Guapura 101: Breast Implants Vs. Your Own Cleavage

This week’s Guapura 101 is inspired in part by an NPR story that came out with some nasty breast implant horror stories today, but also by my own experiences of not having a gigantic bosom. So the first time I was made aware of my “inadequacies” was, surprisingly, by a man. When I was in seventh grade and in band class (clarinet), we were tuning our instruments, my band teacher told me “You’re flat,” to which an eighth grader in the back added, “Yes, you are.”

Of course I was super embarrassed — and not even because of those terrible bangs — but mostly because I had never noticed that I had small breasts until this angsty young man pointed it out to me, in a room full of my hormonal peers, no less. Since, I’ve learned that, I like my body. Plus, as an avid sportswoman, not being terribly well endowed has its advantages — and I am not even going to go on about avoiding mens’ libidinous looks! The gist of it is this: breast implants carry risks that, if you can just be happy with your body, you can totally avoid. The NPR story noted that:

An FDA report, released in late June, says silicone implants are generally safe. But complications from implants are frequent — things like hardening of the skin around the implant; ruptured, wrinkled, or lopsided implants; scarring, pain and infection.

As many as half of patients will need to have additional surgeries or have the implants removed in the first decade.

It also turns out that the longer a woman has the implants, the more likely she is to experience these complications.

All this even as the number of these surgeries is growing, what do you think? Do we all have to look like Salma Hayek to be beautiful, or is it possible to be a beautiful woman without big breasts?

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD