Why doctors had to cut 3kg off my breasts

degenerative kyphosis, a condition in which a per son’s spine curves forward, forming a hump or hunchback. While kyphosis itself is painful and physically limiting, its progression could further lead to shortness of breath due to lung compression.

Moreover, if the nerves running through the spine become compressed or pinched due to its bending, the nerve signals could get disrupted and cause numbness or weakness in the limbs, problems with the sense of balance and even loss of normal bladder or bowel control Though at first, she wasn’t willing to go under the knife, by 2018 she was tired of her breasts and she was ready for the operation. She tried getting insurance compaies on board, but they couldn’t fund her surgery terming it cosmetic despite that she had a doctor’s request explaining the need for it.

Two years later, she had moved from bra cup size 36F to 36HH or 36J. The pain she was going through made her family look for finances from all corners. Through the help of the Gigantomastia Foundation, her surgery was done in August 2020, and a total of 3.7kgs was removed from her chest. Now, with newfound comfort and confidence, she loves her body and breasts even more.

“I had my surgery on August 23. Aftercare took around three to four weeks and I was okay. The first week I used to go for the dressing twice and after that, once a week,” she says.

Dr Ajujo reveals that despite the condition being a psychologically and physically disabling, it remains undiagnosed in most cases. This is basically because there is still no universal classification or accepted definition for it.

Moreover, often women themselves do not know or acknowledge that they have disproportionately large breasts and, therefore fail to seek medical help.

“This is one of the race conditions affecting more Kenyans than expected. Every week about five patients visit the hospital with gigantomastia. On average we attend to between 20-30 patients in a month,” he says.

And since there is no breast size, which can be considered abnormal, Ajujo says that anyone suffering from constant neck, shoulder, and back pains, bra strap grooving, skin changes or infection below the breast, limitation of physical activities including exercise, difficulty in finding fitting bras and dresses, stigma, and psychological distress including low self-esteem might be having gigantomastia.

Though most doctors tend to see this condition following a family line, it is not inherited. Apart from women it also affects men, with the male version known as gynaecomastia. For men, this happens due to hormonal changes, medication, malignancy, or spontaneous.

“Men have profound psychosocial distress from gynaecomastia with battered selfesteem. Correction on gynaecomastia leads to dramatic changes in the psychological wellbeing of affected patients,” he adds.

And what are some of the challenges patients with this condition face trying to get treatment?