Source :
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/top/story/0,4136,76662,00.html?Note : certain words have been changed added with a "-" to bypass the word filtering program.She wanted breas-t reduction at 19
After 17 years of constant pain, she finally does it this year
By Ng Wan Ching
[email protected]SOME women wouldn't think twice about going under the knife to have bigger breas-ts.
Here's one who suffered for years because of her big breas-ts.
In fact, she wanted to go for breas-t reduction surgery when she was 19. But her mother tearfully begged her not to.
Why would a teenager want smaller breas-ts?
Well, because her breas-ts were literally a weight on her shoulders. She was a 34-DD when the average breas-t size for a Singaporean woman of her build would be about a 34-B. (See breas-t Sizes below.)
Ms V, now a 36-year-old wife and mother, who finally had the operation done this year, said she was in constant pain.
'My bra strap was constantly biting into my shoulders so there were these permanent dents in my shoulders. I could never wear anything strapless,' said Ms V, a former air stewardess whose colleagues jokingly called her 'Megatop'.
She also suffered from neck and back pains, migraines and painful menstruation.
'I would always know before my menstrual cycle started. I would have severe pain in my breas-ts. It was pretty bad,' she said.
For every 10 to 15 women who want a breas-t enlargement, there is one woman who wants a breas-t reduction, said six plastic surgeons interviewed by The New Paper.
And unknown to most, these women suffer enormous pain.
When Ms V was 19, she decided she had had enough. She scheduled herself for a breas-t reduction operation.
Mum begged her not to do it
But the night before, her mother begged her not to do it.
'She was crying. She wanted me to at least wait until I was married, until after I had babies. She was not sure if the breas-t reduction would affect my ability to breas-tfeed,' she said.
She listened to her mother and cancelled her operation.
Still, she felt that at 1.66m tall and weighing 55kg, her breas-ts should be smaller.
She met her husband, a foreigner who is now a Singapore PR, in 1991, married in 1993, and gave birth to her daughter in 1995.
For nine years, she lived abroad, in India, the US, Netherlands and Hong Kong, before moving back to Singapore recently.
'All those years, I paid a fortune for bras. Do you know how expensive it is to buy proper bras for someone with breas-ts my size? It costs at least US$60 ($96) for one,' she said.
Although her husband knew of her desire for smaller breas-ts, they never felt comfortable enough in any of the countries they lived in to undergo such a major operation.
Then, early this year, she felt so miserable, she consulted Dr Woffles Wu, a consultant plastic surgeon in private practice.
He was willing to perform the surgery for her.
As it was a costly operation - $25,000 - and one which she felt she needed for medical reasons, she checked with her husband's company insurance to see if they would cover it. They sent her for a second opinion from one of their doctors.
'The doctor was so sweet. She immediately said of course it's a medical problem and supported Dr Wu's recommendation,' she said.
She flew here in February to be operated on by Dr Wu. At that time, she was still living Hong Kong. The operation took five hours.
Large number of cystic lumps
When she woke up, her breas-ts were smaller. She found out Dr Wu had removed a large number of fibre cystic lumps.
'It was a shock to me. I never expected to have lumps. Because my breas-ts were so big, I never felt them.'
A sample of the lumps were sent for testing to see if they were cancerous. Thankfully, none was.
'This is actually a blessing in disguise because now all my lumps have been removed,' she said.
'Before my surgery, my left breas-t was also bigger than my right breas-t. Now both are the same size. There are no visible scars.
'There is one set tucked in the nipples and another running under the bottom of my breas-ts. Can't be seen. It's a great job,' she said.
'I feel so much more freer now. I even leave the house sometimes without a bra!'
She's now a 34 B cup and has happily given away all her DD-cup bras to a friend.
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breas-t SIZES
A bra size consists of two measurements - the circumference of a woman's chest, denoted by inches or centimetres, and how full her breas-ts are, denoted by alphabets ranging from A upwards. So a 34-B means her chest measures 34in and her cup size is B.
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Only for those who really have a problem
DR Woffles Wu said that Ms V had a full breas-t reduction.
This involved making incisions around the nipple and all the way down to and including the breas-t crease.
This is an operation that patients have to 'earn' as the scars are so extensive that they really have to want to have this operation badly because of their symptoms.
'It's not a vanity thing as the scars or the consequences such as keloids - an overgrowth of scar tissue - can sometimes not be aesthetic,' said Dr Wu.
He usually classifies overly big breas-ts as a medical condition because patients may not be having a good life at all, contrary to popular belief.
'They are clumsy, embarrassed, develop sweaty rashes under their breas-ts, the bra strap cuts into their shoulders, they have neck, shoulder and back pains and are generally miserable,' he said.
But he will never do this operation for patients who come in with relatively nice breas-ts with only a slight sag.
'Then they are just being greedy and will usually never be able to tolerate the ensuing scars,' he said.
For such patients, he may perform a minimal circum-areolar incision (around the nipple) only but even then the scars can be quite bad.
'She (Ms V) and many others like her who fit the correct profile for this five-hour operation are usually the happiest of all plastic surgery patients because it is such a relief to not have all the problems mentioned above,' he said.
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Who are they?
THOSE who ask for breas-t reduction surgery are usually Caucasians, Indians or Malays.
Chinese women rarely ask for it.
Said Dr Andrew Khoo, president of the Singapore Society for Cosmetic (Aesthetic) Surgeons: 'Chinese tend to come for mastopexy which is a breas-t lift without a reduction in volume of the breas-t.'
The cup sizes of those who ask for the surgery range from D to F.
Said Dr Martin Huang, consultant plastic surgeon in private practice: 'Women with overly developed breas-ts suffer social embarrassment, neck and shoulder aches.
'They are usually size E and above and want to go down to a size C or below.'
In his practice, most of the women asking for breas-t reductions are Caucasians, with a few Chinese.
There are two methods of reducing breas-t tissue:
Conventional breas-t reduction; and
Liposuction.
Conventional breas-t reduction is usually done as an in-patient procedure under general anaesthesia.
This removes breas-t tissue and skin and will reduce the size of breas-ts. The surgery takes four to five hours and the patient can expect to stay in hospital for two days and be off work for seven days.
For moderately sized breas-ts, it is possible to reduce the breas-ts through liposuction. This is a much simpler operation and can be done as day surgery.
But as Dr Leslie Kuek, consultant plastic surgeon and former president of the Singapore Society for Cosmetic (Aesthetic) Surgeons, warned, breas-t reduction is not easy.
'Compared to breas-t augmentation, the potential for scarring is much greater,' he said.
