Unusual Breast Development?

[emeraldmountain2]

I've heard that for people on feminizing HRT the breasts can grow in less than usual shapes as compared to cis women, like a tubular shape, for example. Has anyone experienced this and if so, is there any treatment for it (besides augmentation) or ways to prevent it? I've heard progesterone helps to round out the breast? Thanks.

[KathyLauren]

I have not heard of this.  Mine are "heterogeneously dense", meaning that the density is inconsistent.  I have no idea how common this is among trans women.  I believe it is common with small breasts and many, perhaps most, of us have small breasts.  It means that I need a mammogram every year, since it makes lumps harder to spot.

 

I too had heard that progesterone helps with breast development.  However I tried it for a year and it did precisely nothing.

[emeraldmountain2]

Thank you @KathyLauren

[AllieJ]

53 minutes ago, emeraldmountain2 said:

I've heard that for people on feminizing HRT the breasts can grow in less than usual shapes as compared to cis women, like a tubular shape, for example. Has anyone experienced this and if so, is there any treatment for it (besides augmentation) or ways to prevent it? I've heard progesterone helps to round out the breast? Thanks.

 

Tubular breasts are very common in trans women, and not unusual in cis women. Progesterone is usually prescribed to remedy this, although it is not a recognised treatment, it has some anecdotal evidence supporting it. This works by maturing the breast, but mature breast cells no longer develop, so using progesterone too early in development runs the risk of maturing breasts before they have finished growing. It is recommended progesterone be commenced after Tanner Stage 3 has been attained. 

 

Trans breast development can be as diverse as cis women, so not everybody needs progesterone, and most people won't get any advantage from it. My breasts developed in a rounded shape, but with tiny nipples and areola. I took Progesterone for a year (using different methods monitored by my doctor) and I had significant increase in nipple size, but no other effect. I also developed asymmetrically (as many cis women do) and P did nothing for this. Some people report improvement in sleep, mood, and libido while on P, but I only noticed getting sleepy after oral administration (due to the reactions in the liver), and not at all during rectal administration. (Blood levels were almost the same for both methods.)

 

As Kathy mentioned, it is common for trans women to have dense breast tissue, but uneven density would warrant a second look on mammograms. We should all have regular mammograms!

 

Hugs,

 

Allie

[Pip]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberous_breasts

[emeraldmountain2]

Thank you @AllieJand @Pip. I've heard anecdotally that people who start with spiro (either with or without estradiol) are more at risk of developing tubular breasts, but I don't know if that's true? Also that it's possible, but not known, that spiro might cause early breast bud fusion.

[Astrid]

On 12/10/2023 at 7:20 PM, KathyLauren said:

I have not heard of this.  Mine are "heterogeneously dense", meaning that the density is inconsistent.  I have no idea how common this is among trans women.  I believe it is common with small breasts and many, perhaps most, of us have small breasts.  It means that I need a mammogram every year, since it makes lumps harder to spot.

 

I too had heard that progesterone helps with breast development.  However I tried it for a year and it did precisely nothing.

 

That's consistent with my experience. I had a follow-up mammogram and ultrasound after last week's regular yearly visit, due to the same reason of "heterogeneously dense"  tissue, which may obscure small masses.  The findings were completely normal so, yay!

 

Astrid