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What Real Women Say

Josie, 33, Bronx, New York

"I'm more bottom accentuated than I am on top and I've always felt disproportioned," says Josie, an emergency-room nurse and gymnastics instructor. "I'd always kid around with my husband and say, 'I want to get a boob job one day.'" After having two children, Josie felt even more out of proportion and droopy from nursing. Last June she had a consultation with a plastic surgeon, who recommended breast augmentation with a breast lift, a procedure in which the surgeon cuts skin in order to raise and reshape sagging breasts.

The surgery, which was done under intravenous anesthesia in the doctor's surgical suite, lasted about two hours. The total of cost of breast implants was $6,000, plus $1,500 for the lift. For a few days following surgery, Josie experienced a lot of pain, mainly from the breast lift. "They say it's like a C-section because muscle had to grow back together," Josie says. "It felt like someone beat me up in the chest. I couldn't sit up. It's a sore, achy feeling, 10 times worse than feeling engorged."

Nevertheless, four days after surgery (against her doctor's recommendation), "I did an overtime shift at work," Josie admits. She wore a constricting bra, which helped ease the pain and swelling.

Six months later, she's very happy with the results. She went from a 36A to a 36C. "When I teach gymnastics, I think I'm 16 again, but when I try to stand up I feel the implants shift," Josie says. "I still feel every now and then like I'm going through a recovery process. The doctor said I could feel that [for] up to a year." She says she would recommend the procedure to a friend, but only in the hands of a skilled physician like her own.

Overall, she feels great. "I'm happy I did it. I did it for me. I wasn't trying to put on a show for anyone else," Josie says. "Once I made up my mind there was nothing anyone was going to do to change it."

Gina, 25, Mahopac, New York

Gina, a stay-at-home mom, was always flat-chested. She had hoped that after having two kids, her breasts would get bigger. "But they were worse," she says. "Instead of being flat, they were almost sunken in." After a friend recommended breast augmentation, she was determined.

Before the surgery, the doctor asked her to fill two plastic baggies with water and place them in a bra to decide on the size she wanted. She chose to go from a size A to a C cup.

"I expected the surgery to be really painful, but it wasn't," Gina says. The procedure was performed in November in her doctor's office and she went home the same day. The total cost was $6,650.

The doctor prescribed painkillers, but by the third day, she didn't need them. "The pain was gone after a few days, but I felt awkward with them. I couldn't move my arms or drive. After about a week and a half, they felt normal," she says.

Unfortunately, Gina developed an infection two weeks after surgery. "The dissolvable stitches on the inside weren't dissolving. They were coming out and oozing," she says. The surgeon had to remove them. The infection lasted about two weeks. "I was hysterical and depressed. I thought I made the biggest mistake of my life," Gina says. But her doctor reassured her that once she healed, she would be happy.

"They look really good, but in the back of my mind I'm not totally secure with them," Gina admits, six weeks after the procedure. "I look much better in my clothes. But every day in the back of mind there's a fear that something might go wrong. I'm worried that they're going to leak. They're so new. They're still growing on me."

Would she recommend breast augmentation to her young daughter if she ended up with small breasts as an adult? "I feel like this is such a vanity thing," Gina says. "You should be happy with what you were given. But if she ever asked me, I'd say, 'When you have kids and you see what your body is going to look like for a long time, then you can decide.'"

To Learn More: Visit the Public Site section of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery's Web site. Or call their toll-free referral line at 1-888-ASAPS-11.

Check out the Learn section of BeautySurg.com, the "cosmetic surgery supersite."

For physician referrals, call the American Society of Plastic Surgeons referral service at 1-888-4PLASTIC or visit them online. Click on "Learn About Procedures" to find out more.

Visit Implant Forum, a Web site created by women who have undergone augmentation procedures.