As a woman with large breasts, I have recently indulged in researching information to do with breast reductions. Although this operation is much riskier than a breast enlargement it is something I am definitely interested in and decided I would share my information with hubpages for any women out there who may be considering the same action of surgery.

After reading all the pros and cons. Take the poll included at the bottom. Would you have a breast reduction? Yes or No?

A breast reduction is also known as a reduction mammoplasty. Having large breasts can dominate a woman's appearance and make you look unbalanced, make exercise difficult or in the extremes, impossible to do. Reduction surgery is a procedure for reshaping exceptionally large breasts surgically to increase your own comfort and satisfaction. Overly large breasts often have a considerably large affect on self-confidence and can affect personal relationships. The aim of surgery is to give you smaller, shapelier, more perky breasts that are in proportion to the rest of your body.

Do I qualify for a breast reduction? If you are suffering from psychological distress and physical discomfort as a result of having large breasts, a breast reduction operation may be the operation to change your life.

Physical problems may be:

• Poor posture
• Back ache
• Neck pain
• Shoulder ache
• Skin problems or infections under the breasts.
• Weals or grooves on the shoulders from bra straps.
• Inability to exercise or take part in sports.

Psychological issues may include:

• Unwanted attention
• Depression
• Inability to find clothes that fit
• Harassment
• Self consciousness.
  

The procedure: The most common performed breast reduction involved an anchor shaped incision that circles your aerola, extends down in a vertical line it will then follow the natural curve of the crease beneath the breast. Excess fat, breast tissue and skin are removed. The nipples and remaining underlying tissues are then moved to a new higher location. The skin from both sides of the breast is then brought down and around the areola shaping the new contour of the breast and sutured.

What is the length of the procedure? Your operation would be performed under general anaesthic. Most surgeries of this nature take between 2 and 3.5 hours. It depends on the individual patient and the extend of the surgery. The length of your stay in hospital recovering, entirely depends on you as an individual. You may be able to leave hospital the same day as your operation, you may stay in hospital one or two days.

Operation expectation: Your operation expectation has to be realistic. Most patients are more than pleased with the outcome and find they have smaller, lighter, and firmer breasts. You would be freed from the physical discomfort of large breasts and your body will be in better proportion therefore meaning in most cases giving a new-found confidence.

Recovery: What happens? Your breasts will be bandaged for support and they should be able to removed after two to three days after surgery. After bandaging is removed you are reqiured to wear a surgical bra for 24 hours a day for around two weeks until the bruising and swelling subside. Expect the bruising and swelling to last upto three weeks. Almost all stitches used will simply dissolve but if there are any clips they will be removed 5 days after your surgery. The scars are quite lengthy and may take many months or years to settle, you must reqiure patience, miracles take time. You will revisit your consultant have follow-up visits in the months after surgery to check on your progress.

Recovery time? Recovery time depends entirely on you, the patient. You should be up and about within a day or two but your breasts may still ache occasionally for a few weeks. Most patients will return to work after 14 days but again this is down to the individual. Avoid any strenuous activity for at least 6 weeks and limit your exercises to stretching and swimming.

Risks: All operations have their risks and a breast reduction is no different. Although the following risks and complications are rare, they do happen:

• Infection-This can occur after any surgery. Should this occur, you would be provided with anti-biotics.
  
• Adverse reaction to anaesthesia
• Excessive bleeding-Some patients can lose blood after their breast reduction and the drains do not drain all of the blood. A collection of blood can collect under the breast that enlarges and can become very painful. Should this occurs the patient has to undergo another operation for the clot to be drained and bleeding stopped. Bleeding can be avoided by injecting a mixture of salt water with adrenalin in the breasts before the actual surgery.
• Delayed wound healing
• Loss of sensation in nipple/s-Some patients may experience loss of nipple sensitivity but then a small minority of others may develop nipple hypersensitivity.
• Unsatisfactory results.
• The requirement for a second or third surgery

More recovery: Although it is important to keep the breast area clean throughout the healing process, to avoid infections, breast reduction patients should not submerge their incisions in a bath, swimming pool or other body of water until the breasts have completely healed. Use a flannel with warm water to dab the areas that require cleansing. You must avoid deoderants and lotions coming into contact with the stitched breast area, this can cause infection. Sexual intercourse should be refrained for a week or so after your procedure, sexual arousal can cause the area to swell.

Hopefully this information has helped some people with their decision to enqiure with their doctor about having a breast reduction. It certainly helped me :)