icone implants did. Yet even plastic sur- geons warn that having implants should be fully thought out, and at some point they’ll probably have to come out. “They are manmade devices, and are not intended to be lifelong. At some point, you will probably have to have further surgery,” says Dr. Anureet Bajaj, an Oklahoma City plastic surgeon. Bajaj notes that implants can rupture, forming scar tissue and lending irregular shape to the breast. Often, as a woman ages and her body changes, the larger breasts she chose in her 20s no longer look right and may cause back and shoulder pain. In some cases, implants can also lead to loss of nipple sensitivity. For these and other reasons, 23,774 women—including actress Melis- sa Gilbert and model Victoria Beckham— had their implants removed in 2014, often following up with a breast lift (using their own tissue) to restore their shape. Vaughan sees breast implant re-
moval as a wise and courageous choice to restore optimal breast health. Better yet, don’t get implants in the first place. “There are a lot of other things you can do to improve the appearance of your
This is not about guilt- tripping women into never wearing a bra. It’s about wearing a bra less.
breasts,” she advises. Vaughan recommends breast-perk-
ing exercises like dumbbell bench presses and flys that tone the pectoral muscles beneath the breasts, making them more resilient and look larger. To prevent or reverse sagging, she again urges women to go bra-free. “We have ligaments in the upper outer quadrant of our breasts called Cooper’s ligaments, and they’re responsible for holding our breasts up. Just like your muscles atrophy when you put your arm in a sling, your Cooper’s ligaments atrophy if you wear a bra all the time.”
In one unpublished, yet highly publicized 2013 study, French Exer- cise Physiologist Jean-Denis Rouillon measured the busts of 330 women ages 18 to 35 over a period of 15 years and found those that regularly wore a bra had droopier breasts with lower nipples than those that didn’t. In another, small-
er, Japanese study, researchers found that when women stopped wearing a bra for three months, their breasts perked up. Those worried about stretch marks
also have options. They can be a sign of inadequate copper, which promotes collagen integrity and helps skin stretch without injury, says Steelsmith. If rapid weight gain is occurring due to adoles- cence, pregnancy or for other reasons, try taking copper supplements or applying a topical copper spray on the breasts. Remember to massage your breasts
daily, not only as a “search and destroy mission” for early detection of cancer- ous lumps, says Northrup, but as a way to get waste products flowing out and loving energy flowing in. “It concerns me that women feel pressured to think of their breasts as two potentially pre-malignant lesions sitting on their chests,” Northrup says. “These are organs of nourishment and pleasure for both ourselves and others. We need to remember that, too.”
Lisa Marshall is a freelance health writer in Boulder, CO. Connect at
LisaAnnMarshall.com.
22 Twin Cities Edition
NaturalTwinCities.com
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