My concerns about my breasts really started in my late 30s, after I had finished both childbirth and breastfeeding. Before marriage, I was about a D cup, but back then I didn’t feel much discomfort. I wasn’t unhappy about having large breasts, and choosing bras was just a little more difficult. The cup itself wasn’t that big, but because my breasts were long downward, neither B, C, nor D fit neatly and prettily, so I think I always wore bras that felt somewhat awkward. But after getting married, giving birth, and going through breastfeeding, the shape began to change completely. The upper volume disappeared, the weight shifted downward, and sagging developed. Since the cup size itself stayed larger, they felt quite heavy. My lower back had never been good to begin with, but because of the breast weight, my back pain became so severe that I even ended up receiving manual therapy.
There were functional discomforts too. When exercising, the bouncing was severe, and the stiffness in my shoulders and neck became much stronger. My posture also gradually became more hunched, and that created a vicious cycle where my breasts looked even more saggy because of my posture. Underwear was also an issue. In daily life, I wore full-coverage underwire bras, but they were uncomfortable and suffocating. When sleeping, I wanted to take my bra off, but then, conversely, the weight of my breasts made it uncomfortable depending on the direction I lay down or when I tossed and turned onto my side.
There was also a psychological aspect. Compared with before childbirth, I could clearly feel the change in shape when I looked in the mirror, and when I took my underwear off, seeing a form and proportion different from before made my self-esteem drop. Rather than simply having large breasts, the “large and sagging” shape was my biggest concern. When I went to a public bathhouse and had to take my clothes off, I would compare myself with other women and lose so much confidence. There are many people who worry because their breasts are small, but not as many with the opposite concern, so it wasn’t easy to talk about this anywhere. But once I started considering surgery and reading women’s community posts and reviews, I realized there were quite a lot of women with similar concerns. Among them, I kept hearing that satisfaction with breast reduction and lift surgery was extremely high, and that made me really want to have the surgery too. People around me said, “If you’re going to get plastic surgery, why not just lose weight?” so I even started PT and worked out seriously. But this was… when I exercised with large, sagging breasts, the breast shape stayed the same and they only became flatter, so it ended up being the worst possible state. That made me think, this isn’t it either. What the doctor later told me during consultation really seems true: “Unless you use a scalpel, the shape of the breasts will not change no matter what you do.”
It took time for me to decide on surgery. It wasn’t because I was worried about side effects or anything like that. Rather, realistically, I think my concern was, “I’m not unmarried, and I’m an auntie who has lived enough life(?), so do I really need to spend a lot of money on surgery?” So I let several years pass, and then around the end of the year, I felt like I wanted to do something for myself, so I went for consultations. From the beginning, I didn’t plan to go to many places for consultations. I just picked the two places that came up the most when I searched online and went there. The second place I visited was the clinic where I had surgery. Actually, another hospital was also a candidate, and the estimates were similar, so I thought about it for a bit. But when I said during consultation that I wanted to do liposuction together, the doctor who performs liposuction came right away, checked my skin condition, and very objectively assessed, “You don’t have that much subcutaneous fat, so liposuction probably won’t be very effective. I don’t recommend it.” Seeing that actually made me feel, “Ah, this is a hospital I can trust,” so I decided on the spot to have surgery there. Since I had searched a lot online before going, I specifically requested Director Kim Jae-woo and Manager Kim Se-in from the start, and I think the detailed parts of the consultation were good too. They showed me many reference photos and materials, and I trusted how they analyzed details like nipple position, chest wall thickness, breast tissue ratio, scar direction, amount of excision, degree of sagging, and skin elasticity. Only after consulting with Director Kim Jae-woo did I realize that I had very little concept of breast size lol. Since women don’t really have many chances in life to see other women’s breasts, I think it’s surprisingly hard to distinguish sizes. At first, I casually said I wanted an A cup, but following Director Kim Jae-woo’s advice that around a full B would be appropriate, I decided to proceed with surgery.
The preoperative preparation was similar to other surgeries. There were basic blood tests, an electrocardiogram, ultrasound examination, and photos of the surgical area. Ah, I have a family history of breast cancer, and I still have small cysts in both breasts, so I have always had worries related to breast cancer. I was told that statistically, having breast reduction surgery also lowers the probability of developing breast cancer. My surgery was scheduled for 9:30 in the morning, so I fasted from midnight the night before, and the next morning I walked to the hospital on my own. Other than wearing a mask and wearing a comfortable zip-up hoodie, there wasn’t anything special to prepare. I arrived at the hospital at 8:30 in the morning. After checking in, I saw the manager and director again, and there was time for a detailed explanation of the surgery and consent. Photos were taken again too. In the consultation right before surgery, we finalized the design and checked the expected shape and size. Hmm… I think even up to that moment, I found it hard to believe that a person’s breast shape could change that miraculously. The director asked if I wasn’t nervous, and I just answered that I hoped they would shrink quickly already. I went into the operating room, was anesthetized almost immediately, and fell asleep. When I opened my eyes, I was in the recovery room. When waking up from general anesthesia, I was in that commonly described dazed state. My head kept feeling heavy, but the nurse told me I needed to wake up, and I remember thinking that I wanted to sleep more. There was almost no pain. They said my throat would hurt a lot, but it just felt exactly like when you have a sore throat from a cold, and it absolutely was not to the point of feeling like I was dying from pain. I rested for about another hour in the recovery room, then got in the car with my guardian and went home. One hour after returning home, I drank water, and in the evening I ate something simple like soup and fruit.
There are many reviews saying people barely sleep on the night of surgery, but I slept so well it was almost embarrassing… lol. I brushed my teeth, tied my hair, and did everything by myself. My chest was wrapped in a compression bandage, but there was still almost no pain. Before surgery, Director Kim Jae-woo said, “My patients usually say it doesn’t hurt much,” and that really turned out to be true. In my personal experience, I think my double eyelid surgery when I was 20 was actually more painful. I wondered if it didn’t hurt because of the anesthesia, but even after the anesthesia completely wore off, it didn’t hurt. Ah, now that I think about it, there was almost no swelling either. I think this part definitely varies a lot by person. Today is day 2 after surgery, and I have been working from home since this morning. It was possible because I have an office job. According to the director, I just need to be careful so my breasts don’t shake. Tomorrow, I’m going to try washing my hair too. I’m someone who is so afraid of pain that I can’t even get Botox, so if I’m doing this well, I don’t think this is a surgery that others should be unable to get just because they’re afraid of pain.
More than anything, I felt very satisfied when I looked in the mirror and confirmed that my breast line had lifted. Rather than simply feeling that they were reduced, it felt like my proportions had been organized, so I thought I made the right decision to have surgery. I want to say that if those who are deliberating have had functional discomfort, this is a surgery seriously worth considering. And I highly recommend Director Kim Jae-woo and Manager Kim Se-in at the clinic! Of course, there will be scarring and management going forward, but I felt the change was clear enough to be worth enduring that process. Once a little more time has passed, I’ll post another review about my recovery progress.