36HH Bra Size and Only 15 Years Old
Author Eileen Nicol of Seattle Woman Magazine published a fascinating article about two young girls and their struggles with large breasts. The article is titled “Too Much of a Good Thing” and was published October of 2006.
Kelly Boganwright
“I didn’t feel comfortable with what I looked like and I think that probably showed in my performance. ”
The first girl, Kelly Boganwright felt that her breasts were too large for her 5-foot-1-inch frame. She was a size 36-DDD and felt uncomfortable around people ever since the seventh grade. I feel like I looked a lot heavier than what I was she said to Eileen Nicol.
Lauren Tyner
The second girl, Lauren Tyner was only 15 when, with her parents’ help, she decided to have breast reduction surgery. She played soccer and rode horses despite the disability of having a bra size of 36-HH.
“I came home crying a couple of times and it was just getting ridiculous to shop.”
After a frustrating day of trying on sports bras at a local store, Lauren’s mother Wendy mentioned breast reduction surgery to her daughter. During winter break of her freshman year at high school, Lauren’s surgeon removed two pounds from each breast. Lauren’s wardrobe has expanded beyond baggy sweatshirts. Lauren finds it easier to train for track and soccer and best of all, she finds plenty of pretty D cup bras to choose from at Victoria’s Secret.
“I call this my big hug operation,” says Dr. Phil Haeck, a plastic surgeon who has practiced in Seattle and Bellevue for more than 20 years. “Because women with large breasts give these little side hugs; they never bear-hug anybody. Afterwards when I walk in the room they give me these huge bear hugs because they can do it finally!”
While Hiddenfeet enjoys helping young girls live with large breasts, there are times when surgery is really the only option for someone like Lauren Tyner. Remember that her size of 36HH is being measured in American bra sizes. This would be the equivalent of 36I in the UK. Thats a lot of weight and size to deal with.
SeattleWoman published another article early this year called When Puberty Starts Early. In the never ending quest to answer the question “Why are younger girls developing breasts?” a recent study shows that Leptin, a hormone secreted from fat cells, is required to initiate puberty. Many doctors now believe that it is a signal that tells the brain the body is large enough and there is enough food – so its time to reproduce. Reproductive glands kick start breast growth as a result.
Update: We will be posting an exclusive interview with brave Laruen Tyner soon. She has contacted us (sending in the required – “I have hiddenfeet” picture) and her emails have answered many of these questions that everyone keeps asking.
All the girls who work on Hiddenfeet.com are very happy to have Lauren helping us share her knowledge with so many of our young readers.
Look for her interview on the front page of hiddenfeet.com soon.
Disclaimer: Portions of this site include links to other sites. These links are provided for the convenience of our readers. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by Hiddenfeet or any of its affiliates. Hiddenfeet is not responsible for the content of external websites.
I found this article rather disturbing. I’m not disputing that having large breasts can make a woman the object of ridicule by the ignorant and the petty but I blanch at the unrestrained gung-ho attitude this article presents towards breast reduction surgery. There is nothing wrong with having large breasts and I think it is a terrible thing that it is treated so. Worse still is the notion that women ought to cave in and have perfectly healthy flesh ripped from their bodies in order to comply with the asinine opinions of the ignorant.
While I certainly sympathize with young women who must endure lecherous stares and mean-spirited teasing, to be perfectly honest, it’s not really any different than the life experiences of any other adolescent. You’re going to be teased and unfairly judged. It’s unfortunate but that’s life. People can be, for lack of a more descriptive term, a-holes and you really can’t escape it. At some point you’re going to have to suck it up and learn to deal.
A true positive body image begins by accepting one’s self, warts and all. By going to such radical measures is to reinforce the very damaging idea that self-esteem is earned through the eyes of others.
Is this what we really want?
I agree with Mark. I am finding more and more children – and I stress children – considering surgery and drug treatment for ailments that I would never have considered when I was growing up.
I am a mother of four. Two girls, two boys. My daughters are large chested like myself, my mother, and her mother. It has always been that way with the Parker genes.
Now I don’t doubt that 36 HH isn’t large. By god it is. But I am finding women my age and even as young as the age of my daughters – 12 and 13 – having various surgeries only because they know someone else who did it. It is almost trendy in the city my family and I reside in.
And if you don’t think breast reduction surgery has its share of complications, ask my sister Jacklyn. She reduced her chest to a small B only to find out that she can never breastfeed her children.
I like visiting Hiddenfeet because Sara understands that breast reductions are not for everyone. Large breasts are not a terrible thing that women should be ashamed of. So what if some men find them attractive. Some men find women’s feet attractive. Should we chop off our feet and walk around on stumps?
Breast reductions should be done for the right reasons. I think this article was poorly written because it doesn’t really show the pro’s and con’s of breast reduction surgery and what life was like for Lauren Tyner. 36 HH is very very large but I do not want girls – whom a reduction might not be appropriate for if they are much smaller – thinking that a reduction is an easy fix to one of life’s social problems.
Yes. Not a good story by Seattle Woman and I am glad we get to talk about it here.
Perhaps Lauren Tyler is being miss quoted and the author of the story Eileen Nicol has her own take on Lauren’s breast reduction. I will side with Lauren and just assume sloppy reporting on the part of Eileen Nicol of Seattle Woman.
Anyone see something wrong with this?
“I can’t even count how many rude comments or times of unwanted attention I’ve gotten because of my breasts.” and “The eye contact people made with her, I was just very much aware of the vulnerability.”
…so after the reduction the author says:
“Best of all, she finds plenty of pretty D cup bras to choose from at Victoria’s Secret.”
So she doesn’t like attention being drawn to her breasts but then decides to shop at a store that markets products around SEX and having men look at your breasts. Don’t get me wrong, I like Victorias Secret products, but when I wear a pushup bra, you won’t see me walking around upset that men are looking at my breasts. Us girls can’t have it both ways.
Jaimee – 19 years old – Connecticut – and a big fan of Hiddenfeet!
I know we are talking on a pro breast website so im sure many of our opinions will be aimed towards keeping gods gifts but I wanted to add my feelings about this article.
I didn’t care for the reporting one bit. Very slanted and one sided. It read like an advertisement for Seattle cosmetic surgery clinics. Not that I like insurance companies but I didn’t like the tone of the article when I read this:
“Insurance companies require a doctor to document that large breasts are causing physical symptoms like back and neck pain, or headaches. Also, they commonly require a patient and her doctor to try alternative treatments like physical therapy for a year or more. And if the patient is overweight by the insurance company’s definition, she must lose a prescribed amount of weight before they will consider covering the surgery.”
#1. The reason insurance companies require proof of ailment is because most women wanting reductions do so for cosmetic or social reasons. That is not something an insurance company should pay for.
#2. Whats wrong with trying an alternative treatment? Physical therapy, strengthening of the abdominal muscles, and proper diet should be encouraged. I work very hard in the gym to maintain my body and strengthen it to support the weight of my chest. Why should my insurance costs (and don’t think these costs won’t be passed down to you) go up because of other women wanting a quick cosmetic fix. Millions of large women do not have back trouble because they take the necessary precautions.
#3. Patients that loose weight will almost always loose breast size as well. The movie My Big Breasts and Me that Sara did an article about proves it.
“Dr. Haeck laments the ridiculous hoops insurance companies make his clients jump through. The amount of money that gets spent trying to avoid the operation is always way more than if they’d just paid for the operation, he says.”
#4. Trusting a doctor poised to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from women fearful of social and cosmetic differences is silly. Of course he wants insurance companies to pay quicker for such procedures. He wants to make more money!
The rest of the so called reporting reads like an advertisement. I am not impressed. Nothing was mentioned about alternatives to surgery. Thanks for posting a link to the story and letting us talk about it Sara!
36DD is fine. 36HH is just silly. Her little body is producing comical proportions…and I mean comical not in a way that makes light of what she is going through, I mean it must make her look like an actual cartoon or something from a male fantasy.
But what fifteen year old girl wants to be a male fantasy? I wanted to talk on the phone and get my nails done every day when I was fifteen.
Mariah from New York
You say that 36HH makes her look like a cartoon or a male fantasy, but only if you see it as such. Someone may also say that 36DD is too big and makes her look comical or a male fantasy. Likewise, I can say that 36HH is fine too. It’s all about the feelings we’re projecting on her with our own subjective beliefs. Her breast size doesn’t make me respect her any less. You also act like breasts that big will only be used and exploited for sex. That’s a fault of our society. If we can step beyond that, we can see the human inside and that whatever she looks like on the outside is part of what makes her special. Can we imagine a reality where a woman with breasts that large can be seen not as a walking pair of tits (by both men AND women) but as a WOMAN who happens to have large breasts.
I encourage anyone who is subject to the stares and hurtful comments of others, or know someone who is, to hold onto this view of the world. Basically that it is normal for women to have really large breasts, but it is NOT normal for people to make these comments or stares. Imagine a reality where women can have really large breasts and NOT endure men’s stares or women’s hateful comments. Look beyond the comments and stares and let yourself thrive.
I agree that the insurance companies are putting these conditions forth to make sure that people think through and are absolutely sure that surgery is the only way out. It’s much too costly in time, money, and most importantly, the woman’s body. That doctor should consider the cons as well as the pros, and not be so slanted to offer one biased viewpoint.
Could not have said it better myself J.
I think we are being a little too harsh on the reporting of Seattle Woman.
The problem with this article is how incomplete it is. Girls who visit Hiddenfeet like myself are large and proud. Girls who get too large and are not able to participate in physical activities should get a reduction once they are old enough.
But the Seattle Woman article doesn’t do an adequate job of portraying both sides of the story. I am not saying that every story has to have both sides, but in the case of this article, I think they should have at least made the reader understand just how troublesome 36 HH can be for a fifteen year old girl. The article shows no pictures of the girl to put her shape and size into perspective, does nothing to mention her inability to execute certain physical activities, and never mentions what the girl has done – if anything – to strengthen her physique. Some young girls might get the wrong idea about reductions because of this lack of information. Just having a bouncy D cup is not justification for a breast reduction.
Had I written the article I would have done an in-depth comparison between a large chested girl like myself – D cup – and a girl who could be considered overly large – like HH cup. Then the reader would be able to understand the difference. There is large – and there is – unable to do anything large. Men often cry foul when they read about reductions because of incomplete articles like this one. They are never presented the facts about what HH cup size can mean for day to day life. The Seattle Woman article focus on social complaints from the young girl.
Lets be honest, men will look at any cleavage despite the size of the accompanying breasts. There are girls I work with that get all the eyes of our male coworkers because of how much cleavage they show – even though their breasts are many cup sizes smaller than my breasts. Girls have a lot more control over social situations than they think.
When I read the Seattle Woman Magazine article I expected to find Hiddenfeet readers over-reacting to what they were talking about. I am not large chested, my sister is. So I guess I can read this article with a somewhat difference set of eyes compared to a regular Hiddenfeet reader.
…and you know what? I again agree with the Hiddenfeet reader comments above.
After reading the Too Much of a Good Thing article, I read the When Puberty Starts Early article. This article starts off great, then begins to push the dangerous TooSoon.com website and its hormone blocking drugs.
Have you considered contacting Seattle Woman Magazine Sara? You could conduct an interview with some of their writers. Perhaps they could do a story about your website since Hiddenfeet presents a different more inspiring viewpoint of women’s breasts and the social issues related to them.
Is it possible that the website article is a shortened version of the print article? Torree22 might be correct about her observation. The article seems incomplete.
Sara can you confirm this since you live in Seattle and can get the magazine? I have requested the issue but I have not received a response from Seattle Woman Magazine.
36HH would be a medical case of VBH right? Is it possible for a girl that age to have grown that large without VBH?
Sara why did seattle woman not mention VBH?
Since the article came out in October of 2006 it may a bit hard to find. I’ll check with a few libraries this weekend. And yes, we have discussed contacting them. We’ll keep you posted.
It’s not VBH just because she has big breasts. There are a lot more symptoms and tests to determine that.
The other thing we do not know is how much Lauren Tyner weighs and how tall she is. But 36-HH would still be large even if she was two hundred lbs. Have other websites ever done coverage of Lauren and her troubles? Seattle Woman the only one?
Well, we are all happy she had a successful reduction. That size for a girl that young is no fun. When you are large, breast movement and how much your chest sways from side to side as you walk can be immensely awkward. During my pregnancy my breasts swelled up to a hefty 36E. They were always in the way.
I pray that other girls can avoid going through what Lauren Tyner experienced.
I am glad the article mentions she is doing better. :)
As long as we are supporting a reduction and not drugs like that Lupron drug – I am happy. The beauty of a reduction is that even in cases of VBH, rarely does breast tissue grow back. Its like a signal to a girls body saying “Hey you better stop doing that.”
But drugs like what TooSoon.com is selling – God no! Part of growing up is being different and learning to take pride in our differences. There will always be someone shorter, someone taller, thinner, or heavier. Thats what makes puberty so amazing. Kids grow and change at different rates.
My breasts grew from nothing to their full D size from when I was thirteen to almost fourteen. My mother says it was about eight total months but I still recall grow for the last few. So I essentially went from no chest to big chest in one year. And that was it. Never grew, never shrunk, and I am the same size now. I am twenty-two years old.
Some of my friends grew breasts well into their late teens while others never grew anything at all. I know many large pharmaceutical companies would want every girl I knew including myself to be hooked on some wacky hormone drug but I just don’t agree. People grow differently. Its often strange and embarrassing but it builds strength and character.
A reduction when you are 36 HH and fifteen years old – sure. Drugs because your breasts grow large – no way!
Patricia Noble
I have read the articles regarding a size 36hh bra size and just wanted to express my feelings. I have a 36H chest and hate it. I am an average dress size and 5 ft 8 inches tall. I have been the same size since I was 17 – I am 32 now. Bizarrely my breasts didn’t increase in size when I was pregnant – or may be I should say fortunately.
I have considered breast reduction surgery – in fact it was my quest for more information about breast reduction surgery that lead me to this site. My concern is the loss of nipple sensation – may be not a very PC subject but it is very real to a lot of people. I agree that 15 is a little young to know you are going to feel this way when you get older. However I feel you would need to walk a day in my shoes to understand how my breasts make me feel and for that reason I prefer not to judge.
I am scared to have surgery in case I regret it and so I continue to live unhappily – with grooves in my shoulders and back ache. I think far too often we are flippant about people’s problems – me included – I always think a woman with small breasts has no room for complaint, but I know I am wrong!
I grew slowly so it mattered little to my parents but for Lauren Tyner her ma and pa must have spent a fortune on bras! At the rate she was developing she would have needed a new bra every week. Buying new bras would have cost more than the surgery!
Anyone know how much her surgery cost? Does it cost more to remove more? And why costs vary among doctors?
I know that 36HH is a very large size however Lauren was exceedingly young when she decided to have breast reduction surgery. This means that within the future she will not be able to breast feed her children and she might regret this in later life. The majority of teenage girls that are considering breast reduction surgery and read this article would have not be warned of any of the health hazards and the dangers of breast reduction surgery and will probably think it’s a better idea because it worked out for lauren. People need to read about both the pros and cons of breast reduction surgery before considering it.
Hugging my friends with large breasts is uncomfortable for me. The big hug operation term is appropriate. I always find myself leaning in and doing simple arm-only hugs to friends and family.
I guess it does not matter is someone I know feels my boobs. The world won’t come to an end.
:)
Although this was probably an uncomfortable situation for Lauren, I would agree with several others who have posted and say that having BR surgery at this young of an age is not recommended. There are just so many additional factors that can have an impact later in life that this is the type of surgery that would be better if left until the girl has matured and has allowed her inner-self to catch up(so to speak) with her body and then make her decision.
I have no breasts to speak of – my sister does – nature is wacky! – but I think Lauren might have had a case of VBH. That much size at fifteen is abnormal. Its great that her surgery was successful.
There are times I envy my sisters size. She looks like a knockout in some of her clothes. But there are times I am glad my chest is flat. Like when I play softball.
We love your website Sara! God Bless!
Double H is pretty big for a little girl. The unwanted attention of men might be enough to consider a reduction. Someone above said that a BR surgery is not an end all for society’s ails, and that’s true. Jerks abound. But she’ll only be fifteen for a little while and it would be no fun to spend all of her time and energy trying to hide her boobs from guys. No matter how much men try not to look at them on the street it still happens. The girls know this because they always come across men who behave like jerks. It starts at a young age with girls that are young and overdeveloped being told by parents that men will treat them unfairly. Not all men behave poorly around large breasted girls with the intent to harm them.
It is great that Lauren finds it easier to train for track and soccer now. Sports are no fun with boobs getting in the way.
The article mentions that Lauren’s mother Wendy Tyner had been big-breasted herself. “Had been big-breasted?” Did Wendy get a reduction herself?
Genetics have to play a small part in all this “boob hand me down” stuff girls get from their mothers.
They also say that Lauren started maturing in the fourth grade! WOW!
It’s weird our society keeps pushing up the age of adulthood. In my mind 15 isn’t really that young back in the days of ships and such most kids were going out and starting their careers at 12. Some people even got married that young. But that’s beside the point, if she wants a breast reduction then that’s her choice. I prefer larger breasts on women, but that’s me and not everyone can accept that. But meh, but their is a girl i know from highschool who has 32j’s currently and when i met her in grade 10 had 32h’s, so in my mind if it wasn’t for modern surgery she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
The part about why are younger girls developing breasts had some good information. Not sure I agree with SeattleWoman linking to a drug company website without a disclaimer but the tips about talking with your daughter about sexual development is noteworthy.
* Give information appropriate for your daughter’s age level, so that it’s not scary to her. Emphasize that the changes are a natural, good thing. Give concrete, honest answers to questions.
This seems like what Hiddenfeet promotes. Breasts and their development should not be intimidating for girls. I remember having way too many other things on my mind to worry about breasts. Large breasts are a good thing that should be embraced by parents. A negative attitude towards big breasts will only hurt a girls self confidence.
* Start early and keep up a constant dialogue with your daughter about her body changes, rather than having one big “sex talk.” She will be listening, even if it looks as though she isn’t.
The one big “sex talk” is scary for kids. My dad did it with me and it was weird. I turned out fine but im sure it would have been better had he and my mother made the effort to slowly talk to me about breasts and sex throughout my teenage years.
* Make teachers and school officials aware that your daughter is developing early. The school nurse may be able to talk to elementary school classes.
Good advise but honestly how many parents even talk to their school officials about “anything” let alone sexual development?
* Help your daughter find the right clothes, including the comfort and support of a sports bra, if necessary.
This one my parents did a good job at. All my sports bras fit well and I was always getting new ones as I grew in cup sizes.
Vicky
Breast reductions can be a necessity for some girls. I never had the surgery – and never will, but DD is nothing like what these girls experience. Lauren Tyner might have grown as large as this woman:
32F-sized Joy Thomas says she’d give anything to say farewell to her sizeable chest in this article.
Her breasts are 32F and regardless of my healthy diet and regular exercise they stubbornly refuse to get smaller. At school she was nicknamed Joy Jugs and Beth Big Tits. As a lifeguard in Cardiff in her 20s the “built-in floats” jokes were annoying.
Before having children she was a relatively modest 32D. During pregnancy the biggest increase in breast size occured in the first three months and by the end of her pregnancy her boobs were engorged with milk and an enormous 32F. The final slap in the face came when Joy says her soft squishy breasts became engorged with milk and were hard and solid.
Dolly Doctor talks about the same thing with another young girl.
I like how she says that it is much more important that girls feel happy and good about their body and look after it properly.
Two pounds from each breast is nothing to ignore. Lauren Tyner must have needed this reduction. I am a D but have nothing but respect for any girl who struggles with HH sized boobs. Especially at 15 years old. I love my boobs but always wish they served a purpose. And no, being a man magnet doesn’t count.
Developing boobs can be scary. I worried I wouldn’t get them and there were girls who developed before me…this only made my anxiety worse. The mystery of our bodies is that we all grow at different times in different areas. My feet grew first and I surely didn’t have hiddenfeet in grade school. But having big feet didn’t mean getting as much attention as having big boobs or no boobs.
When my boobs did start to grow I worried they wouldn’t stop and I would be freakish and girls would tease me. My growth was steady and even during my final years of highschool I was buying new bras. If my boobs had been supersized during grade-school or when I was fifteen I would have hated my body. I was lucky the growth was slow.
I think the research that found that girls who were overweight at early ages began puberty earlier is correct. There were girls in my school who lived in a family of heavy eaters that would always grow breasts before everyone else. A good portion of our breasts is just fat. Nothing magical about that. Fat food creates fat boobs and other fat body parts. Girls who are heavy and big chested don’t get the same attention that thin big chested girls do however.
I was friends with a girl who was a DD cup in the fifth grade but was only ninety-five pounds. She was the envy of all the other girls. Everyone wanted to know what she was eating that made her boobs grow. Her mother was big chested and I think I remember her saying that her grandmother was also. Genetics gave her that chest.
When we graduated high school she took a job overseas and last I heard she is still reduction-free. I guess she could handle the attention as if it was no big deal. My chest, a Dcup, was stress free for me as well. I know that some girls can’t handle social pressure. Everyone is different. I think that where girls grow up does have a lot of impact on our lives. Many areas of the US are more relaxed about girl’s bodies.
I see there are opinions on both sides of the debate here. I like what Mark said. It was well written and I agree with it. I saw an article on the internet somewhere saying something like being voluptuous is the new black. I didn’t get to read it, but I think it means that women with large breasts are treated in ways similar to how black people were treated long ago in the sense that they face pressures to conform to society by reducing their breasts or being ridiculed or envied or ogled. It seems they have no one to turn to in that even doctors will tell them that breasts as large as those have no function and treat them like abnormalities. But the healthy human body is not abnormal. It’s beautiful. You don’t need it to have a purpose in order to love it. Would you love your dog only insofar as it does your chores and pays your bills? No, you’d just love it because it keeps you company.
One person said that being a man magnet does not count as a function of having large breasts. But I would disagree. Human males are given sex drives that allow them to continue the human race. However, it is totally inappropriate for them to fondle, grope, and ogle a woman without her consent. We men all have these desires. It’s what we do with them that separates the normal people from the perverts. I would argue that, disregarding the (seemingly ubiquitous) perverts, it might be a positive thing if your one special guy reacts so enthusiastically to your body. As a side note, it seems as though we’re all just assuming these issues to be part of every busty woman’s reality. The stares, the ridicule and jealousy, etc. Rather than thinking about those problems, perhaps you could envision a new scenario. One day you will meet your Prince Charming, who will love you and respect you just the way you are – which includes the breasts that God gave you – and you may soon come to realize in the sanctity of your own body. And you may also see that most men out there (at least where I am) aren’t so bad after all.
I think that the current reality that surrounds large breasted women is just that – the CURRENT reality. And it isn’t even every woman’s experience. It depends on the person and where she grows up. I believe that in time, society will come to accept them as normal and natural, and they will be more tolerant towards them. In the meantime, you have to be raised with an undying love and appreciation for your own body so that you can resist societal pressures to get you reduced. They can’t get inside your head unless you let them.
J, I can almost guarantee that’s not what they meant by “the new black.” Calling something “the new black” is a cliche expression (read about its history here) that refers to something coming into fashion or popularity. It was originally “white is the new black”, meaning that at that time, white was becoming as popular in wardrobe as black had been.
Sorry for that off-topic digression, I just wanted to correct that.
It’s interesting and gratifying to see so many people sharing their opinions and experiences on this subject. Although I respect all of the opinions that have been expressed, I do think that anyone who has not lived with having excessively large breasts on an otherwise normal body size cannot understand, and should not criticize anyone who chooses reduction surgery.
My breasts started developing my Sophmore year of highschool and by my Junior year I was already a D cup. I weighed 115 all through highschool and was 5′7. I always felt overly chesty, awkward and self-conscious about my chest size. Today I weigh more (150)and my breasts are now a DDDD or F cup.
I hate, hate, hate shopping, especially swimsuit shopping. I cannot find a button-down shirt that is large enough to actually button without straining in the chest area, unless it is so big that I look like I’m wearing a tent. All of the fashions right now are the baby doll style or empire waist which are just a big joke as the line that is supposed to go UNDER the breast cuts right across the middle of mine. I have left the store in tears many times after a frustrating attempt to find anything that would fit and look nice. I have to order super-expensive bras through mail order as the stores don’t carry my size, and I have to custom order my swimwear as it’s not even remotely possible to find my size in a store.
I have been considering surgery for the longest time, but am scared to death to “go under the knife”. I hope I can eventually make my mind up to do it, and wish like crazy that I had just had the surgery years ago. For me, this issue isn’t a bit about conforming to other people’s idea of ‘normal’, but rather the wish to NOT look and feel like a freak.
Like Kristi I can’t stand tops that cut under the boobs and across my middle section. They are designed to make B-cup girls look like C and C’s look like D’s. But if your DD like me…you might as well wear a bullseye on your chest.
I read comments here from girls and I think Sara has said it herself, we just need to forget about how big we look and just deal with the attention it brings. Most reasonable girls will understand that we don’t wear clothing to always show off…and those that don’t…let them think what they want. Not worth my time.
Happy holidays Sara!
Mark-
Your arguments are clearly logically false. The whole everyone has problems as an adolescent argument is frankly just disgusting and self-defeating. If this is true, then Lauren and others with large breasts automatically have all of the pressures of adolescence PLUS problems with self-esteem, harassment, etc. Moreover this type of thinking is unhealthy for youth. “Oh Jimmy, the kids are picking on you because you’re gay? Just deal with it! Everyone gets bullied!”
Ok, on top of that the article talks about how Lauren has to deal with the extra weight and medical problems inherent within that.
Moreover, Mark, do you really know what it’s like to be a girl? You can really say that being harassed, stared at, and essentially dehumanized because of your breasts is similar to the pressures that male adolescents face in high school? Because you’ve lived it, right? No Mark, you have not. There is a difference between “warts” and having to deal with sexual embarrassment and harassment at the age of 15.
At Samantha- Lauren being able to shop at Victoria’s Secret doesn’t sexualize her, it allows her to be normal. Yes, Victoria’s Secret uses somewhat sexually suggestive advertisements (it is a lingerie company), but it does not sell exclusively sexual attire. Moreover Lauren should be able to buy whatever the hell she wants, as sexy as it may be, just like every other american teenage girl. This surgery was an attempt to normalize someone who has faced unfair adversity because of something they can’t control.
It is extremely easy to judge from alternate perspectives, but it is also extremely rude to criticize a procedure that makes a positive change in someone’s life, and like any other medical procedure is extremely necessary.
If these were breast augmentation surgeries, maybe your rudeness would have some merit. But they’re not. Don’t be so quick to judge, especially when demeaning and criticizing the actions of a minor, and especially in a public forum. come on.
“There is a difference between “warts” and having to deal with sexual embarrassment and harassment at the age of 15. ”
Well I don’t agree with everything you said Lizzie, but I guess you are right about this part. It is tough get an idea of the sexual harrassment she got before the reduction becuase I can’t grasp just how large she was “before.”
I posted my comment on hiddenfeet because my sister – I sent Sara who runs this website a picture – gets teased for not getting a reduction during highschool. I guess I am just somewhat protective of her decision and want to make sure that other girls understand that sometimes big boobs dont require a reduction like what Lauren did. My sister is 108lbs and DD. Big enough for everyone to notice her in all the outfits she wears. Sure I would rather men never notice my sister but her choice to keep her size is something I stand by. Just like I am sure Larens parents and family stood by her choice to reduce her size.
But in the end, Lauren was MUCH larger than my sis so I guess I should have worded my comment better to avoid confusion.
Mark and Lizzie, thanks for your comments. Laren’s abnormal size is very difficult for people to understand because the Seattle weekly article didn’t show any pictures of her before the opperation. Everyone just needs to remember that there is a big difference between HH and DD.
Yes, our website was created to inspire girls who keep their size and are happy with it, but HH is very very large. All us girls at hiddenfeet.com have tremendous respect for Lauren and are glad she was brave enough to share her story with Seattle Weekly.
Lauren Tyner might have gone through what my daughter is going through right now. I am somewhat on the fence about getting my daughter a reduction now that it seems like she is outgrowing her Dcup bras and getting ready for Ecups. She plays volleyball and softball and she tells me this is what is giving her the most trouble. Her classmates don’t trouble her much right now but she is starting high school next year and that might be different.
I have read this before on your website Sara that there are large chested girls who are placed in the back when class photos are taken of them. This did happen quite a few times with my daughter and I don’t think it was a coincidence. But I guess there are worse things she needs to worry about.
My daughter is not dating yet but I am sure that will bring up a new set of problems though I am confident that she will be able to find love and happieness that doesn’t involve her breasts. I have been talking with her every week about her chest and how it influences the people around her. Self-awareness is the key to raising girls with big breasts. I am not talking about being paranoid all the time….just being able to understand social situations and people’s responses to things they don’t understand.
If we can avoid a reduction for her we will, but only time will tell.
Happy new year to everyone at hiddenfeet.com! Keep it up!
Thanks,
Cathy
During my High School years I had a girlfriend with VBH. We started dating during our senior year and then I found out what it is like to be a female with this condition. Although we parted after college we still are very close friends. She is currently a 38 M and still is reluctant to take advantage of any surgery options. I have been trying to convince her for years without any luck. I really want her to be a normal person. She is so used to the way that her size altered her lifestyle for years that she not willing to do anything to change it(she turned into a complete couch potatoe).
If anyone has any useful advice, please shoot. Thanks.
Jacob these reduction choices are always tough to make. Nobody can really “help” someone decide how to alter their body through surgery. In my opinion you should just leave it up to her. Remember that a size of 38 M indicates other health problems besides VBH.
It seems like we all agree that Lauren made the right choice. Sara, you posted that you were going to look for the actual Seattle Weekly print article. Were you able to find it? Is what they have on their website the complete article?
If she was growing that large at so young an age, isn’t this an example of VBH?
Gotta be tough at that age to go through that. I feel for Lauren. I really do.
Everything went well for her right? She is ok now?
We will be posting an exclusive interview with brave Laruen Tyner soon. She has contacted us (sending in the required – “I have hiddenfeet” picture) and her emails have answered many of these questions that everyone keeps asking.
All the girls who work on Hiddenfeet.com are very happy to have Lauren helping us share her knowledge with so many of our young readers.
Look for her interview on the front page of hiddenfeet.com soon.
Thank you Sara. I am just worried about her, since her current mental state isn’t helping her physical health either. Thanks again.
It is great to read that you care about her Jacob. Best wishes to both of you!
I remember maturing in the fourth grade just like Lauren. I was lucky and stopped growing shortly after. Lauren and her family were smart to be open with friends, family and coaches about her surgery.
I am glad that when Lauren went back to school, there were very few people giving her a hard time. This gives me hope for today’s youth to read that her reduction was accepted by her classmates.
So we have determined that Lauren did not have Virginal Breast Hypertrophy?
Megan, we will have our interview with Lauren comming up soon. She has answered this question and more!
I wish people would stop attributing large breasts to disease. I also wish they’d stop suggesting breast reductions like as if they were a panacea to all a woman’s ills. Sometimes some of us just get big ‘uns! I went from a 34E to a 36J (M in the USA) over a period of 10 years of so.
I’ve considered a reduction several times, but when when I look at websites it just never seems appealing. I calculated that I could get 10 new $50 bras a year for 20 years for the cost of a reduction.
I’ve also noticed that people don’t have a good grasp on how various sized breasts actually look. To some 36M may bring to mind those fitness balls you do crunches on at the gym! The reality is much less extraordinary. They are large yes, but I’m quite sure I’m not affecting the tides… yet : ).
I look and dress a lot better now than when I was a “minute” E cup. I learned to dress myself, which all people should do. Men leer at me with various degrees of subtlety, and sometimes women give me dirty looks for existing, but I don’t have the problem they do!
In my 31 “long” years on this planet I’ve played sports, took dance classes, worked out, and now play roller derby. Having a full chest does not prevent one having a full life.
3 Big Rac Attack – JSRG
In response to Mariah from New York who said:
I don’t think anyone would appreciate being compared to an exaggerated, sexualised cartoon, and what’s more, your statement: “But what fifteen year old girl wants to be a male fantasy?” reinforces the abhorrent idea that girls and women are somehow responsible for the way that men treat them, and implies that if such a girl chose not to have a breast reduction, she must want to be a male fantasy. It seems as if girls who choose not to reduce their naturally large breasts are treated in exactly the same way as girls who dream of having gigantic breast implants.
Zoe – “It seems as if girls who choose not to reduce their naturally large breasts are treated in exactly the same way as girls who dream of having gigantic breast implants.”
Reading through all these comments and to come across this last one – Talk about hitting the nail on the head! Zoe typed my thoughts exactly!
Bravo!
My name is Molly Bocek, and I have been reading the stories and posts here for a little while now, and it is SO nice to hear all these wonderfull people say such welcoming things about girls, like me, who have breasts that are just too big. DDD breasts at just 5′, or HH breasts at only 15 years old. It really does make life just that much easier when girls like us have been living with shallow, ignorant, down right gross people.
Now, I say girls like us because I am a woman, 22 years old, and I have overly-large boobs too. Just like Kelly and Lauren, I started developing too early. At around age seven, the beginning of 1st grade. No one in my family knew that I had a problem, just thought I was developing early. It was never thought twice about. Untill I was in third grade, and was already up to a DD breast and just gettin bigger. When my Mom took me to a doctor to find out if I had a problem, she just told us that I was developing normaly for me. My Mom was a naturaly very busty woman, with an F cup, so my doctor just figured I was on my natural course. Told us not to worry, and it would slow down in time.
Fourth, fifth, sixth grade all passed, and I just kept on getting bigger. I had passed my Mom in size around the middle of 5th grade. Beginning of my 6th grade year was interesting. I had three seperate growth-spurts all about a month apart. When the first one hit, I grew from a FF cup to a G. That one took a little over a week. The second one, I went to an H cup in about a week and a half. The third spurt was the largest. It took me one week to reach an II cup ( that’s an i ). Those three months were the most painfull points of my elementery school history.
When Middle School started for me, that’s when the harrassment came. Unlike all you wonderfull people, I was constantly surrounded by people that would put me down about my size. It was also this time that my Mom and I returned to the Doctor to get a better explination for all of this. We had a different doctor, a more experianced one, that had diagnosed me with extreme Virginal Breast Hypertrophy. I was told this would follow me for my life, But was treatable. It required many surgeries, and lots of money. My mother wanted me to do it, but being strong with my faith, I figured God made me this way for a reason. So I denied the surgery.
I graduated Middle School with my pair of L cup breasts. I graduated at 14 years old, and was only 4′10″. The teasing only got worse in High School, as my breasts got bigger. I averaged two whole cup sizes per year. Freshman year I was an MM cup, sophomore year I was an N, junior year, O cup, senior year, P cup. I graduated at 18 years old like the rest of my class. But I was still rather short, comparitivly. I was only 5′5″.
I moved out when I graduated, and went to CCC, Centralia Community Collage, in Centraila Wa. I did my two years there, and becane a dental assistant at 20.
That was two years ago now. I’m happily married to a man that sees right through my breasts, which are now at a VV cup. But my Hubby, Jaxon, makes me feel good about my breasts. He was the first man I ever got close to, and the last!
Growing up, I wasn’t lucky to be surrounded by people like you; Instead, I was around people that abused me and put me down. But if any young girls are reading this, please listen. Just because you have karger breasts, that will never make you ugly. Everything about you is a gift from God, and should be treated as such. Someday, you all will find a person that loves you for you. Whether that’s a husband, or just some really good friends. My point is that as people grow up, they will mature and see things in a different light. Learn to love your body, it’s yours, no one else’s. Don’t let wnyone tell you what you should look like. Ever
*Molly*
well congrats on finding a man that sees through your breasts I am sure that you have a brilliant mind and an awesome personality
Isn’t it a problem to have DD breast at nine? I’m no expert; didn’t Molly’s mom suspect something the first time they went to the doctor? DD cup size at nine!!? Can someone please tell me it’s always a problem to have such big breast that young.
Everyone develops different. I don’t think its a ‘problem’ that a girl at 9 is a DD, i think the problem comes from her being different than her peers. As such, she gets picked on, teased, harassed, and generally made to feel badly about herself for being different. Its a downright shame. We are supposed to be an accepting country, THE melting pot of the world, where everyone is welcome regardless of age, nationality, etc, and just cuz you have big boobs, (or lack thereof i would imagine) you get treated like an outcast. This country really makes me sick sometimes.
The US is not the only country with this type of problem Tony. Even Canada shows signs of big breast discrimination. I knew girls growing up who were never given the time of day by teachers during school because they developed large breasts. And when teachers grade on a curve (no pun intended) it doesn’t always turn out well for busty young girls.
Well I have 36HH breasts and I can’t afford a breast reduction. I am 5′3. It’s ridiculous. I’m 15 too!
hang in there you found an awesome community for hiddenfeet no pun intended hopefully your done growing and if not embrace your beauty I wish people would take into consideration on other people’s feelings stay strong
I am a certified bra fitter and I see this daily. The other day a 12 year old girl came in and she was I30. Luckily there are real cute bra’s now in all sizes. I understand that when you are younger it is harder for you. Hang in there you aren’t alone. Out average size these days is an F34 however today we couldn’t fit someone as the N36 was still to small. There is always someone who is worse off then you.
I don’t know what these girls are complaining about? With tits like that, every guy in school will be lining up.
Bear in mind, not every girl wants to be the center of attention. Especially if the guys paying attention to her only care about her body. At my school, I knew a girl who was always asked out by guys because of her breasts. She had problems finding a guy who would appreciate her for her mind.