The struggles of women with big breasts

CAROL Whitmore hated her 38H breasts so much that she went on national television begging someone to help her fund breast reduction surgery.

“It was just embarrassing,” Carol, who lives in Auckland, told news.com.au. “People would stare at my boobs because they stuck out so much. You feel frumpy and matronly because boobs that big are not sexy — they’re big and heavy and they get in the way.

“You get big dents in your shoulders from the bra straps holding the weight of your breasts. Going swimming was a nightmare,” she said.

In 2002, the then 41-year-old did the morning TV show rounds and was spotted by Port Macquarie breast surgeon Guy Hingston, who has been performing breast reduction surgeries for almost 20 years.

Dr Hingston was living in New Zealand at the time and offered Carol a free reduction procedure. He paid for all the costs and performed the surgery in Auckland. She had 2.2kg of breast tissue removed and is now a D cup.

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” said Carol, now 57. “I felt like I was normal, like other women. It was so exciting waking up from the surgery and looking down and having normal sized boobs.

“I could go and get nice beautiful bras and tops and swimming togs. I was over the moon.”

Prior to having surgery, Dr Hingston says his patients are “depressed, self conscious and unable to wear the clothes they want to wear.” They range between a C and an H cup.

“There’s a huge limitation in the exercise they can do. The distraction it causes in all of their relationships — both personal and professional — it really is a significant problem,” he said.

Women like Carol are speaking up about the battles of having big breasts, afterModern Family actress Ariel Winter revealed last week that she went under the knife to reduce her 14F cup to a 16D.

“As women in the industry, we are totally oversexualised and treated like objects,” the 17-year-old told Glamour. “Every article that has to do with me on a red carpet as to do with ‘Ariel Winter’s Crazy Cleavage!’ or ‘Ariel Winter Shows Huge Boobs at an Event!’ And that’s all people would recognise me by.”

She had the surgery on June 4 and says she can’t wait feel more confident on the red carpet at the Emmys next month.

New Zealand woman Carol Whitmore, pictured here in 2002, after her breast reduction.Source:Supplied

MORE WOMEN ARE GOING UNDER THE KNIFE

Breast reductions are one of the most common plastic surgery procedures performed in Australia, according to the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons. And it’s one of the most rewarding for both patients and surgeons, says the society’s spokesman Dr Jeremy Hunt.

“I’ve seen patients who wear KKK bras at the age of 22,” said Dr Hunt, who has performed the surgery on women aged 14-70. “They’ve become withdrawn and can’t interact socially.”

Patients often suffer from back, neck and shoulder pain, rashes under their breasts and find it very difficult to find clothes that fit properly.

“In my mind, a breast reduction is all about quality of life and unlocking patients from the border that they carry,” he said. “My aim is to bring people into proportion, which usually means reducing them to a manageable C-D. Socially, my patientsbecome less withdrawn, more outgoing, more confident and live fuller, happier lives.”

The surgery is recognised by Medicare, but there are usually out of pocket costs between $5000 and $15,000. Most of Dr Hunt’s patients are in their 20s and 30s or menopausal women whose bust size increases due to a hormonal imbalance.

Dr Guy Hingston says his most common patients are women in their 40s who have already had a family and can now afford the procedure. “Which means they’ve lived from puberty to age 40 with all of these hassles,” he said.

“So my preferred patient is actually aged 18-20 — someone who is clearly going to have long term problems who we can help out earlier.”

Dr Hingston has performed several free procedures, including Carol’s, in the past. He’s so moved by the transformation women experience that he’s committed to offering a free breast reduction to one woman annually. “Often the women who can’t afford it are really sad, because they feel like no one can help them,” he said.

THE STRUGGLE TO FIND CLOTHES THAT FIT

Personal stylist Jo Blankfield, from Melbourne, has made a business out of helping women with big breasts dress for their shape.

She had a breast reduction two years ago to reduce her GG breasts down to an E cup.

“I looked in the mirror [post surgery] and just went ‘Oh my God!’ I just looked so much smaller and I had so much more of a waist. I could wear shoe string straps. I felt like I finally had a body that was in-proportion.”

Ms Blankfield says the first thing she tells her clients is to buy a bra that has been fitted by a professional. “So often women aren’t wearing the right shape or size bra, so they end up losing their waist. And a defined waist really helps to balance everything out,” she said.

It doesn’t help that clothes sold in most Australian chain stores don’t cater for big busts.

“Broadly speaking, boobs and fashion are like oil and water: with enough shaking up, they’ll blend for a minute, but naturally they repel. Because breasts are difficult to dress, apparently,” Eleanor Morgan wrote last week in The Guardian.

“I’ve struggled in almost every high-street store to find tops that flatter my size — usually somewhere around a 12, depending on the store — and what I have in my bra. I don’t want to buy a nice top in a size 16 just because my boobs won’t fit the 10 or 12,” she wrote.

Even supermodels are cut from runway shows because — shock horror — they have boobs.

“Ahahahahahaha I just got cancelled from Dior because of my boobs!,” British model Jourdan Dunn tweeted during couture week in 2013. “Normally told I’m cancelled because I’m ‘coloured’, so being cancelled because of my boobs is a minor”, she added.

And Sports Illustrated model Kate Upton was deemed “too obvious” to appear in Victoria’s Secret 2013 show.

“We would never use [Upton]. She’s like a Page 3 girl,” Victoria’s Secret stylist Sophie Neophitou told The New York Times. “She’s like a footballer’s wife, with the too-blonde hair and that kind of face that anyone with enough money can go out and buy.”

But with more fashion brands booking plus size models for their campaigns — thinkLaura Wells for The Upside — bigger boobs are now being seen in magazines, TV ads and billboards.

“There is absolutely an increase in demand from clients asking for models with bigger busts,” director of Australian plus-size modelling agency BGM Models, Darrianne Donnelly said.

“About five years ago it was only a handful of clients. Now I deal with Myer, Target, Big W, Simone Perelle and they always ask for big busted girls for their campaigns.

“They’re trying to get the average person to see the model and think, ‘Wow, she has a big bust like me and she looks amazing, maybe I’ll buy that product,” she said.

TAKING THE PLUNGE

Carol Whitmore is so passionate about the positive effect surgery had on her life that she wants to encourage other big-busted women to go under the knife.

“I wanted to share my story because it was such a fantastic experience.I’ve started saying to women, ‘Just get the money somehow and get it done’.”
Dr Hingston says the change he sees in his patients is instant.

“When they wake up from the operation, they can immediately feel the weight has been lifted off their shoulders. When they start getting up and about they notice that people look them in the face, not in the bust anymore.

“As a surgeon it’s so rewarding because they literally go from having all these problems to suddenly feeling like a new woman.”