Wednesday, May 4, 2011

The Uni-Boob

So I finally got my explanation.
I now know why my breast size is smaller than its original packaging.

My doctor believed that I would probably want to avoid:
THE UNI-BOOB!

We've all seen it. Maybe you've even experienced it personally, while wearing a tight-fitting sports bra. Without the bra, you have two. But after squeezing into the breast compressor, you find that your two breasts have morphed into one.

There's also a medical term for it: Symmastia (or medial mal-position). It occurs when breast implants move too far toward the midline. In some cases, the implants may touch one another in the center of the chest. It happens when a surgeon is too aggressive with his/her attempts to alter chest wall anatomy (i.e., trying too hard to increase a patient's cleavage).

In my case, my pectoral muscles are anatomically far apart and so are (were) my breasts. My surgeon was unable to move them closer together without risking the creation of the uni-boob.
After complaining in my last blog, I now agree with his decision to leave them in their natural locations.
After all, I'm not much of a risk-taker.

The Solution?
One part patience; one part silicone; and one part fat.

For the next few months, we will see how the implant rests in the pocket.
(I'm getting in-touch with my inner pool table.)
By then, the capsule (i.e., scar tissue surrounding the implant) should have either shrunk enough to make the implant appear less rippled or will have to be replaced.

My surgeon is betting on the latter.
He thinks it will probably take two or three more sessions to revise my breasts and make them look better.
Part of his solution will include replacing the existing implants with slightly larger ones.
The other part of his plan will be to graph fat from another part of my body and add it to my breast.

(Let me stop right here to inform you, and you know who you are, this is not an invitation for you to start offering me your excess flesh.)

"Even with thin women, I can usually find some fat to use," he assures me,
assuming I need assurance.
I stand up and introduce him to my stomach.
After the births of three babies: 8.6 lbs., 10 lbs., and 7.14 lbs.,
finding body fat is not a problem.

REALITY:
I will never have cleavage.
No one will ever stare at my breast and whisper, "are those real?"

I have adjusted my expectations,
again.
Come August, I look forward to adjusting my bra size too,
hopefully for the last time.

2 comments:

  1. Hang in there! Someone might say that more than a handful is a waste. That someone would be the guy I married, who unfortunately, got less than a handful.
    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. tee-hee.
    So here's a question: does a person need one or two hands to handle a uni-boob?
    Let's hope I don't have to find out.

    ReplyDelete