Big breasts are not always beautiful, but sometimes a real burden. More and more women are therefore having their breasts reduced – Amelie Hofer is one of them.
Hiding dominated her life for years. Or rather the attempt to conceal your figure at least a little. Even on hot summer days, Amelie Hofer wore a cardigan or draped a scarf over her shoulders and chest. “I had the feeling that I consisted only of breasts,” says the 53-year-old commercial employee. “When standing it hung down to the waist. With this extreme size, of course, everyone automatically stares at it. That was terribly uncomfortable and embarrassing for me.”
Small instead of big
Last June, the mother of two from Munich therefore decided to take a drastic step. She had her breasts reduced – from cup size G to C. An operation that more and more women are having. On the one hand, there are celebrities like Victoria Beckham, Sophia Thomalla or Chrissy Teigen, who have their implants removed in order to be back to normal size on top. Even “Baywatch” star Pamela Anderson, whose status as a sex symbol certainly reinforced the trend towards implants in the 1990s, is now much flatter. On the other hand, more and more women who naturally have large breasts are putting themselves under the knife. According to the Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (VDÄPC), a total of 2407 breast reductions were performed in Germany in 2019. That is significantly less than the approximately 4400 enlargement operations, but at least almost eight percent more than in the previous year.
“Shrinking your breasts is the new trend in breast surgery,” confirms Professor Dr. Christoph Heitmann, plastic and aesthetic surgeon with a practice in Munich and board member of the German Society for Senology. Christoph Heitmann has been working as a breast surgeon for more than 25 years and says: “If the husband used to have large breasts, the women met with a lack of understanding when they wanted to reduce the size. You weren’t allowed to change anything on the body. Large breasts were considered beautiful and good. Self if their back hurts, the women preferred to wear two bras on top of each other to carry the heavy burden. However, some patients came after the death of their partner and had the operation performed.
In the meantime, women have become much more self-confident overall, want to feel in harmony with their bodies – and are increasingly opting for downsizing. Regardless of how your partner or those around you feel about it. However, it still takes a long time before those affected finally dare to have the operation performed. A decision-making process that goes back many years often precedes them. And an equally long story of suffering.
Constant malaise
At Amelie Hofer, it began after the birth of her second son – at that time her breasts grew from C to F – and later there were changes due to the menopause. In the vast majority of women, the breasts get bigger due to the hormonal change, according to expert Heitmann. Although the mammary gland shrinks, fat and water retention can increase and the tissue becomes softer overall. Amelie Hofer soon needed a G-cup. “I had two hanging balloons with huge areolas and flat nipples,” she recalls. She is a tall, attractive woman. Nevertheless, she avoided looking in the mirror more and more often: “The large breasts did not match the rest of my stature. I found my body ugly.”
She tried losing weight. But as it is with diets: Which parts of the body you lose weight is a question of type. Amelie Hofer lost weight in her face and bottom, legs and stomach. Only the bosom of all things did not want to decrease. Experience, according to expert Heitmann, that many women have with very large breasts: “Even if they lose weight here, that is so little in comparison that the breasts are still disproportionately large.”
Soon she hardly knew what to wear. There was no bra, the underwire always pricked the armpit. She didn’t even dare to go for a bikini and had finally found a matching swimsuit, but she still felt uncomfortable and didn’t dare to swim with her boys at the lake. “That may sound like an exaggeration, but I was terribly ashamed.” It didn’t help that husband Thomas repeatedly assured her that he loved her for who she was. On the contrary: there were more and more arguments. In contrast to her, Thomas found the large breasts extremely attractive. “He couldn’t understand my frustration and said I should be happy,” says Amelie Hofer. It had long been more than a visual problem for her: As with all women with extremely large breasts, her back hurt; Neck and shoulders were constantly tense, and they were often plagued by headaches. In summer she sweated extremely heavily in the crease of the underbust, where skin comes to lie on skin. To avoid inflammation, she had to apply lotion to these areas. Certain sports such as jogging were also not possible. Her back hurt too much.
The risks are low
Amelie Hofer tried to concentrate on family and job and to suppress how badly her body and mind were ailing. Until Corona and the first lockdown came. “Suddenly everything stopped and I had time to think,” she says. “I am totally satisfied privately and professionally, but finally wanted to feel good in my body again and find myself beautiful.”
She arranged a consultation with breast surgeon Heitmann. The expert explained to Amelie Hofer that there are different methods for breast reduction. In the T-cut technique, which is most commonly used, the breast is modeled like a sculpture and at the same time tightened. In addition, the areola is adapted to the new breast size. The operation takes a total of two hours. The risks are low: “Swellings and bruises are normal side effects. But infections of the wound area rarely occur and can be treated well,” says Heitmann.
The breast surgeon knows: the greatest fear of his patients is to wake up after the operation with a mini-breast and regret their decision. He also reassured Amelie Hofer with before and after pictures: In her case, as is usually the case with very large breasts, only a reduction to cup size C was possible without endangering the blood flow to the remaining tissue.
A whole new attitude towards life
The costs of the procedure, between 5,000 and 8,000 euros, are only covered by the health insurance company in individual cases if there is a medical indication and certain criteria are met: for example, a weight of at least 500 grams, which is removed from each breast, and a body mass -Index in the normal range between 18.5 and 25. And even if this is the case, many affected people wrestle with their health insurance for months, sometimes years – and ultimately receive a rejection. “The selection seems arbitrary,” says the breast surgeon. Amelie Hofer did not want to put this stress on herself. She preferred to go to her savings to have the operation carried out as quickly as possible.
In fact, many plastic surgeons report having been performing more procedures since the pandemic began. More home office, overall less social life – that seems to make the decision for an operation easier, which is often followed by a few weeks until full recovery. Amelie Hofer had to wear a compression bra for six weeks after the procedure. During this time, she was not allowed to lift heavily, stretch her arms above her head, or do little exercise.
Nevertheless, she felt relieved immediately after the procedure – and not only because she had lost 1.5 kilos on each side. Her husband, who had finally accepted her decision but was not very enthusiastic about it until the end, also found her new, smaller breasts beautiful from the beginning. “It’s a whole new attitude towards life,” enthuses Amelie Hofer. “The back pain is gone, I can go jogging again and I finally find myself beautiful again.” Now she even dares to wear flashy shirts, and the scarves that she used to wrap around her upper body are far in the back of the closet.
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