who confirmed my self diagnosis and applied for me to have my surgery covered.
We planned on a two part surgery. My first surgery was to put in adjustable saline implants that we would slowly expand over months, followed by removing them and placing silicone implants with a mastopexy.
My initial salinas were filled to about 350cc each and after about 2-3 months they started to round out better then expected.
4 months later I had contoured silicone implants placed in at 440cc and decided against the mastopexy. I think later down the road I may decide to get a benelli lift, but at that point I will have to pay out of my own pocket. But all Of my surgery expenses have been covered by health care. I did nothing but show up at the hospital. I am happy I did it, for sure!
Its been a year and a half and I am now 6 months pregnant. This is my first child. I am hoping I can breastfeed. I will try and I will not give up without a fight! I have been able to squeeze colostrum from my nipples since about 3-4 months. I keep telling myself it's a good sign. I dont know if it makes a difference but it can't be bad that's for sure!!!!
I
I had/have tuberous breasts and had a breast lift and saline implants placed under the muscle when I was 18 in 2003. My breasts looked fantastic until I breastfed my first son (I did have some trouble breastfeeding, but did so for 7 months). I am now breastfeeding my second son (8 months old) and my breasts are back to looking similar to the way that they did before surgery. I fully intend to have another lift done to correct them when I am done having babies.
Post a Comment