Howdy Folks. My wife is planning on undergoing breast reduction surgery. I realize that relatively few women have it done, but I was hoping that maybe someone here would have more info on it. For example, how long should she expect to be in pain after the surgery? How many days does she need to take off work? How painful is it on a scale of 1 to 10? What are some potential complications and side effects? Thank you for any feedback, BigTex
I had a breast reduction done about 3 years ago, and am very happy with the results , but more importantly how I feel about myself. I was out of work for about 3-4 weeks. In pain for about a good week, then it was just un-comfortable. Getting in and out of bed and showering was painful. But well worth it !
The daughter of a friend had this done a few years ago, and it was covered by insurance, because they finally deemed it medically necessary for her to undergo the procedure. There are two things I remember my friend talking about: 1) The incisions drained for a long time and/or became infected (or the daughter's body reacted against the staples or whatever)and 2) The doctor encouraged her to stay a larger size than she had wanted. And now she wishes she had gone smaller. Their impressions were almost that the doctor didn't like to see women get too "small", although that is a relative term. My point is that you and your wife should really discuss desired end-point size realistically and candidly. And while men may not ultimately want women to lose breast tissue, the potential health benefits/risks should be carefully considered; i.e., does your wife have deep grooves in her shoulders caused by her bra straps, or does her back hurt or is she becoming stooped because of excess breast weight, etc.?
wr
I had reduction only on one breast due to asymmetry, but I can tell you that I wasn't in any real pain. I was prescribed pain killers but never needed them - just took tylenol.
Tell her that her breasts will feel the same way they did when she was breast feeding. It aches and feels full like it needs expressing. The day of surgery, I went home and slept all day and night (no nausea either)...the next days I was just careful of how I laid down and had to remember not to use my arms to raise myself up out of bed.
She can't drive for a week and wont be able to have sex, excersize, or lift anything for about 2 to 3 weeks. Everything should be fine after about 4 to 6 weeks. There will be bruising, so it will look alot worse than what it actually feels.
This is probably a very important surgery to her to have done and she won't regret it for a second.
My Wife's Breast Reduction Surgery 
