Speaking of boobs, what direction do they grow in?

[whowhatwhen]

I'll be honest, they look kinda funny now.
I've been told it's normal for some girls' boobs to point outward but I'd kinda rather they didn't.
If they grow from HRT are they going to continue on their journey outward or migrate toward the center?

[LenGray]

Well, speaking as a GG, it would largely depend on the size. Smaller boobs tend to be very perky and grow outward. Larger boobs tend to droop a little and you have to take a deep breath to reach the same effect(hence why push up bras were invented!) They'll never migrate to the center without a bra though, since cleavage isn't natural. :)

Hope that helped!

[gonegirl]

Thanks Len. Good to know! :^)

[Aprilrain]

You also have to remember that as a genetic male you likely have a wider chest than most genetic females. This is my problem. I can't create cleavage to save my life. With a bra they look great but when I take my bra off they spread out. They are perfectly centered under my nipples though.

[whowhatwhen]

So I guess no one is immune to society's idealized boobs?
:)

[Diana L]

My right one points straight ahead. The left one points a little to the left and is also a little smaller.

[Laurie Ann]

My boobs droop a little but at 62 not bad. I get great cleavage with a good bra w/o a bra my nipples still point out straight but the do tend to move to the sides. I am not sure if that is a trans issue or not.

[LeaP]

Well, speaking as a GG, it would largely depend on the size. ...

That is a factor, but there is an extra consideration (even beyond chest width and proportionality) that pertains directly to trans women.

Trends women's breasts usually don't reach Tanner stages four or five. It's been observed that many trans women have characteristically narrow and pointy, or tubular-shaped breasts. This is popularly believed to relate to starting hormones after adolescence. Turns out that trans women who experience this share something in common with adolescent genetic females who are given high doses of estrogens to stimulate growth. While development can be speeded up, assuming the person has sufficient receptors to process the extra E, it can come at the expense of premature termination of the duct branching and lobing that fill out the breast. If you think of that branching growth of the glandular breast tissue like a tree, it is like the difference between a big bushy tree growing in the middle of the yard versus a tall, narrow tree growing in the forest.

How much is a high dose? As I say so often, got me… and it would depend on the individual anyway.

[LenGray]

You also have to remember that as a genetic male you likely have a wider chest than most genetic females. This is my problem. I can't create cleavage to save my life. With a bra they look great but when I take my bra off they spread out. They are perfectly centered under my nipples though.

If it makes you feel any better, I have the same problem! :) Without a bra, cleavage is VERY hard to pull off, trans or not. I have large breasts naturally but trying to create cleavage without a bra is like trying to hug two bags of jello lol

[sandra-leigh]

My reading has consistently indicated that for transwomen, unless they are quite petite, breasts pointing outwards in a sort of V shape are expected.

The two extreme horizontal anchor points for breasts are a couple inches from the sternum (which runs downward at the center of the chest) on one side, and the line downwards from the middle of the armpit on the other side of the breast. Nipples are in the middle, half-way in-between. But especially with the wider curvature for transwomen, that "half-way" does not occur on the "front" leaving the breast growth mostly pointing frontward: it occurs at what would be judged to be roughly 2/3 of the way from the middle to the side, where equal growth relative to that center places a notable amount on the curve towards the side rather than pointing towards the front. As long as the growth continues to be centered half way between the anchor points, the growth is going to end up pointing V relative to the chest.

I asked a group of plastic surgeons about this, and they said that the V arrangement was completely normal.

[LeaP]

My reference is from "Transsexual And Other Disorders of Gender Identity", published by Radcliffe Press (medical/health publishing group at Oxford press). The author, James Barrett, is (was?) a lead clinician at the Charing Cross Gender Clinic. He refers to the phenomena of small breasts and characteristically shaped breasts of the typical transsexual, describing this as an HRT issue, as well as the chest size/shape/proportionality issue.

I would think "expected" would be a better description than normal. It certainly isn't optimal.

[sandra-leigh]

The plastic surgeons I communicated with on the matter said basically, Yes, that how it is with breasts, they don't really face forward (unless they are small). They weren't talking about HRT, they were talking basic anatomy. I don't remember at the moment whether I had even mentioned being trans in the question.

The plastic surgeons that have given me an (online) opinion on my breasts, based on pictures, have said there is nothing wrong with the positioning of my V breasts, but that I should get a bit of a lift on my left breast. They were, yes, conscious of the fact that more forward-facing is cosmetically "preferred", and said that there was probably a little bit they could do in moving them forward but not much. That was not based upon any "oddities" in my chest: on the contrary it was a reflection that the bone and muscle (and fat) anatomy is like that for most people and there only a little that can be done about it on most people.

I did not discuss possibilities such as rib-cage reshaping; that seems pretty drastic to me.

[Lilo]

LeaP,

I found a similar conclusion in a medical journal article. I posted the dource elsewhere in an E-level thread. They did a simple statistical analysis on T women that request or do not request breast augmentation. They found that the group that were unsatisfied (asked for implants) was statistically more likely to have self-medicated and to slso have much larger E levels. They used the same explanation of growth being faster but also stopping sooner for this group.

[LeaP]

I have had a fight going with myself ever starting HRT. I'm on a low dose regimen under my doctor's care (she's TS). She insists more is NOT better. She also says every last TS patient WANTS higher doses. I'm getting good results, but everything in me, despite the fact that I agree with the wisdom of her approach, wants higher dosages, too! Frustrating.

[StephanieC]

... premature termination of the duct branching and lobing that fill out the breast. If you think of that branching growth of the glandular breast tissue like a tree, it is like the difference between a big bushy tree growing in the middle of the yard versus a tall, narrow tree growing in the forest.

How much is a high dose? As I say so often, got me… and it would depend on the individual anyway.

I didn't know this. I have noticed though that blood supply lines seem to be doing something like this.

-stephani

[vetobob9]

My boobs droop a little but at 62 not bad. I get great cleavage with a good bra w/o a bra my nipples still point out straight but the do tend to move to the sides. I am not sure if that is a trans issue or not.

females at birth have the same issue from what I've read.

Also, cleavage only comes from wearing a bra.

On many fab's the breasts tend to be assymetrical. And they are just as self conscious about as some of the women on this forum are about theirs.

[Nigella]

Sandra and I are almost identical in age, I'm lucky, at least mine will stay north longer :devil:

*Nigella runs and :hiding: *

[melissaK]

Mine grew and were wider set and cleavage-less and everything I read in advance suddenly came back to me with new meaning! Darn - they were right, HT wouldn't make me look like a Playboy model. I'd have cleavage like most genetic women have - little to none.

And with time mine grew more, and they make cleavage with a bra, and I need a bra or running isn't fun, they are there and in the way sometimes, and some button shirts gap and some emphasize my bust line, some don't.

It sets in that I am in the same boat as genetic women, and that realization - that I have a women's upper body with the same issues a genetic woman has, that realization made me so so happy. I mean that is the point of all this - getting a body that matches my feelings about myself. :-)

[Jennaristow]

I unfortunately had a breast bud removed while in the navy on my left breast when I was 20.
Because of this only my right breast is developing. My only option is for breast augmentation for the right side. Hopefully it will look good as I will have no fatty tissue that has developed under that breast.
I had it removed as I had gynomastia and told the doctors it was very tender and Was hurting my job performance.
In reality I was embarrassed by it.
In hindsight, I wish I had done nothing.

[Sandra]

Sandra and I are almost identical in age, I'm lucky, at least mine will stay north longer :devil:

*Nigella runs and :hiding: *

:gg: ..............

[CharleneT]

There are several ways to look at this (pun intended). But I'll wear my old drawing teacher "hat". Okay, so in natal women breast vary a LOT on where they "point" - up - down - to sides - strait forward. But, in general, the most common is for them to point sideways. They tend to make a 90 degree angle, 45 degrees off to the sides (imagine the middle of the arc being the middle of your chest). I spent years trying to get students (mostly the guys) to stop drawing all breast pointing strait forward ! Regardless of what the model looked like, most beginning students draw what the advertising agencies want us to think women look like LOL. Here is a decent explanation, with some drawings:

http://fiasum786.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/how-to-make-female-bodys/

When you have an AM, especially if you are a MTF, things are not going to look quite natural because as April pointed out above: men's chests are shaped differently. If you wear a bra the difference is not all that obvious though.

ps... as they grow things go willy-nilly and at different speeds. One side may grow much faster etc.. patience, it takes a few years for full development

[Laura912]

Having examined over 100,000 breasts, my answer is that they are in all shapes, orientations, variations, and sizes even on the same person.

[annaaustintx]

100,000 variations? Is that all? :) Considering that there are 3.5 billion on this Earth...