https://sungyesa.com/new/bbs/board.php?bo_table=free&wr_id=3347140
Hi everyone..! I’m the writer of the post above!!
I thought about it a lot and went ahead with breast surgery, and now I’m 6 months out!!
I’m writing this review in case it helps anyone who is considering breast surgery or is still in the early stage after surgery.
First, I’ll be objective and honest! I plan to write both the pros and cons. And I’ll say upfront that this is absolutely not a post recommending cosmetic surgery.
I’ll upload photo reviews later, and for now this is just a text review.
Usually people already think about and know the advantages, so I’m going to write the disadvantages more specifically and objectively instead!
1. Basic information Late 160s cm height / 48-49 kg before surgery, 48 kg after surgery Implants: Mentor Xtra left/right 275/290 = total weight about 600 g Surgical method: inframammary fold incision, dual plane
Breast pocket: It varies by hospital, but they said it was mostly 11-13 cm (they measure breast pocket differently at each hospital anyway).
Recommended size: I visited 10 hospitals, and except for one place that recommended 245, every other place recommended 275-300, up to 310. (The hospital that recommended 245 was a reduction-specialized hospital, so they were conservative. But other hospitals also confirmed that 245 would be the safest size for my breast pocket in textbook terms.)
The doctor at the hospital where I had surgery first said anything under 300 was too small for my height, but I insisted on going under 300 because I was worried about rippling and didn’t want to push beyond the size of my breast pocket. In the end, I think that was the right choice. (People say bigger is better, but I’m the opposite because of side effects like rippling, animation, bottoming out, lateral displacement, etc.)
2. Pros
a. How clothes look: This is a well-known advantage, but clothes really do look different, and even with a regular bra I get cleavage, so my confidence went up.
b. Body shape correction: I have a short torso and a wide chest, which was a complex for me, so when I wore fitted clothes I hated how I looked like I had a broad male chest. After surgery, my body line looks more feminine and my chest looks relatively smaller, so I’m satisfied with that part.
For reference, cleavage may not show when you’re not wearing a bra, but it does appear with a bra. I don’t get cleavage with bare breasts. Usually, if someone is thin or the nipple distance is too wide, it’s hard to create cleavage with bare breasts, but I’m satisfied that I get cleavage just by wearing a bra.
My waist also looks relatively slimmer, but the waist itself wasn’t a dramatic change. For the waist, I’d just recommend ab workouts...
c. I feel good every time I look in the mirror because it looks pretty, and I think the psychological effect is the biggest part. I also feel happy that I can buy pretty bras?
3. Cons
a. Pain and discomfort from surgery: The worst pain was on days 2-3 after the anesthesia wore off, and it wasn’t a huge problem for daily life. It felt about 20 times more painful than breast pain during menstruation. Even if daily life is possible, you shouldn’t use your arms too much for a while (mopping, wringing laundry, washing dishes, etc.). The important thing is that you can’t raise your arms above 90 degrees for about 3 months.
b. Artificial shape: Even though I ended up looking fairly natural for a thin person, sometimes depending on the light or angle, the round outline of the upper breast area shows. I think this is something thin people inevitably have to accept. My body fat is around 16-17%, so I think people with higher body fat will look more natural than I do.
c. Artificial feel: (What I prioritized when choosing implants was safety and a natural feel. That’s why Mentor Xtra seemed the safest while also having a good feel, and I think doctors also commonly recommended it after Motiva. I’ll explain implants in more detail below.)
When standing or sitting, the feel is natural and soft, similar to what people usually see in video reviews.
***The important part is when lying down.*** When you lie down, unless you already had plenty of natural tissue, you can feel that the texture is firm! This doesn’t change over time. That’s natural, because when you lie down, the implant is under pressure and becomes firmer. Think of the feeling when you press a water balloon with your palm. I hope people who care a lot about texture keep this in mind.
However, when lying down, in the case of Mentor Xtra (I don’t know about others), the spread-out shape looks natural. It doesn’t spread this way at first, but from around 4-5 months it seems to gradually spread in a natural way.
d. ***Side effects: rippling, animation phenomenon
While I was deciding between Mentor Classic and Mentor Xtra, I learned that Mentor Classic definitely has more rippling.
But Mentor Xtra doesn’t have zero rippling either (when you stand up, the surface can look wrinkled). That’s because it isn’t filled to 100% in order to create a more natural shape.
Luckily, I had about 180 g of natural tissue, and thanks to that plus my doctor’s skill, I didn’t have rippling.
***Important*** However, the issue is the animation phenomenon. The chest muscles are used a lot in daily life. As I explained in an earlier post, dual plane surgery involves cutting through the pectoralis major and placing the implant underneath it. Because the muscle remains, whenever you move the chest muscle, the implant gets compressed and you can see it moving. You know the feeling of a bodybuilder’s chest tensing up, right?
That’s called the animation phenomenon. After breast surgery, this is to some extent natural and isn’t even considered a side effect (some hospitals say the probability is 100%, while others say 20-30%, so there are differing opinions).
But if it’s so severe that whenever you tense the outside of the breast the implant spreads upward or sideways and looks visibly distorted, then it’s considered a side effect. I heard that when it gets that bad, it’s because the muscle wasn’t fully cut. (This can vary by doctor, so this is an opinion.)
In my case, I do have animation phenomenon. But it’s not to the point of being a side effect.
In daily life, when I pump shampoo, or put my hands on my waist and tense my chest, I can feel and see it bulging. But it’s not grotesque, so I don’t consider it a side effect. Also, for reference, I’m thin and I had been exercising, so my chest muscles were already somewhat developed. Even before surgery, I could see my chest muscles moving. (Even people who haven’t had surgery can try putting both hands on their waist and flexing hard; some of you will feel and see movement, and that’s normal.)
In conclusion, the animation phenomenon is a bit uncomfortable for me, but it’s not ugly, and because I could already see movement before, I’m not deeply stressed about it.
(Important) However, recently when the animation phenomenon shows up (mine is a shape where the breasts spread apart to both sides), I noticed a slight wrinkling in the center of my chest. I think that’s because I lost some weight after surgery.
About rippling (you probably already know): rippling is when the implant surface shows through because the fat or skin is thin. In dual plane surgery, the upper part is covered by muscle, so there’s almost no rippling in the upper breast, but the problem areas are the sides of the ribs and the center of the chest where there isn’t much tissue. My doctor had already said that because the breastbone shows in the center of my chest, rippling was a concern.
But in the end, aside from the slight showing when I tense my chest and move, caused by the weight loss, there isn’t much visible, so I’m not stressed about it (individual differences may apply).
e. Scarring I’m 6 months out, and the scar from the inframammary fold incision, about 3-4 cm long, is still red, so I’m a bit conscious of it when choosing bikinis and so on, and there’s no guarantee it will disappear completely. Still, I think inframammary fold incisions are safer than underarm incisions. I wrote the reason in my previous post, but if a lot of people are curious, I’ll organize it again and post it.
f. Reduced function of the chest muscles
It’s better not to do chest workouts too intensely after surgery. Depending on the doctor, some even said not to do them at all. Since muscles don’t reattach or regenerate once they are cut, people for whom exercise function is important should keep this in mind.
g. Trapezius and shoulder stiffness
When the breasts get larger, the weight also increases, so you may unknowingly hunch your back and get stiffness in the trapezius or shoulders. I was already exercising and my implants weren’t that large, so I was fine, but if you’re getting breast surgery, it’s good to know this can happen. If you do get surgery, it may help to relax the chest muscles with regular massage and also work out your back muscles to keep your balance.
4. Summary and my opinion
I didn’t originally have major dissatisfaction with my old breast shape, and I was living fine with it. I’m glad they became bigger and prettier, but since my original breasts weren’t a huge complex for me, I didn’t feel overwhelmingly happy or go around recommending it to everyone. If I went back to the past, I think I might not do it again because it was a hassle.
If someone has a major psychological complex about it, I think the satisfaction from breast surgery would be greater. (It varies depending on each person’s breast shape.)
I think my case was fairly successful because I did have some natural tissue to begin with, I didn’t have a difficult breast type like a sunken chest or pigeon chest, and the doctor also said the surgery itself wasn’t especially difficult.
5. Based on my experience and thoughts, I’ll write the types of people who are more likely to be dissatisfied after surgery
- People with a very thin upper body. Among them, people with a wide chest wall and people whose ribs are very visible.
- People whose original breast shape is already pretty and who already have a certain amount of natural tissue
- People for whom texture is extremely important (no matter how natural it is, it cannot fully match natural breasts)
- People with difficult body structures such as a sunken chest or pigeon chest. The more difficult the body type, the more important I think the doctor’s skill and experience are. I’m not one of those body types, so I can’t write in great detail, but I know they’re generally considered difficult body types.
- People who absolutely do not want their partner to know they had breast surgery (if body fat is high and the incision is under the arm, it may not show much, but otherwise I think there’s a high chance it will be noticeable. First, the feel is different when lying down, and in the case of an inframammary fold incision, a scar remains - though scar appearance varies by person.)
- Sensitive people: I said the animation phenomenon exists to some extent, and you can actually feel it pretty clearly. So if you’re sensitive, it may bother you and feel uncomfortable whenever it bulges.
- People for whom exercise is a career or is very important
- People sensitive to scars
- People who normally worry a lot or feel anxious: There is always a possibility of side effects, and you never know what will happen as you get older, so you have to keep that in mind. But if you’re constantly worried and anxious and think it would interfere with your daily life, then psychologically it might actually be better not to do it.
That’s all.
It’s a long post, and I wrote it on my phone, so there will probably be a lot of typos, but thank you for reading it anyway.
If everyone is curious about photo reviews, hospital information, what I considered important when choosing a hospital, and so on, I’m thinking of uploading another review later, but it might be a little delayed
I hope it helps even a little, and I hope you think carefully and decide very cautiously before having surgery.