Why are my breasts still so flat at my age?

DNA. Some of us are big some of us are small. I know when I put on weight my breasts get bigger. Are you under weight? Enjoy it. I sometimes wish I had really small boobs; the kind where you don’t need to wear a bra.

We all want what we don’t have. I’m with tinyfaery- I’d rather not have these things. You can have mine! I’ll mail them to you.

I guess what was important for me was coming to terms with reality. Things won’t be perfect. But the people who are worth knowing don’t care about physical imperfections.

You may still grow.. I’ve heard of college growth spurts. Don’t place your hopes on it, though…

Breasts are highly over-rated. I’m with both of the above, and would trade you in a hearbeat!

I’m with Randy.

through the end of the first sentence

Im a guy and personally, I like smaller breasts. no offense to the ladies above but big breasts seem to get saggier, faster and just seem like extra baggage. No need for all that.

@Kev – Wait. You agreed with Randy before he posted… Are you psychic or something?

Thanks for your opinions, menfolk. Way to make me feel bad about MY body! I’m kidding.

Yes. But I have no need for padded bras, and I look great in a bustier.

@shadling- maybe just mail a picture ;-)

Just please don’t get implants – far too many girls are doing that. Unless it’s a serious self esteem issue.

“Melissa”:, first, welcome to The Collective. (Avoid making puns, please. I’ll explain why, later.)

I’m sure you remember the story of, The Ugly Duckling, and how it had a happy ending, eventually.

But to answer your Q definitively, you need to first ask yourself, honestly, if your desire to be larger is to impress yourself, or the men in your life?

For some guys, smaller is sexier. Personally, I’m a “leg man,” and am unimpressed by boobs (we have plenty of those, working in the US Congress).

If you get a larger set (via surgery) and all of a sudden you are surrounded by a bunch of dudes who didn’t notice you previously, then you will know that those guys are very shallow, in that the only reason they are coming around, is for nursing privileges.

Let me suggest, respectfully, that before you actually do anything at all to change your appearance, that you talk to a psychologist, to make certain what your overall goals are, and why you feel as you do.

Then, once you are certain of your feelings (and only your feelings), then proceed as you think is best for you and your situation.

Just remember that whatever you choose to do, it should be done only for you, and not some shallow others, OK?

My best wishes for you, whatever path you choose.

Being a man it is hard not to notice the larger sizes, which in turn means we have a tendency to stare a bit, but a lot of us actually prefer them smaller.

And btko is right. Implants is a sign of shallowness to many of us, and thus a turnoff. So heed his advice.

When I was around your age everyone kept telling me that I would grow, twenty some years later that hasn’t happened. I am perfectly happy with the size of my chest, it is much smaller than some and a bit bigger than others. I gotta say I don’t believe the size of my bosom has caused any undue burden.

If you ever have babies and decide to nurse (somewhere way down the road, 18 is still really young), odds are good you will have gigantic breasts for at least awhile, then you can see how the other half lives. Frankly after having been through that three times I’ll stick with what I got.

To answer this question fairly, I’m going to need to see them. I wouldn’t want to make a generality based of no physical evidence.

Don’t worry about that, I’m sure you look great they way you look now :)

Be thankful. Large breasts are a burden, especially as you get older (which I know you’re not thinking about right now). From the experience of someone who’s been a part of both camps, small is indeed better…in fact, I wish I were smaller.

Yaargh… As long as ye got a pair, ye should be happy. Some pirate will love thee for who ye arrrrr. Not ta mention pirates that be boob men, love boobs. They aint picky. Arrgh.

The whole breast question is a very hard one to answer. I developed boobs when I was 9 years old but they never got much bigger. I pretty much looked like a boy through middle school and high school. Then, when I got to college, the freshman 15 went straight to my boobs, my hips and my ass. Now, needless to say, I am very much woman shaped. Basically what I’m trying to tell you is that your body will do what it needs to do in its own time. Mine did and now no one confuses me for a boy. :) Good luck!

If you still feel like you want boobs when you graduate from college, go for it and get them. I wouldn’t do it at 18 because as katawa says, you still may have some changing to do. I don’t see any problem with rewarding yourself for a life accomplishment (like graduating from college) with a little self indulgent plastic surgery if that’s what you want. I did it in my 40’s as a reward for loosing 80 lbs. I have never regretted it for a minuet.

I basically agree with the folks that say these things happen according to your body and who knows how it will react but will also point out that birth control is great for regulating your body’s hormones, often clears up acne and often has that side effect of making your boobs grow. Which I, personally, found to be a total pain in the butt, but you might appreciate. Plus, if you have no health issues exempting you from birth control, there are a lot of other benefits (regular periods, often lighter) and you might want to talk to your OB-GYN about it.

Um, having said that, wanting bigger boobs as the only reason for going on BC isn’t a good idea.

And for another perspective, be grateful that you have two. Some women have only one and some have opted, when faced with that awful choice, of having a double mastectomy. Having been lucky and only needing to endure two lumpectomies, chemo and radiation, I am thrilled to have two, both with sensation.

I personally can’t imagine volunteering for implants..

@Gail—too true! Christina A…something (Applegate maybe?) anyway, that actress that I didn’t really care about until recently was faced with that decision and went for the double mastectomy and I respect her SO MUCH MORE now. Because she was faced with that decision that is hard for me or you or anyone else, but so much harder for someone who makes their living playing a beautiful woman on television/in movies. And she did the thing that was healthiest for her. And that’s really brave, I think, and totally worth of respect and praise.

@Empress:
At 18, these issues seem completely unreal, but sadly they exist. Christina Applegate can still have a wonderful life and career. As do millions of women with similar choices.

Now I can’t even find a comfortable and well-fitting bra because one of the girls is a
C and the other a B. Who cares? No one I know. And certainly not me.

@Gail, Oh, I know she can. I was just really impressed that someone who to some extent makes her living on her looks would make (what I view as) the more healthy, responsible choice to make sure her breast cancer was as gone as she could get it. It seems like a lot of celebs make decisions that are at total odds with their health, but she really went for the healthy choice. I think that’s completely applause-worthy.

My feet are like that and I do care. Makes shopping way hard.

@Empress:How do you manage with your feet? I bet that somewhere online there is a site where you can buy different-sized shoes. Or wear adjustable sandals, like Clarks, unless you live in the snow belt.

Sad but true about the women who are obsessed with their appearance, only. My mother was a traffic-stopping beauty and used that as her only asset. And now that she is very old, has no resources to fall back on…life without a husband or boyfriend is worthless, to her.

Mostly, I wear sandals. I live in Chicago, so in winter I wear high quality hiking boots. Each shoe is made slightly different, so I just try on every pair in the two sizes until I find an “off” pair that mostly fits.

I have small ones, and they’re also mismatched, so I had entertained the thought of implants as a sort of fantasy idea in the past. But then my roommate got them this year, and holy cow am I glad that idea never materialized into anything else for me. They look big (and hers aren’t even that big!), and weird, and it’s so obvious that they’re fake. I also have a couple friends who have had breast reductions because of back pain.

What I’m trying to say is, if you ever think that yours aren’t good enough, or big enough, hang out (pun intended) with someone who either has huge ones and hates them or has big ol’ fake-lookin’ ones, and you might start appreciating your little ones more. I think most people would agree that there’s nothing more beautiful than just loving yourself the way you are.

I have wondered whether one loses sensation after implants. On the distaff side, as Emily Nathon discusses,^^I have a friend who recently had breast reduction (80 grams of fatty tissue removed, whatever that means.) She was really uncomfortable before and is now thrilled.

Do you mean “is now thrilled?” Or did the surgery not go well? I’ve only heard awesome things about those reduction surgeries. Sometimes whoever’s designing bodies just gets a little bit carried away, I suppose.

Yes, my friend is now (post-surgery) thrilled. No more back pain, no more huge welts from bra straps, no more looking top-heavy.

Yeah, that’s what I thought. Good for her!

Post-surgery, however, was very uncomfortable for 4 weeks. Her friends gave her a lot of practical support since she lives alone. Now, however, it’s all a memory. And she is only down to a 38C at about 5“4”. So you can imagine.

No loss of sensitivity here, and no one would ever suspect they weren’t real, but I had a great plastic surgeon.

You know what they always say… “it’s quality, not quantity”
but mine are lacking in both of those departments, so just don’t worry about it :)

@Judi: You’re one of the lucky ones. My roommate should have gone to your doc!

Gail:
I used to work for a plastic surgeon filing journal articles. Needless to say, I spent my days reading them. He didn’t do boob jobs, but many of the papers talked about them.

From what I understand, about a third of women lose at least some sensation in their breasts. It can depend a lot on the skills of the doctor, you know avoiding cutting nerves etc, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.

Thanks, La chica. After mastectomies, many women get reconstructive surgery but have no sensation. A nipple can be tattooed on and then kind of tie-dyed to get the nub. And I have a friend who had her real nipple grafted to her inner thigh for three months. Then it was re-atttached to reconstructed breast, but no nerve endings there also.

And I remember that while I was nursing, at the start, my breasts stuck out like implants but really hurt due to all that milk. After several months they went back to their old selves.

whoaaaaaaa, her nipple was on the inside of her thigh?

that boggles my mind. i mean i understand it was the only way to save it, but just wow.

That was 20 years ago. There are better techniques now. She was totally candid about the whole episode and offered to show me. I said, “No, thanks.”

so, what do they do now?

As I mentioned above, the tattoo- a little bit of flesh is made into the nub. But whatever the surgeon does on the table is what you get. This is fascinating. I hope that you will never have any need for this other than general info.

So you don’t get your original real nipple. You get a new one, that’s really just your normal skin, tattooed and sewn into the shape of a nipple?

Today, yes. 20 years ago, you could save yours. Today is better – less pain, no time-restrictions, and since sensation is not an issue in either case, safer.

I thought the photos of the reconstruction were astonishing.

They really were! So many issues were so surprising to me. Like how they’ll tattoo your other nipple too if you let them – to make them look more similar

We’ve come a long way, baby. However, there is the issue of feeling very cold, and a little mismatched. Most breast cancer survivors don’t give a flying fig about that, however.

And I have one friend, with a very boyish figure, who chose to be flat-chested. Another had a single mastectomy and goes braless at home and stuffs a shoulder pad in the empty bra cup when she goes out. The pad often wanders; everyone, including, my friend, thinks it’s hilarious.

I had a much older friend 30 years ago. When she was a guest, she used to ask at dinner, “Should I be a 36B or C tomorrow.”

Humor always helps.