"You're So Vain"...Celebrating Physical Changes - Imperfect Anatomy

Deb Voss Quail lives in idyllic Nashotah, WI with her four children. She is a freelance writer and co-author of the Insights for Women series. Visit her web site at http://www.vvvinsights.com

Imperfect Anatomy

I don’t have perfect breasts. I don’t believe in perfection with respect to anything in life. What I have are breasts that surpass my former ideals of how mine should feel and look; size proportionate, comfy on my body, easy to look at, a snap to buy fashionable bras for, and still a sensual part of my body that I now love rather than feel embarrassment about, or despise due to discomfort.

When I have admitted in private or public the scope of my “plastic” surgery, women have literally crawled out of the woodwork to admit that they have either done it themselves, or know someone who did.

Nobody says they regret mammoplasty, nobody. I’ve asked plenty of women, and haven’t found anyone yet who wishes she hadn’t submitted to a reduction.

With all due respect to the women who have gone the other way, requesting breast augmentation, I cannot fathom going back to the excess of fat, sagging muscle and tissue that was formally my chest. I had to bind myself to the point of torture to get my heavy, sagging breasts to sit in the normal position upon my chest. Without a heavy-tension bra to raise them, they were a drooping mass of unpleasant anatomy. I didn’t feel sexy; in fact, I didn’t feel all that female. In the mirror, all I saw was the former udders that had successfully nursed four healthy children. For that privilege, however, my breasts succumbed to the call of gravity and headed south in the direction of my waist and beyond.

It is not my intention to change the mind set of folks who don’t endorse the idea of plastic surgery. I understand where they are coming from, and once upon a time, I was a nay sayer myself. Not everyone needs or should have plastic surgery. It is elective, after all. But it is worth pointing out that as surgical procedures go, this one may have more merit than many other elective “women’s surgeries.” Insurance companies usually cover the cost of mammoplasty. Why? Because as every women with excessively large breasts knows, they can be painful and even detrimental to health. Insurance companies find it advantageous to cover the cost of breast reduction than possibly unsuccessful or more invasive back and/or shoulder surgery. Breast reduction has a positive outcome on a woman’s mental health, too, which in my case made me more comfortable exercising and fitting into a swimsuit as well. And the more I swim and exercise, the better I feel overall.

Call me plastic or call me vain, just don’t call me crazy; I am proud, fit, and balanced in psychology and physiology. I have imperfect breasts, and I love ‘em.