The girls grow up so fast!

March 30, 2018 3:56 AM

Breast development NSFW question, with maybe TMI below the fold.

I'm a trans woman who finally started HRT on Wednesday.

Looking at the cis women in all sides of my family, I knew that I had the genes for significant brest growth, but I also wasn't very sure of what was going to happen once I started HRT because I'm not a teenager anymore.

But later in the day when I had my first shot, my nipples where already very sensitive, and you could have used the left one to cut glass. Yesterday and today they've been feeling like antennas catching some alien signal, and look like red m&m's. Today I swear the left side is already ever so slightly plumpier!

So it looks like they are going to grow pretty quickly, and I'm worried about stretch marks.

People with large breasts who had fast growth, what did you do that worked to reduce or avoid stretch marks? I intend to moisturise, but do you recommend any specific creams?

posted by Promethea to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

When I asked my doctors about stretch marks when I was pregnant (25-30 years ago), they both said that all I could do to avoid stretch marks was to not gain too much weight too fast—and even that was not a guarantee. They were emphatic that nothing applied to the skin could prevent this, although one doc said that some treatments (retinol?) can somewhat lessen the appearance.

(I didn't get them, so I have no experience with the aftercare.)
posted by she's not there at 5:20 AM on March 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

Honestly, I'm not sure that there's anything much you can do. Fast growth generally will lead to stretch marks. Mine have faded over time, FWIW.
posted by peacheater at 5:59 AM on March 30, 2018 [4 favorites]

Stretch mark development also has a genetic component. The only people who will tell you you can prevent or remove them are people who are trying to sell you shit.

It's a great idea to keep your skin moisturized rather than let it get dry, just for general skin reasons and to make it happy during this uncomfortable time. But otherwise, welcome to the wild ride, I promise most of us have stretch marks, nobody gives a shit about them anyway, and if they do they likely aren't worth your time. I hope you get the boobies you want and I hope you enjoy the hell out of them. :)
posted by MiraK at 6:14 AM on March 30, 2018 [30 favorites]

I promise most of us have stretch marks, nobody gives a shit about them anyway, and if they do they likely aren't worth your time.

This.

Stretch marks are like cellulite. Corporations do their best to make us feel bad about it, but most women have it and it's so incredibly normal and not nearly as big a deal as the people trying to profit off of us want us to think it is. I haven't thought about the cellulite omnmy thighs in years, and I've actually grown to like my stretch marks (they're like little tiger stripes, hear me roar). Literally no one has ever made a negative comment about either to me.
posted by Secret Sparrow at 6:32 AM on March 30, 2018 [12 favorites]

Congratulations! I admit I don't know anything about HRT but for cis-women, at least, breasts often fluctuate in size and sensitivity as a result of the usual monthly shifts in hormones. You should talk to people who specifically have experience with HRT but I just wanted to mention it because I don't think that the changes over your first few days necessarily mean you're destined for fast growth/stretch marks.
posted by yeahlikethat at 6:51 AM on March 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

Stretchmarks are just par for the course. Not every woman gets them obviously but they're just... meh, whatever? Vitamin E cream or coconut oil will make it not itch, and the red does fade anyway.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:57 AM on March 30, 2018 [3 favorites]

Burt's Bees Mama Bee belly butter is nice for the itching, but yeah, they'll either appear or they won't, you can't really prevent or reduce them.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:52 AM on March 30, 2018 [3 favorites]

To add to what everyone else has said, if you're white the stretchmarks will fade from reddish to whiteish.
posted by mareli at 8:10 AM on March 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

Midwife here. Congrats on this step! I field lots of questions about breast growth and stretch marks and agree with all above posters that there's a huge genetic component and nothing you can really do to prevent them. Lots of people will use cocoa butter, almond oil, olive oil, and/or Shea butter to help moisturize but there's not any evidence supporting one or the other. I usually tell patients to use what they like, something that smells nice, and makes you feel good about your boobs and your body.
posted by stillmoving at 8:24 AM on March 30, 2018 [4 favorites]

Agreeing with the others above--you can't do anything to prevent or reduce stretch marks with a topical lotion, because it's not just that top layer of dermis that is experiencing distension. They start red, but they will eventually fade to a subtle silvery (+your skin tone) color.
posted by Ink-stained wretch at 9:20 AM on March 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

The only thing that might help is Vitamin E oil to help the skin heal as or of stretch marks develop. Mazel tov.
posted by theora55 at 10:33 AM on March 30, 2018

This is a genetic thing and not a function of using the right creams. You may get some idea of what will happen based on whether you developed stretch marks while growing (buttocks? arms?) and whether your close cis woman relatives have stretch marks. Even that may not be totally helpful as it can vary even in the same family. My skin loves to make stretch marks and my sister's doesn't. Cocoa butter and newer formulations like Bio Oil are both popular, but they don't have much of an effect if your skin just wants to make marks.

The good news is that the marks fade naturally and you can accelerate the fading with some creams (StriVectin was originally marketed as a stretch mark fade cream).

Good Luck!
posted by quince at 2:29 PM on March 30, 2018