Now I know there are plenty of women out there who have had breast augmentations who absolutely embrace and love their decision to have gotten one. I’m so happy for them and respect their decision. Unfortunately, I am not one of those women. 

1. I Didn’t Get Them for the Right Reasons

Now, I’m not sure if there’s technically a “right reason” to get a breast augmentation, but if there is, that’s not why I got mine. Quite frankly, I don’t really think I thought through this decision much at all. As most young women do, I grew up with a sense of insecurity about my body, and ironically, this insecurity led me to what I thought would be a quick fix of getting a boob job, but which ultimately led to more insecurity about my body as an adult. 

While having a curvy waist and big butt is popular now in the age of Kardashian beauty standards, this was not the case for me growing up as a teenager in the early 2000s when quite the opposite was considered beautiful. Mainstream beauty standards idolized thin, big-boobed, long-legged models at a time when Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch fashion reigned supreme. As a young Cuban girl with a very curvy waist and a big butt, I would’ve given anything to have felt secure in those types of clothes, but unfortunately, their jeans and most of their clothing just never quite fit me right. 

When I look back now as an adult, I can’t get over the fact that I spent so much time obsessing over how “popular” fashion fit on my body-type rather than enjoying my actual body-type, seeing as I was thin, in great shape, and had curves. But something always felt off, and I couldn’t help but chalk it up to one thing: my boobs. While I had plenty of curves below, I was flat as a board up top and somehow convinced myself that if I got a boob job, I would feel more “balanced” and even more feminine. 

Both my mom and older sister had gotten boob jobs, so I just figured it was par for the course that I get one too. They seemed so confident in their clothes and their own skin afterward, so surely I would feel the same, I thought. So when I received my first big-girl bonus at my first full-time job out of college, I didn’t hesitate to find a doctor and make the appointment because I figured that if there’s ever a time to do it, it’s now while I’m young and have the disposable income. In hindsight, if those are ever your two reasons for doing anything in life, you probably shouldn’t do it.

2. I Put Myself Through Major Surgery…for Superficiality

We now live in a time where plastic surgery is so common that we don’t bat an eye when someone mentions that they’ve had it done or are thinking about having it done. This is so ironic, considering we show concern when anyone shares that they have to have any other type of surgery, since both can pose the same risks – unfortunately surgeries, and more specifically, anesthesia come with the risk of complications. Cosmetic surgery is so common that we don’t even think about the trauma our bodies go through until we’re going through it. I remember spending a few weeks after my boob job being in physical pain and on so much medication that I felt groggy, sad, and couldn’t snap out of it. It felt like I had physically endured a car crash in which I hit the gas and chose to slam head on into a wall by my own volition. I couldn’t even feel bad for myself because the pain was self-inflicted, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how risky it was to go under the knife for something not medically necessary. 

Body insecurity led me to get a boob job, which ultimately created more insecurity about my body as an adult. 

Surgery itself isn’t the only medical risk being taken seeing as many women are now being diagnosed with an autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome called Breast Implant Illness that can result from silicone, saline, and other types of implants. The FDA also recently announced a connection between breast implants and multiple forms of cancer. I’m not trying to scare anyone out of it, but I do believe these medical risks are very important things to take into account that cosmetic surgeons typically don’t review with you at your consultation. 

3. I Spend More Time Covering Them Up Than Enjoying Them

As a young woman, I’ve always taken a lot of pride in dressing professionally in order to be taken seriously at work. Between working in politics and for a construction trade association, most industries that I’ve worked in have been predominantly male, which has made me even more hyper-sensitive to how I dress and portray myself. This means making a very conscious effort to not show off my boobs. Unfortunately, work is 40+ hours a week, while my free time is much less than that, and this equates to me spending the vast majority of the last eight years covering up my boobs instead of showing them off. I hate to sound superficial but it’s just a fact, whether you’re a man or woman, the way you dress not only impacts your own confidence but also how others perceive you in a professional environment, which is why I believe there should be a very big difference between the clothes you wear to the office and those you wear on the weekends.

4. Fashion Changes Quickly, but Your Breast Size Does Not

Now I could be overanalyzing this or just making myself feel worse, but I swear that moderate to large boobs were so in when I got my boob job…until the following year when most new fashion was designed for the itty bitty tittie committee. After that first year of having bigger boobs, I started noticing that trendier clothes looked, quite frankly, a little inappropriate when I wore them because nothing seemed to fit my boobs. A lot of newer fashion in the last few years has been designed to be worn with a bandeau, or with pasties, or even with no bra at all. I realized very quickly that it was going to be more challenging for me to shop for trendy, newer tops and dresses due to this new predicament because fashion changes faster than your boob size preference does. However, fashion trends come and go, so if you’re feeling that your boob type doesn’t fit the trendiest tops now, know that that’ll probably change again before you know it.

5. They Literally Got in the Way of Breastfeeding

I can thankfully say that my breast augmentation did not keep me from breastfeeding; however, I can definitely say that my larger breasts made it more challenging. When I became pregnant, I quickly realized that what I once thought were my large breasts, were nothing close to what they would become, especially when I began breastfeeding. When my son was born, I learned very quickly that I would only be able to hold him in one position for him to comfortably breastfeed, which was unfortunately not the most comfortable for me. 

Now that I’m done breastfeeding, they’ve not only deflated quite a bit, but they’ve stretched a lot, and it makes bra shopping extremely challenging. My boobs have now become the part of my body that I am most insecure about, which is kind of ironic considering I got breast implants to solve a previous insecurity I once held about my body. 

Closing Thoughts

Now, I want to be clear that I am by no means saying that everyone who has gotten a breast augmentation regrets it or that no one should get one because of my regret. However, these are all factors that I think are worth considering prior to getting one that I don’t think many young women consider. Ultimately, I believe that the most important lesson to be learned is that someone’s reason for getting a breast augmentation, which is a pretty serious surgery nonetheless, should not come from a place of insecurity because it’s not worth the physical risks as well as the emotional ones when that insecurity may come back in a new form. 

I hope this inspires young women to think this decision through more closely than I did before going under the knife, especially if they want to become mothers one day. It’s so important that women know how important their breasts are (they literally nourish life!) and that no matter what size or shape they are, they’re wonderful as is! 

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