It’s heartbreaking, but it happens. Sometimes women who have chosen to have breast implant surgery are dissatisfied with the results. Many women decide to go still larger. A small but significant number of women, however, want to reduce the size of their breasts after implant surgery.

Plug the phrase “breast implants too big” into your favourite web browser, and you’ll see listings of thousands of websites, forums, and discussion groups weighing in on this topic.

Before we talk about how to fix the problem, let’s talk about why it happened in the first place.

How Breast Implant Size Mistakes Happen

After living life as a 32AA, it may be hard to imagine what it would be like to a C cup, let alone an E cup. This makes it challenging for women to choose an implant size. Despite looking at lots of pictures, some women can’t imagine how they, themselves, would look with larger breasts.

Some doctors use sizers, bra inserts that can help patients visualise how they would look and feel with implants of various sizes. Others use computer imaging software.

The Visual and Physical Consequences

A 2013 survey by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons found

• 85% of women rated their new breast size “just right”
• 13% would have preferred a larger size
• Less than 2% wanted a smaller size

The percentage of women who feel their implants are too large is modest, but not insignificant, and neither is the discomfort they feel. Breast augmentation surgery gone wrong leaves thousands of women with breasts that look unnatural and unattractive because

• They are too wide for a woman’s frame
• Skin and tissue has become stretched
• Asymmetry has occurred

Overly large implants may be cosmetically unappealing, but the problems go deeper.  Women with breast implants that are too large

• Suffer from shoulder and neck pain
• Have difficulty finding bras and lingerie with supportive straps
• Have trouble working out, jogging, and enjoying sports

Thankfully, unsatisfactory breast implant surgery can be corrected.

The Solution for Breast Implants that Are Too Big

It’s important to give the body time to heal after breast implant surgery. You will need to wait six months to a year before you can assess fully whether or not the implants you and your surgeon have chosen are, in fact, too big. If at that time, you are unhappy with the results, you can have them removed and replaced with smaller implants.

Another solution is to forego implants altogether. After breast implants are removed, you and your surgeon can discuss whether replacing them with smaller ones is the best solution for you.