The Flat Tire Situation (Ruptured Implant)

Greetings!

It's been quite some time since I've updated on here, I know.  I thought I'd give you all a current, and rather BOOBTASTIC, update.

As you know, I attempted to correct my asymmetry when I was younger by having a breast reduction that went wrong.  Years later I had some reconstruction and had a breast implant put in to make things a little more even, since the reduction didn't do the trick.  I know this isn't in the cards for everyone, and I know it's not something everyone is comfortable with, which is why I post about ways to hide asymmetry as opposed to just touting that everyone go speak to your local plastic surgeon.  For me, it was so bad and the breast was so deformed, that surgery was the best option for me.

That being said, I'd like to spend this post talking about a specific risk associated with having an implant.

I've had my breast implant for almost 8 years.  About three years ago I started to notice the breast was getting firmer, and over time began to sit higher on my chest.  At first I didn't think much about it, but as time went on, it created a little bit more asymmetry.  Being a veteran at hiding asymmetry, I just went back to my old tricks, and was slightly disgruntled that I had to deal with that again, but it was no big deal.  I'd always been able to feel my saline implant through my breast (kind of like a water bed), but it was never overly noticeable  but that seemed to be changing a little. When I first had my implant put in, and even before it was put in, I had a lot of breast pain.  Because I lost my nipple in the tragic Boob Reduction Battle of 2000 (LOL), when the temperature changed my nipple wasn't able to contract, but the nerve signals still traveled to where my nipple should be and caused pain.  Over time, this pain diminished.  However, about two years ago I started to notice more breast discomfort.  The implant has always been uncomfortable at times, but nothing severe.  But two years ago, it was a little more annoying than usual.  I called my surgeon, and the nurse said I might just have some capsular contracture going on.  Capsular contracture is when your body forms scar tissue around the capsule of the implant, putting pressure on the implant and possibly causing discomfort.  She said it wasn't too big of a deal if it wasn't causing a lot of pain.  Well, it might have been causing a lot of pain, but I wasn't aware of it.  For the last four years I've been dealing with hip pain and three unsuccessful hip reconstructions.  I'm on pain medication, and my pain scale is already out of whack, so if this breast was causing me, what would be on a normal day, a lot of pain, I didn't know.  I just knew it was painful from time to time, but nothing I couldn't grin and bear.

Well, on Thursday of last week, I was sleeping and felt a lot of pain in my breast.  I thought maybe I was dreaming pain, or that since the pain in my hip had been so bad that I was just transferring the pain somewhere else in my sleep.  The pain was so bad it actually woke me to the point that I was in lucid sleep. I didn't think much about it, though.  I woke up that Thursday morning, and because I sleep in a sports bra, I just threw on a t-shirt and went about doing some laundry.  Well, I grabbed my laundry and pressed it against my chest and I about hit the floor in pain.  My breast was absolutely excruciating.

I took a moment to touch my breast through my bra to figure out what was going on, and it felt like there was a huge knot. Now, as I said before, I'd always been able to feel my implant, but this was HUGE and was kind of protruding through the breast.  I lifted up my bra and realized that my breast was gone.  My implant had ruptured and deflated.

Saline implants tend to leak fast when they rupture, as they are salt water and your body just takes up the contents and you excrete it in your urine.  Had this been a silicon implant and the contents had emptied this fast, it could have been a serious issue.  Thankfully, saline is easy in this regard.

I made an emergency appointment with my surgeon, and I'm scheduled to have the implant removed, the capsule of scar tissue scraped, and the implant replaced on January 9, 2013.  In the meantime, though, I'm miserable.

Normally deflated implants do not cause pain.  Mine, however, is overwhelming.  I think that when the implant deflated, it took some of the scar tissue down with it.  The implant is balled up in the bottom of my breast and is poking out awkwardly, which is very painful.  I'm finding that wearing a regular bra is nearly unbearable for any length of time, too.  I'll be the first to tell you, it's hard to look snazzy in a sports bra! LOL  But, because I know the little tricks to hiding my asymmetry, it's not all that noticeable.  I do have a wedding to go to on December 30th, so I am nervous about having to wear a regular bra for that length of time.

Overall, it's not so bad.  The top of my breast area is noticeably less full on the side that the implant ruptured, and the breast is much smaller, but it's not that hard to hide.  The problem is, it's painful to hide it.

I'm thinking for the wedding I'll wear a strapless bra, use an extra padded insert on my flat side, and use some makeup to create cleavage lines to give the image of symmetry. Always thinking ahead! Or, you could say, always staying abreast!

I just wanted to share my story with you, and I'll continue to share more as it unfolds!

Happy Holidays!


Here is a picture where you can sort of see where the breast in the foreground is flatter, smaller, and doesn't even fill the sports bra.  You can see the bunching of the fabric in the middle where the weight of the breasts is unevenly distributed across the front of the bra.

Let's go STRAPLESS (bras)

Guess what, ladies!  Spring is here, and strapless bras are the topic of choice, today.  When one breast is larger than the other, strapless bras can be a challenge to find, but there are ways around the struggle!  Let's talk about the ways these bras can make our wardrobe fabulous!

First we need to discuss what the strapless bra will do.  This bra will hold your "goodies" in place while allowing you to wear something that is either strapless or has straps that will not cover bra straps.  These bras can be a beast of a burden to hold in place sometimes, and an FYI for those who have never braved the bra sans straps: you WILL have to adjust yourself relatively often.  Strapless bras have come a long way since I first started wearing them in the early 2000s.  Now many bras come with a band of an almost sticky, rubber-like product inside them.  This is a glorious asset to a bra!  This will help prevent the bra from slipping down, but inevitably they all will a little.  If you're going for uber cleavage, or just holding them in place, there are options all across the board, but it will depend on your level of comfort, self-confidence, and your degree of asymmetry.

Let's start from the back of the bra and work our way forward.  Depending on how well endowed your larger breast is, the strapless bra you select may have three hooks on the back to hold the bra down.  It has been my experience that bras with three hooks have a significantly wider band on them (that goes around your rib cage to your back), and thus provide more support.  Please keep in mind that I'm a 36D, so the three hook bra may not be available for everyone.  As we've discussed before, keeping your bra tight to your body is crucial for holding your breasts in place.  Nobody wants wandering breasts or a wandering bra!  Don't just put your strapless bra on so that it fits around your ribs like a pair of jeans would fit (loose and relaxed); your bra needs to be tight on your ribs, but not so tight that you get "muffin top" or "back cleavage" when you wear it.  The wider the bra, the more support it's going to bring to your chest.  Again, wider bras tend to have three hooks in the back, but not always.  The biggest thing is to make sure that when you fasten those hooks, your bra is snug.

When we're talking about bras (strapless or not), I want to emphasize that QUALITY is important here.  Nothing can ruin your day like a bra falling apart at work.  Strapless bras almost demand to be of good quality, because you don't have anything (straps) to assist them.  (NOTE: I will discuss clear straps later in the post)  If your bra is made from a very stretchy fabric, poor quality fabric, or one that is very thin, this bra will likely fail you very quickly.  Strapless bras need to be durable, for the most part.  If the fabric "gives" too much, there will be no support and the bra will not hold shape, thus allowing your larger breast to pull the bra down, or tilt forward far more than your smaller breast.  I cannot stress enough how important fabric really is to the quality of the bra, and the the efficacy of disguising asymmetry.  You'll want to find a bra with rigid materials that are rather thick.  You'll, inevitably, end up paying more for a bra like this, but you'll get so much more use out of one good bra than you will ten cheap bras.

Padding is a must for me when it comes to bras, however, strapless bras can be a little different.  If your breasts aren't drastically different, you may be able to get away with a bra that is not padded, but apply padding to your smaller breast to even them out.  If your degree of asymmetry is fairly high, you may need a padded bra, and then pad to cover the difference.  I say this only because a padded bra tends to assist a little more with cleavage, and may provide more coverage.  If your degree of asymmetry is severe, you may want to buy a heavily padded bra, and try to get a full-coverage strapless bra so that only the upper part of your cleavage is visible.  This shows off some cleavage, but also leaves something for the imagination of the admirers.

As I've mentioned before, the part of the bra that connects the breast cups is so important.  This can absolutely change the way a bra sits on your body.  If you don't have a very high degree of asymmetry, you can get away with having a bra that has a very small piece of fabric connecting the two cups.  However, for myself, I cannot use those types of bras, as they show my asymmetry too much.  They allow my larger breast to lean more forward at an angle.  The analogy I use is to put both of your hands up in the air, with the tips of your thumbs touching.  Now lean you right hand as far forward as you can.  See how large that range of motion is?  Now hold both of your hands up again and make the tips of your thumbs AND the tips of your index fingers touch.  Now try to tilt your right hand forward.  Notice how much less of a range there is?  That's what we're going for!  Minimal range!  The larger the piece of fabric is that connects the cups, the less movement there will be, and the more support there will be!

Clear straps are always an option.  You can adjust them the exact same way you do your bras, and some will even go around your neck like a halter!  These can be a wonderful asset to ladies who want to wear a sexy halter top, but aren't comfortable with a strapless bra.  There are also clear straps that work by crossing around your back/ribs (like where the hooks in the back are) to provide added support at the top of the bra, but hiding it under your clothes.  I've never personally tried them, but the idea is absolutely fantastic!  Clear straps can be added to almost any strapless bra that will accept straps.  Many of the new bras that are purchased with straps are actually able to be worn as strapless bras by removing the straps.  Victoria's Secret makes MANY of their bras like this, now.  It's FANTASTIC!  For those of you who are comfortable in a bra you've found, and it has removable straps, you can substitute in the clear ones and be on your way in your stunning halter dress and big sunglasses!

Strapless bras can be so challenging, but with patience, good advice, and a good outlook, anyone (with or without asymmetry) can find a strapless bra!  So let's start dressing sexy, gals!  There's no need to let the asymmetry hold us back from being utterly fabulous!