When Chloe Rykers shared that she was going to have a breast reduction at 23 years old, she was surprised by some responses.<\/p>\n
“Lots of people said, ‘do you think men will still find you attractive?’ There was a lot of comments around ‘will you still look feminine?'”<\/p>\n
“[Or] people said that you should wait until post children because they’re only going to grow back and don’t waste your money beforehand.”<\/p>\n
Having the surgery was something she had thought about and questioned for a long time. But she says it was ultimately about “the quality of life” she wanted.<\/p>\n
Chloe, who lives and works on the Gold Coast\/Yugambeh language region, “fell in love with health and fitness” and became a personal trainer two years ago.<\/p>\n
She says her “big boobs” have, in various ways, made her career harder and left her feeling uncomfortable and in pain.<\/p>\n
Chloe had surgery in February reducing her breast size from an F cup to about a C or D, and spoke with us about her decision and the impact it has had.<\/p>\n
These are her words.<\/p>\n
‘Something I always wanted’<\/p>\n
A breast reduction was something I’ve wanted from probably about the age of 15.<\/p>\n
I didn’t do a lot of sport or gym or anything like that growing up because I was quite self-conscious and it sort of held me back. I had really big breasts.<\/p>\n
As an 18-year-old I was working in the beauty industry. It meant I was hunched forward for long hours doing eyelashes, eyebrows and stuff like that.<\/p>\n
It caused me a lot of back pain and I had a doctor, and a chiropractor give me a referral to a surgical clinic.<\/p>\n
I started that journey, but I didn’t really keep going through with it because it was such a big fee. It wasn’t something I was able to pay.<\/p>\n
But last year [when I was training for a marathon] it started to really upset me. Being so active was causing me a lot of pain. It took a big toll on my confidence.<\/p>\n
I followed a girl on social media who had a [breast reduction] and I got to watch what she went through step by step to have the procedure done.<\/p>\n
She was also young, and it gave me a lot of validation. She was someone I reached out to to talk about her breast reduction.<\/p>\n
That’s how I got into pursuing the surgery and why I decided to share it [on social media] myself.<\/p>\n
I needed to find [someone sharing their journey] to understand the process. If I could do that for somebody else, then that was really cool.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Chloe Rykers says she felt uncomfortable in her clothing before surgery.\u00a0 (Supplied: Chloe Rykers\u00a0)<\/p>\n
‘I questioned whether I was doing the right thing’<\/p>\n
I got a recommendation for a surgeon from somebody on a Facebook support group I joined. I had to go to the doctor to get a referral beforehand.<\/p>\n