Sections of the Article
- Throwback conversation with Pardikie in 2018
- The Conversation with Pardikie in 2022
- Time with Dr. Kelvin Owusu [Head, Occupational Health & Wellness, Claron Health International]
- Nutritionist Akosua on Saggy Breasts
Time: 9am. Year: December 2018, the block-made room in Osu had soaked the rains, making its nucleus cold. Abugre, laying on his stomach, makes the bachelor’s sleeping signature in the cold weather and strolls on WhatsApp.
Digitally roaming, he witnessed a new campaign on a friend’s status. She is an advocate of saggy breasts [informally referred to as fallen breasts]. Googling his ignorance, he tapped on the images tab, then boom!
Pictures of saggy breasts popped up on his screen.
Saggy breasts simply refer to breasts which are facing down to earth or, as Pardikie will say, breasts that can’t defy gravity. Saggy breasts can be attributed to genetics, diet or lifestyle; therefore it’s misleading to blame it on promiscuity.
Such an attribution only nurtures low self-esteem. Don’t be ashamed if you have saggy breasts.
Some refer to them as ‘fallen heroes’, but are they?
The human body undergoes changes; therefore, we need to understand and discard these misconceptions about saggy boobs that make others have low self-esteem.
Pardikie was talking about saggy breasts on her status, so I engaged her. Read this conversation I had with one of your ancestors on the issue of the fallen breasts. So this is how it started:
Throwback conversation with Pardikie in 2018
Abugre (scrolling through Pardikie’s status, he asks): Tell me more about the saggy boobs.
Pardikie: It’s a movement by the author of ‘What A Time To Be Alone’ by Chidera Eggerue (Instagram: @theslumflower). I like her boldness in going against the status quo and representing women who have saggy boobs.
She wants to normalize it, and I want to as well. I used to have low self-esteem because after losing so much weight, my boobs became saggy.
And it seems so petty an issue, but it drained my self-esteem. Because even family members make it seem like you are not normal. Till I worked on myself and became this confident.
Abugre: (shy and anxious): Did you once have standing [perky] breasts?
Pardikie: (laughs): Lol …Oh yes, when I was very young, but then I started gaining weight and being on and off [thus gaining and losing weight] and it made my skin loose and saggy, especially the breasts area.
Abugre: Why do you refer to your breast as saggy?
Pardikie: No, it’s a dictionary word. There’s perky for standing breasts and saggy for fallen breasts.
I actually got to know about this movement from the @theslumflower on Instagram…. and I’m planning on creating some awareness in my own small circles.
Abugre: Interesting.
Pardikie: So I’m preparing an article on that.
Abugre: Boobs are part of a woman, and they play a critical role in her life.
Pardikie: Definitely
Abugre: Which group of people made you feel bad about your boobs? Men or Women?
Pardikie: Well in SHS I couldn’t bath with the girls in the open bath house because they would pass silly comments, and it was annoying because I saw their imperfections as well, but I didn’t think it was abnormal
Abugre: So what has been the misconception about saggy breast?
Pardikie: Oh most people say that for a young girl to have saggy boobs then she must have been promiscuous.
Abugre: So sad.
Pardikie: Lol
Abugre: Did you try doing anything to get a perky breast?
Pardikie: Lol, not to alter it with surgery or anything, besides, I can’t afford surgery.
However, I tried natural remedies like carrot, cucumber and shea butter which help the skin, but it doesn’t guarantee it becoming perky.
Abugre: Will you have opted for surgery if you had the money? What happens to the skin?
Pardikie: Never. Honestly, before, I would give that a second thought if I had the money but for now… I’ve grown so much that I know surgery doesn’t solve low self-esteem issues because it is deep-rooted in our minds and perception. After the surgery, then what? Will you alter your butt as well? Then what? Your nose?
Oh no, I want to be the lady who was confident and different.
Pardikie: Lol sure grateful that you listened to me as well.
Abugre: Do you have friends who have saggy breasts?
Pardikie: No I don’t.
Abugre: Alright.
THE END.
The Conversation with Pardikie in 2022
Listening to Poetra Asantewa’s poem ‘Love Yourself’ after my shift, I revisited this conversation with Pardikie in June 2022, who I described as ‘Odeeshi’ [a street word meaning ‘being immune to pain’].
It has been four years since the conversation in 2018, and Pardikie is still resilient. She only confirmed that she could possibly have a surgical procedure if she can afford it and if only the complications ‘aren’t that bad’.
No, don’t misinterpret this as lingering low self-esteem. She still stands by her words as not being swayed by society’s perceptions of the ideal woman’s breast.
What are your thoughts about saggy breasts?
Time with Dr Kelvin Owusu [Head, Occupational Health & Wellness, Claron Health International]
Dr Owusu explains that “the breast architecture is such that it is predominately made up of fat with some suspension ligaments with a skin covering it. There’s no muscle in there so naturally once you understand this, it tells you that all breasts will sag at some point.
Below are five points he shared as the reasons for sagging breasts;
- Ageing; breast will sag due to ageing; because as you grow older your skin [tissues] becomes loosed and you’ll naturally begin to sag.
- Weight change; extremes of weight change; so if you were to gain a lot of weight and because the breast is predominately made of fat, a lot of it goes into the breast which will make the breast heavy so the added weight will make it sag.
If you were to lose weight significantly and because there’s a lot of fat in the breast when you lose weight the fat in your breast begins to lose. Simply, if the breast was big because of the fat and when that extra fat is lost the breast will sag. - Hormones; Some hormones in relation to menstruation will cause the breast to become bigger at some point in the menstrual cycle and these hormones, when they are no longer active, will also cause the breast to become smaller and saggy.
- Attitude; this refers to how you treat your breast, which can cause them to sag.
The subsequent point is a little controversial; wearing a brassiere can actually make your breast sag earlier than the general population. If you never wore a brazier, your skin ligaments will be used to doing their jobs in suspending the breast but when you start wearing a brazier, the suspension ligaments kind of forget that they are supposed to hold the breast because the brazier has taken over. So some people, when they wear braziers for a while, their breasts sag.
This doesn’t apply to everybody, but some people do go through that. - Heredity, if your mother has saggy breasts that mean you will too, and you can’t do anything about it.
Nutritionist Akosua on Saggy Breasts
She explained that diet contributes to either having a perky or saggy breast therefore if one wants to reduce the size of the breast, “one needs to be on a low-calorie diet because it has a way of reducing the breast tissue so once there is a reduction as far as whatever is contributing to it being fuller is reduced obviously naturally it will shrink.”
Below is an interview on the nutrition segment on #BreakfastDaily which is Citi TV’s morning show. It sheds more light on the issue.
