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Breast Implant Patients Turning to Smaller Breasts

As perceptions of beauty have changed over time, recently women are choosing smaller breast implants than they previously had.

Celebrities who have downsized in recent years allegedly include Denise Richards, Victoria Beckham, Drew Barrymore, and Jordan. Taken together they represent a trend toward breast implants being smaller than was previously fashionable.

More everyday women are hopping on the bandwagon, tired of having breast implants that are too large for their bodies, according to CBS News health reporter Stephanie Stahl.

What are some reasons that women might be downsizing their breast implants?

• They may not want or need extra attention toward their breasts.
• Misalignment and capsular contracture made the implants look unnatural.
• Women want to look and feel more natural and comfortable.
• Large breasts make it more difficult to exercise or perform other physical activities.
• Overly large breasts have been associated with back problems.

While surgery to reduce implant size involves simply exchanging one implant for another, there’s usually some reconstruction required, since the pocket housing the implant needs to be modified. Risks of the surgery are similar to regular augmentation surgery, but the recovery time is typically shorter.

Harriet Bleiman, a breast implant reduction patient who spoke with CBS, loves her reduced bust size. “I just feel like this is the right proportion for me… I liked them at the beginning, and after a couple of years they felt like two large, standing out, almost cantaloupes, and that made me very uncomfortable.”

Now, Harriet says, it actually feels as if having a smaller breast size has helped everything from her self-confidence to her golf game.