Male Breast Implants
The Growing Phenomenon of Male Breast Implants
Although we usually consider this type of cosmetic surgery the province of women, increasingly surgeons are doing male breast implants. The increasing interest of the cosmetic industry in expanding into male markets has lead to (or at least closely followed) an increase in male cosmetic surgery. This increased interest is not, however, the typical reason why men undergo breast enhancement surgery. This surgery is not done to increase the size of a male’s pectorals in order to make him look more muscular or masculine.
So what is the reason behind male breast implants?
Crossing Over
Male breast implants are typically done when a person who was born a male decides that he would rather have been a woman. The gender re-assignment process is a long and difficult one and this is a major milestone in it. This is certainly not a surgery to be taken lightly and it is unlikely that any man would do this on the spur of the moment. (I say this despite the ridiculous articles you may run across on the internet about a man getting male breast implants because he lost a bet.)
Although one might also undergo such a surgery if you work as a cross dresser on stage or for other unusual reasons, the vast majorities of these surgeries occur when someone is undergoing gender reassignment. Although you have probably never heard about this surgery, they have as long a history as female breast enhancement. It is certainly the case, however, that as society becomes more accepting of those men who feel from a very early age that they should have been born female, these surgeries will become both more common and less secretive.
Unlike other types of cosmetic surgery, which are often just done for aesthetic purposes male breast implants usually carry a much deeper significance for those transgender individuals who get them. The gender reassignment process requires a complete re-positioning of the individuals identity both in terms of how they view themselves and in terms of how society views them. So whereas a woman might undergo a breast enlargement and find that there are some minor though significant changes in the way others perceive her, a male undergoing such a change will find changes in how others perceive his/her new identity are far more extreme (often very negatively so).
Male Breast Implantation Surgery
The surgery itself is much like the same surgery done on women with very small breasts. Typically, the silicone breast implants will be rooted to a sub-muscular base since most men don’t really have enough breast tissue to support another option. Although men undergo many of the same health concerns as women do when they undergo breast implantation surgery, men are actually much better suited to the surgery since the lack of mammary tissue means that males are less likely to suffer from the kinds of infections and complications that women are prone to.
This also means that men tend to heal more quickly from this type of surgery. An added benefit for those undergoing the gender reassignment process is that the surgery often creates greater sensitivity in the breast area (especially in the nipples). The physical difference of having the heft and mass of breasts as a constant part of one’s body also makes for a marked difference in the way one orients oneself to the world.
The most important difference however, for the individual who gets male breast implants comes in a psychological form. The feeling of finally getting those symbols of femininity that they always felt should have been theirs but that they were denied by an accident of physiology can be incredibly freeing and empowering for individuals. Often the individual feels truly reborn into a brave new world.