United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

This may seem a terrible thing to think about as vanity goes, and I know the use of the arm is more important, but as a woman self esteem is important ,too.

Michaela has always had some assymetry not just of the arm and shoulder,but also her chest. The pectoral on her left side is alot smaller than the right side. Now that she's had the Mod Quad surgery and the pectoral has been released it won't be excercised at all. so I'm assuming it will be consideralbly smaller as she gets older. As this underlies the breast I'm wondering how this is going to affect her breast size as she matures? This may be a terrible thing for me to think about but I know as a woman it will affect her. My family and my husbands tend to have large breasted women and it may be that if that's the case with her she may want to reduce one side if it's really a problem or augment if that's the case but I'm thinking about back problems. I also know that it is natural to have one side a little smaller than the other but it seems since the pectoral is in the chest wall it woulkd make a bigger difference.

I hoped alot of you older women,who haven't had Mod Quads but still have disuse problems from BPI, could tell me how it has affected you.

It may be something I want to talk to her attorney about,since it may be another related surgery to the BPI that is in her future.

I hope you all don't think I'm too vain for thinking this way, but to a woman these things are important! I got the nerve to ask Dr. Nath about it and he said he didn't know, he hadn't thought of that or followed through, as the function of the arm is most important and I agree.

Guess I'm dwelling too much on the future! Would give a nickel for some of your thoughts!Thanks, LeeAnne

LeeAnne,
This is a really good question and warrants close study. It is not a terrible thing to think about in terms of vanity, it is a very real concern.

I am probably unusual for most of us older obpi because I did have surgery as a child. When I was 11 that included muscle and tendon transfers and releases and at that time both the pectoralis major and the subscapular were released. This is not and was not the same as what is done in the mod quad today, Dr. Nath said when he went in last year to do the mod quad on me that the release I had had was in a different place than what they now do and what I had had done (obviously) was not as effective as where they now do that release. And it was not a full pecs release, i.e. only the pectoralis major was released and now I have had both the p. major and minor released. So that is a long way of saying that what I had was some of what the kids are now going through but not all.

I never noticed a determinable difference in the size of the breasts. I nursed my son for 9 months and had plenty of milk and also never noticed any difference in the amount of milk produced and I had plenty.

It will be interesting to hear what the other older obpi have to say.

Nancy

Well - we did talk to Dr. Nath about it when she was going in for her mod quad and back then he said that the breast on the pectoral release side would be saggy - from day one....he said it was a matter of priorities and we chose arm over breast but I know that we will have some issues to deal with later on because we also have a big busted family. It's sad to know how many things our kids have to deal with and what we have to 'look forward' to as they get older. Quite frankly it just sucks! (excuse my french)

Dr. Nath didn't mention the sagginess to me but nseems logical. Thanks
I'm not really worried about the function of the breast just appearance and back problems. Thanks Nancy for the reassurance. LeeAnne

Francine,
Well what can I say, we sag as we get older anyway and esp. after breast feeding!
Nancy

Nancy, your kidding me! They sag after breast feeding. Say it aint so! LOL Just call me DROOPY!!!!

Just thought I would jump in on this one.

I have never had any surgery and the woman in my family are well developed... I have had a few ob on breast examination comment on the fact that one breast is larger then the other. Yet it is not noticable... If you really check you can see where some muscle is missing but not a problem.
Kath

LeAnn,

I had a breast reduction when I was 18. If you have any questions about it, let me know.

Missy