Hershey's dream is now only a downward glance away. But for millions of women who have naturally large breasts, Hershey's dream is their nightmare.
Kelly, a 29-year-old from Michigan who asked that her last name not be used, says she was miserable before her breast reduction surgery last month. And she was only a 34 DD.
"Every night I was taking three extra-strength Tylenol because my back was hurting so bad, and by the middle of the night I'd be sore again," she recalls. "I wasn't sleeping because I was hurting so badly. And in the morning I had to get two children together and get myself ready for work. And I'd get to work, and by two my back hurt so badly I could barely sit at my desk and work."
That kind of back pain is a common complaint among large-breasted women, says Dr. Andrew Haig, director of the spine program at the University of Michigan. This pain is often the result of sheer gravity.
"A lot of times the pain is in the back of the rib cage and the spine area is because women are trying hard to arch their back so they don't fall forward because of the weight of their breasts," he says.
And while it's common knowledge that oversize breasts can have detrimental effects on the body, Kelly says it was the emotional pain that finally drove her to the plastic surgeon's office.
"Having breasts that size was horribly embarrassing," she says. "I didn't feel good about myself anymore; I was ashamed of myself. I fretted going clothes shopping because I'd go to nice clothing stores and they never carried anything that covered my chest. Many times I would look at my husband and just start crying."
Kelly's story is not an anomaly. She is one of thousands of American women who, for physical or emotional reasons, have had or are considering having their breast size reduced. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeon's 2007 national plastic surgery statistics, there were 106,179 breast-reduction procedures performed last year -- an increase of 25 percent since 2000.
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