It’s been six months since my breast reduction, and I have so many thoughts. This experience has taught me so much about myself—about my body, my mind, and my relationship to femininity. There’s a lot to unpack. I’d like to do it with you, if you don’t mind. For those who are new here or missed it, in April I bought myself a breast reduction that I had been dreaming about for twenty years. I was terrified. It changed my life.
For those wondering about details, my surgery was performed by Dr. Mahmood in New York City. She performed a reduction (she includes a lift with the reduction), and used only my own breast tissue (no implant). I’ll also mention, since I got asked this about ten thousand times, that I did not have any drains involved in my recovery. The surgery removed about half of my breast tissue. I went from a 32F/G down to a 32C. Now, I’d say my breasts have settled in at a small D cup.
Though I went into great detail with readers about how much I wanted to have smaller, more proportional breasts for my entire adult life– I don’t think I was completely prepared for the massive boost of self esteem and confidence the surgery gave me. Feeling more integrated into my body, and at home in it, is something I will never take for granted ever– and when I see photos of myself pre-surgery I can’t even really believe it. When I first took the bandages off, and saw my chest for the first time as I’d always dreamed for it to be, I felt a sheer euphoria that lasted weeks.
The recovery from my reduction was minimal. I didn’t even use RX pain medicine, and used Tylenol for the first few days, then tapered off. I’d say the worst part was learning to sleep on my back for a little over a month, and not getting great sleep quality for that amount of time. It was super uncomfortable, and started wreaking havoc on my sanity by the end. I felt like I tried nearly everything and anything to get sleep, and ended up having to basically sedate myself with either Benadryl, Tylenol PM, Melatonin, or THC/CBD. Not all at once! LOL
