Opting for a double mastectomy was an “easy decision,” says Sarah Thornton.
After years of biopsies and amid the continued threat of breast cancer, she went to the operating room and, without much thought, opted for reconstruction covered by her health insurance.
To their enormous relief, it turned out that the rogue cells were not cancerous.
But when she looked in the mirror after reconstruction, her new breasts seemed strange. And none of her favorite jackets fit her.
Only about three months later, after the bandages were removed and the swelling had subsided, she was measured for a new bra and discovered, to her surprise, that she had gone from a modest B cup to a significantly more generous D cup. .
“I was very clear,” she recalls. ‘I literally asked for lesbian yoga tits. Those were the words I used.
Then I sent him an email that said, “I don’t want to go big, just something between an A and a B.” And since I love jokes, I couldn’t help it. I said, “Think of it like an A plus boob.”
Sarah Thornton took steps to choose a new bra and discovered, to her surprise, that she had gone from a humble B cup to a significantly more generous D cup.
In his book, Boobs Up, Thornton meets with a doctor and writes: “I suspect…he had set his surgical standards in the 1980s, when the Pamela Anderson bust was iconic.”
Liposuction overtook breast augmentation as the world’s most popular form of cosmetic surgery in 2022
What prompted the surgeon to “overdo it” against your expressed wishes? When she began asking questions and interviewing hundreds of women and professionals in the medical community, she discovered that she was far from alone.
In fact, she discovered a male-dominated plastic surgery industry that essentially bestows Playboy fantasy breasts on unsuspecting women based on their perception of what is sexy and attractive.
Less than 18 percent of active plastic surgeons in the United States are women, while more than 90 percent of the clientele is female. And, as of 2022, breast augmentation was by far the most common procedure performed globally.
In his book, Boobs Up, Thornton encounters a doctor – “I call him Dr. Moore, because he literally kept getting bigger and bigger” – who insisted on using 385cc implants (more than twice the average size of some fellow surgeons). ), because her ideal neckline had a space no wider than her little finger.
“I suspect that… he had established his surgical standards in the 1980s, when the Pamela Anderson bust was iconic.”
Others intentionally design breasts with nipples so far above their normal location that they can’t help but slip out of the bra.
Dr Kelly Bolden says in the book: ‘When I go to plastic surgery conferences, most of the breast experts are still men.
“When they talk about aesthetically pleasing breasts and show their before and after, the female surgeons in the audience cringe because it is obvious that these men find what we call ‘pseudo ptosis’ attractive.
A male-dominated plastic surgery industry essentially bestows Playboy fantasy boobs on unsuspecting women.
The decision to “go flat” and not opt for reconstruction was seen by some male doctors as a sign of poor mental health.
This term describes a condition in which the nipple is located in the upper half of the breast, sometimes even pointing upward.
Thornton even encountered a surgeon who rejected a patient’s pleas to remove the implants he had put in, claiming she didn’t like breast care.
“My results are my business card,” he is reported to have said, “and I don’t want my name on that.”
By contrast, Thornton believes his own doctor was simply doing the best he could, in the face of a flawed industry standard.
‘There is a whole profession that writes articles… that literally agree on measurements, such as the distance between the breastbone, nipple and areola, and what the correct size of the areola is.
‘This is a professional standard of beauty and a professional standard of what is the norm. This is bigger than personal and individual predilections; it’s about male domination of an industry.’
Adding about his own reconstruction: ‘Objectively, this was an excellent result.
“Unfortunately, (my doctor) became embroiled in an entire profession that created these protocols, measurements and standards that are at odds with many women’s desires for their athletic self or their small-chested self.”
Dr. Elisabeth Potter echoes their findings and describes how, duringDuring her training at UT Southwestern, the decision to “go flat” after her mastectomy and not undergo reconstruction was considered a sign of poor mental health by her mostly male colleagues.
She says in the book: ‘The male faculty… They focused on what they personally found sexy and attractive. Natural breasts were criticized. The artificially inflated ones were glorified. They congratulated the surgeon who asked the husband how to evaluate the implants while the wife was sleeping.’
“Personally,” Thornton adds wryly, “I would never have plastic surgery done by one of my husband’s golf buddies.”
However, dEven though she not only hated her new breasts, but they also gave her “exercise intolerance,” which meant she couldn’t swim or do yoga without experiencing pain and stiffness, Thornton never considered filing a lawsuit.
“I’m not a litigious kind of person,” he says. ‘My mother is British; You know, keep calm and move on. And besides, when I was a kid, she never gave me medicine, she had to be on my deathbed to get an aspirin. That’s how I was raised. “Then it would have been anathema to me.”
Writing the book was, he says, his healing process. And I feel grateful, in a very strange way, because I lost something that I hadn’t even considered very important. I think I was among a general contingent of women who were like, “Boobs, you know, men like them and whatever.” They get in the way.
One doctor insisted on using 385cc implants (more than twice the average size of some fellow surgeons) because her ideal cleavage had a gap no wider than her little finger.
Dr. Elisabeth Potter says that male professors at UT Southwestern “focused on what they personally found sexy and attractive.”
“Most women have mixed feelings about their breasts,” she adds. ‘That happens to something that is overly sexualized in a culture.
“There’s a big difference between the way men look at them and the way women look at them, and the way men look at them is kind of dominant.”
However, finally, after finishing writing the book, she got the breasts she wanted.
Her right breast (‘the one I jokingly called Bert’) had rotated 180 degrees and was now pointing inwards.
“Think of it this way,” he explains. ‘You have an egg, sunny side up. And he turned around. “It was like my right boob was too easy.”
The left breast, for its part, presented capsular contracture, which is when the scar tissue begins to strangle the implant and is extremely painful. When she finally went under the knife, she discovered that the implant had ruptured after only five years.
By opting this time for a surgeon, at the same hospital, she reiterated her desire to have smaller breasts. “I said, ‘Please, I love swimming. “I love doing yoga, I want to be smaller.”
‘(The surgeon) did a great job. I’m actually very happy with these,” he says.
They have even changed their name. They are no longer named after the male Muppets Bert and Ernie. “Now it’s Glenda and Brenda, who is my mother and her friend from Harlow High School.”
Boobs up: What Sex Workers, Milk Bankers, Plastic Surgeons, Bra Designers and Witches Tell Us About Sarah Thornton’s Breasts is published by WW Norton & Company.
