Is there any medical reason why I should not wear an underwired bra?sometimes?
The mastectomy ones are horrid & with out under wiring my natural boob looks saggy…thanks for your thoughts ladies!
Amandaxx
I started wearing underwired bras again a month or so after my treatment had finished (chemo & rads), but the end of the wires dug in right where my scar was and after a couple of weeks I had a lot of pain/discomfort there. Obviously I worried a lot, as there had been no pain prior to that and I thought the worse. I arranged for a check-up with my surgeon, which was due the following month anyway and all was fine… so I put it down to the underwear! I stopped wearing them again and have had no recurrence of the soreness… I also removed the wires from some bras, but felt they weren’t as comfortable as ones designed without wires…
I guess it depends where on your body the scars are and if there is going to be extra pressure put on more sensitive areas or not!
AliS
Hi
Would love to wear my lovely collection of underwired bras again but they are just too uncomfortable now. I have a Becker implant which is ok with a sports bra but every time I try my normal bras it is really quite painful. Think I am going to have to get pretty but non underwired ones from now on. Oh and this is over a year on from mastectomy and a few months from the so called final inflation (and deflation)of the becker implant.
Onwards and upwards everyone
Dilys
I don’t know if there is any medical reason not to wear an underwire bra. I have always worn one and continue to wear one. I had a mastectomy in april and while my scar was healing I removed the wire from the one cup which meant I was still supported on the other side. When I got my prosthesis I bought two new underwire bras with a fuller cup than I had previously worn and I feel the wire holds the prosthesis safely in place.
I suppose it depends a lot on what is comfortable for each individual, unless of course there is a medical reason not to wear one. It would be interesting to hear if anyone has been advised against the underwire.
Liz x
I always wear underwired bras now but I didn’t wear them for about two years after surgery. I am now five years after surgery and they are fine. My scar is almost exactly where the wire goes. I did go to rigby and peller the queen’s corsetiere for fitting originally. I wasn’t wearing a bra at all at the time and they looked at me and said I was a 34 B. I’d been wearing 36A so for the first time in my life I started wearing the right size bra. But I think it’s best always to try them on as they vary in shape as do breasts so it’s a good idea to get fitted.
Trinny and susannah had some good tips. You put the bra on, allow your breasts to fall forward into the cups and then stand up straight. If there’s any breast going over the top of the bra it’s too small.
Most people wear the wrong size
Mole
Hi Amanda
I totally agree, for me the mastectomy ones are not me - a bit to frilly and certainly flatten the remaining breast.
So about a month ago, 5 months after surgery I headed for the West End tried M&S but ended up in Primark and came home with 5 padded underwired bras.
I’m a 34A and have always worn ‘balcony’ type bras - so It felt brill to be wearing ‘normal’ ones again.
I gave up on the prosthesis after one go and its sitting in the wardrobe -ahhh. I just put the softie / comfie in the other side and I look like I did before - one happy lady.
M
I didn’t particularly find underwired bras comfy before I had my lumpectomy, but I had some seamless bras by Triumph which had very soft and flexible wiring. I sometimes find with seamed bras that the seam ends up lying on my scar and irritating it. I’m always looking for soft bras that are very supportive (I’m 36c) and find Matalan are very good for everyday and casual. I wear all my underwired and frothy stuff for when I’m well dressed.
I had a WLE and now have lymphoedema in my ‘bad’ breast.
I’ve been given conflicting advice about underwired bras. My breast surgeon and one breast care nurse told me not to wear them because they ‘irritate the breast’. However the lymphoedema nurse told me that this has never been proved and that as long as a bra doesn’t hurt anywhere it is OK to wear underwired bras.
I always wore pretty lacy balcony type underwired bras before I got BC and I really loved them and still feel that I look better in them. So these days I wear non-wired ones for everyday and comfortable underwired ones for best.
Thanks for all your helpful comments! Doesnt seem like there’s a medical reason not too wear underwired so I think I will give one a try & see how I get on!
Thanks eveyone!
Amanda xx
I wore underwired bras from a week after my surgery. I am quite small chested at 34b and find that without the underwire I basically appear to have no boobs.
The only one I’ve not been able to wear since the surgery was one where the wire came high up around the outside of the cup - my scar is horizontal along the top of my boob and into my armpit.