Brought a folder of wish pics and my surgeon said none of them were my body. How are you supposed to describe the look you want?

#1LaurenP83(Joined Jun 2026 · 14 posts)August 9, 2026, 6:22 pm

Second consultation this week and I did what every guide tells you to do. I made a folder. Twelve photos, saved over about eight months, all of results I thought looked incredible.

He went through them one by one, quite kindly, and then said something like: these are all the same woman, and she isn't you. Apparently every single photo I'd chosen was of someone slim with a narrow ribcage and a lot of upper fullness, and I am 5'4" with a broad chest and already have some natural tissue. He said if he built that look on my frame it would either look wide and fake or need an implant that overhangs my footprint.

I've come away not knowing whether I've been given a genuinely useful reality check or whether I've just been managed. And practically: if the photos don't work, what DO you bring? Am I supposed to describe it in words? Because "natural but obviously done" is the best I've got and I know how stupid that sounds.

#2Jade R.(Joined Mar 2025 · 18 posts)August 10, 2026, 7:55 am

"Natural but obviously done" is honestly a better brief than most people manage, it just needs translating.

What worked for me was bringing two folders instead of one. A yes folder and a no folder. The no folder was the more useful of the two by miles, because it's much easier for a surgeon to hear "I don't want that much fullness right at the top" than to guess what you mean by natural. Also bring photos of yourself dressed in clothes you want to fill out differently, that grounds the whole conversation in your actual body rather than a stranger's.

#3EmmaLouise31(Joined Jan 2026 · 22 posts)August 10, 2026, 1:30 pm

Mine asked me to look at his own before-and-afters of women he described as built like me, rather than at anything I'd brought. That reframed it completely, because you can see the starting point as well as the result, which is the whole thing the internet photos hide. You're comparing your before to somebody else's after and no wonder it doesn't compute.

Ask if they have cases with a similar starting chest. If they can't or won't show you any, that in itself tells you something.

#4Claire AshleyAdmin(Joined Aug 2024 · 231 posts)August 11, 2026, 10:16 am

Lauren, I don't think you've been managed. What you've described is close to word for word what a good surgeon should say, and I'd have been relieved to hear it, though I understand it doesn't feel like relief on the day.

The thing that took me longest to accept when I was going through this is that an implant does not replace your body, it sits on top of it. Your ribcage width, how much tissue you already have and where it sits, the position of your nipples, your skin: all of that is still there afterwards and all of it shapes the result. A photo of a narrow-framed woman with a particular upper fullness is a photo of her starting point plus her implant, and you cannot buy the first half.

Practically, what I'd take to the next appointment: your two folders as Jade describes, the no folder especially, a couple of photos of yourself in clothes you want to sit differently, and your honest answer to one question, which is whether you want people to notice. Then let them answer in their vocabulary, in cc and profile and base width, and make them explain what each option would do to your particular chest. The consultation questions guide has the list I wish I'd taken in with me, and the size guide covers why the same number looks so different on different frames.

Wanting a specific look is not vain or silly. It just has to be a look that can be built on you.

#5Natalie88(Joined Nov 2024 · 26 posts)August 12, 2026, 9:04 pm

Slightly different view, and I'll probably be the odd one out here.

My first surgeon did the same thing but with none of the explaining, just "that's not realistic" and moved on. I got a second opinion, and the second surgeon showed me exactly why on my own measurements, offered two options with a trade-off, and I went with her. Same conclusion, entirely different consultation.

So I'd say: a reality check with reasons and photos of comparable starting points is a good surgeon doing their job. A reality check with no explanation is worth testing against another opinion. Lauren, yours sounds like the first sort, but you're allowed to see someone else anyway. It's your chest and your money.

#6LaurenP83(Joined Jun 2026 · 14 posts)August 30, 2026, 4:41 pm

Third appointment done. I built the no folder and it was, as promised, far more useful than the yes one. Turns out most of what I actually objected to was the very round upper part I'd been saving photos of, which we established in about four minutes.

Still not booked. But I'm no longer walking in with a picture of a stranger and hoping.