S03E51 The Pursuit of Perfect Breasts: Confidence and Choices

What size should your breasts be? Is there a perfect size that suits everyone? Today's empowering episode dives into the world of breast sizes and how they can impact our lives. We explore the average bra size in the US and around the globe, discuss how clothing choices affect our perception of our breasts, and weigh the risks and rewards of breast augmentation surgery.

Feeling comfortable in your own skin is crucial to body confidence, and we share thoughts about what to consider when choosing the optimal breast size and shape. We emphasize the importance of taking the time to understand your body and consider the physical limitations when deciding on breast size. Join us in this enlightening conversation and find out how embracing our unique shapes can lead to a more fulfilling life.

And for our weekly thankful, a special shoutout to my amazing office staff, who constantly help me improve my practice!

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S03E51 The Pursuit of Perfect Breasts - Confidence and Choices

Sam Rhee: [00:00:00] The topic of today's podcast is what size should your breasts be? So personally, I don't think about the size of my breasts very often, but many of my patients do.

In addition to size, many of my patients want to change their breast appearance. And even if you haven't been thinking about surgery to change your breast size or appearance, if you're someone who wears a bra regularly, you probably think about your breasts, and how they look nearly every day, at least when you put on your clothes.

So here are some of my general observations over the years from working with patients, which may help you consider your own breast size and appearance.

The first thing is, let's see what the rest of the US and the world average breast size is. In the world, the average bra size is actually 32 A, but this comprises many populations where the people are smaller and thinner, such as Nepal, Nigeria, Thailand, Vietnam, and many other similar countries.

The average breast size starts to increase when you look [00:01:00] at Western European countries and the United States, where the population is both taller and heavier.

According to bedbible.com, the average height and weight of women in the United States is five foot four and 170 pounds, which corresponds to the highest average BMI in the world at 29. The world average is 25, and unfortunately, a BMI of 30 and above is considered obese.

Therefore, maybe it isn't surprising that the average cup size in the United States ranges from about 40 C to 34 DD depending on which research study you choose.

The majority of women in the United States have said that a C cup is ideal. But after working with patients, that classification is hazy at best. It's really about as accurate as saying small, medium, large, and extra large. Even what a woman considers to be a C cup can vary wildly depending on their size, shape, and proportions.

So while most plastic surgeons use cup size to communicate with [00:02:00] patients, we also realize it doesn't mean much. And working with patients with other means and other ways of showing and demonstrating what different sizes are, can really help patients figure out what they want to be.

So in short, average breast size varies a lot in the world, but it's usually pretty small. And in the US breast size is getting bigger, but that's because we're getting larger and heavier as a population.

And the next thing, but maybe this is obvious to everyone, but breast size and appearance has no real functional value or role other than a very short period of breastfeeding. But obviously breast appearance means a lot for others when they see you.

If you, for example, if you lived alone on a desert island, there are probably a lot of things you wouldn't care about in regards to your appearance. Like you'd never wear makeup. You would never do your hair and you probably wouldn't care how your breasts appear in clothing.

But what people decide to wear in large part does matter how their breasts appear. Sometimes tops can be very small or [00:03:00] there's a lot of cleavage showing. Sometimes tops can be very loose and billowy, and that's because society places a lot of attention on breast appearance and large breasts tend to attract a lot of attention. And that's great if you want that attention, but if you don't, it's basically one of the worst things to deal with. Having breast appearance that you are happy with can make a person's life much better every day.

Small breasted women who don't like being small breasted, have to wear padded bras or other pieces of clothing to help balance their proportions. And the same goes for large breasted women who do not want to emphasize their breasts. Tight banded support bras, loose draped clothing. All of these clothing choices can become restrictive or limiting, either on both ends of the spectrum.

Now, this isn't true, but as residents, we used to joke that no one is ever happy with their breasts. Everyone thinks they're too big, too small, too saggy, or some other combination of above.

And one of the attendings I trained with [00:04:00] stated that there was a law of conservation of breast mass, a play on the physics principle, law of conservation of mass. The law of conservation of mass basically says that mass can neither be created nor destroyed, but is transformed from one form to another.

The attending's joke was that the law of conservation of breast mass states that the amount of breast mass in the universe is also constant. So if someone's doing a breast reduction somewhere in the universe, someone else is simultaneously doing a breast augmentation and so therefore, equilibrium is maintained.

But all jokes aside for small breasted women who want to be bigger, breast augmentation surgery with implants can be really helpful. In my opinion, it is one of the most popular surgeries for me or any other plastic surgeon in terms of what they perform.

Now there can be issues with surgically placing synthetic human made material in a human body, and there's a ton of research and information available about the risks and involved with this type of surgery.

So please discuss this with your plastic surgeon who is mandated by the [00:05:00] federal government in the United States to provide the appropriate information about these risks, and surgery is definitely not for everyone.

But understanding those risks aside, the reason it's a great surgery is because it improves people's lives in a dramatic fashion. Truthfully, these patients are among the happiest immediately after the surgery. I counsel patients, but particularly the younger patients, that their lives will be changed fairly dramatically immediately.

Most patients who get breast implant surgery have very small breasts, and their increase in self-esteem from what they wear is immediate and is something that you can see right away. The different clothes they wear, the changes on a daily basis that they experience can be very liberating and transforming for some patients.

So in my opinion, when you help patient increase their breast size with breast augmentation, the most important thing you can do as a plastic surgeon is get the sizing correct.

And that means not what you think the right size is as a plastic surgeon. It means giving the patient time and the [00:06:00] means to figure out for themselves what that right size is. Too big is a huge problem for patients, almost as much as too small.

I have seen too many patients from elsewhere who come in for second surgeries where they were unhappy with what the initial surgeon recommended or performed for them.

Sometimes I've had patients tell me that the size they wanted was not even in inventory at the time of surgery, so the surgeon convinced them to have implants that they had available, but they were ultimately too big. I mean, you can't make up that kind of story.

Personally for patients, I like using sizers. I know a lot of surgeons use digital imaging, which is also fantastic, but the reason why I like sizers is it provides a physical feeling of weight and volume that an implant carries. Pictures can look great, but to know how heavy that implant will be on the chest and what that feels like can be invaluable.

In my opinion, the patient's choice ultimately is always the correct one. There are a few patients who may want to be too [00:07:00] big from a physical or technical standpoint, and I do have to counsel them to make sure that they achieve their goals without hitting physical limitations.

Or sometimes patients will underestimate what may be proportional for their figure, but honestly, 99% of patients if you give them that time and ability to choose, will come to a pressure-free decision that allows them to be most happy with their ultimate size.

A difficult situation is, is when a patient comes in and says, my friend had a 425 CC implant placed, and they look fabulous. And that's exactly what I want, because of course their body's shape frame and size are completely different.

Remember that implants not only come in different volumes, but also width and height, which is also known as projection. Some patients need broader implants and some patients need narrower implants based on their chest size. Some patients do actually know exactly what size they wanna be and others have actually no [00:08:00] idea other than they just want to be bigger. I've had patients come back two or even three times for sizing, just to double check before their surgery, and that can be very helpful.

I recently had a young patient who was sized twice before surgery, but then still panicked on the day of surgery that she might have chosen to be too big. So after talking to her, I counseled her that she should stick to her original choice and to trust her judgment and not to make a sudden change at the last second.

So she decided to stick with her original size. And I just saw her again two months after her surgery, and she was so pleased with what she had chosen. And she admitted that she had a panic attack and she thought somehow that she'd be too big, but after the surgery, she realized that if she went smaller, it wouldn't have been appropriate for her figure.

So what is the average breast implant size that most patients choose? For my practice, the majority of patients end up choosing something within the 300 to 375 cc range, but a significant number of patients will go larger and a few [00:09:00] also go smaller.

For reference 350 ccs is about the amount of liquid in a 12 ounce soda can. My colleagues in Texas tell me they put 400 ccs plus regularly and a significant proportion of their patients choose 500 ccs or more, which is not common in my practice, so obviously there are some major regional variations.

But again, I do believe it's about the patients ultimately having final choice and say.

I will say that I also see a number of patients who have had implants placed years ago who decided to remove them for a variety of reasons. I would say the most common reason why they decide to remove their implants, is because their perspective on their body has changed. It would be easy to say that they felt insecure about their body when they were younger, when they had their implants placed, but now they feel more secure about their body, so then they didn't want the attention that larger breasts gave them. But that would be too simplistic.

A lot of times it's a complex mix of their own body [00:10:00] image, their focus on life. And sometimes it's also functional where having heavier breasts is not something that they feel comfortable with physically anymore.

Okay, so on the opposite side, what happens when you think your breasts are over large? There are usually two aspects to this. What is the actual volume of the breast? And two, is it really more of a sag issue than a breast volume issue?

Next to breast augmentation, breast lifts are one of the most popular surgeries as well, especially for patients who've had pregnancies. They're often included in the mommy makeover sequence.

And the biggest issue with breast lifts are the incisions. There are lines or scars on the breasts, which can be unappealing for many patients. The lines that are made are the same for a breast reduction patient as well. So while the goal is to have these lines fade and become inconspicuous, they never become really completely invisible.

And so discussing the pros and cons of something like this is something you should take up with your plastic surgeon when discussing in [00:11:00] consultation. I will say patients are generally thrilled with breast lifts and reductions.

Again, not having to scoop up their breasts into a pushup bra. Being able to wear something with minimal support, is something that many patients gladly trade some scars in order to achieve this.

And our goal is to really minimize the appearance of those scars and have them fade as much as possible.

So to go back to the original question that kicked all of this off, what size should your breasts be? Well, they should be whatever you want within some physical limitations.

I have many friends personally who are A cups. Or they joke even less than an A cup and they look great and they're really happy. And I also know others who are triple D or even F cups. And none of these people have any need or feel the desire to change their physical appearance.

But I've also had many friends who decided to do something to change their breast volume or appearance, and they also couldn't be happier once they decided to do so. The key is to allow yourself plenty of time and [00:12:00] thought.

So I hope this helped you think about what your own breast size should be or is, and whether you're happy or not. What is it that you like or really don't like about this aspect of your body?

DM me @BotoxAndBurpeesPodcast on Instagram, or go to YouTube.com/@BotoxAndBurpees and leave a comment.

My weekly thankful is to the staff that I work with at my office.

I have two members, Erin, who handles the front office, and Suzanne, who handles pretty much everything else, and they're cheerful, hardworking, and really care not only about our patients but also in helping me continually improve every aspect of our practice.

It's certainly the truth that compared to five or 10 years ago, how things run in my practice is way more efficient and improved in terms of better outcome and patient experiences, and the know-how that they bring, and work that they've put in has been one of the biggest parts of this continuous improvement.

If, as the saying goes, I am the average of the five people [00:13:00] that I spend most of my time with, then no doubt the work ethic, the positive traits over the years that I've learned are in large part to the people that I've worked with every day. Thank you.