If you’re wondering if breast enhancement leads to better sex experiences, let’s first look at some of the statistics surrounding the most popular cosmetic procedures today.
According to The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery’s Cosmetic Surgery Statistics the most common procedure requested by women in the U.S. was breast augmentation (329,914 procedures), liposuction (289,261), and breast lifts (158,964 procedures).
The growing trends in plastic surgery over the past five years includes buttocks implantation and labiaplasty. But breast procedures continue to be the most common. And one might ask if there is a connection between breast surgery and quality sexual life? Or is the popularity of breast procedures purely cosmetic?
Is Self Consciousness Connected to an Improved Sex Life?
For women, body image greatly influences self-esteem, self-confidence, and the way they react in intimate encounters. When women feel self -conscious or ashamed of their bodies, they are less responsive and enjoy sex less than when they feel positively about their body image. In terms of body image, the parts of the body that are the primary focus for women during sexual encounters are their breasts. This may be a result of images from TV, movies, media, ads, books and societal norms in which breasts are equated with womanhood, femininity, sexiness and desirability.
When a woman feels her breasts look non-symmetrical, misshapen, or undersized, this can have a large impact on her life. We’re surrounded by advertisements for products that are alleged to increase breast size, bathing suit models whose figures suggest the ideal body includes large, firm breasts, and movies in which the clothing reveals enough to suggest the presence of sizable breasts beneath. With all these influences it’s not surprising that women believe that they must have large breasts to be found attractive by others. These beliefs transfer to the bedroom, affecting a woman’s sex life.
Recent Findings on Breast Augmentation Surgery and Sexual Satisfaction
Breast enhancement surgery has recently been front and center in the news with increased attention on examining the relationship between women’s satisfaction with their breasts and their sex-life. A study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery reported that women who had breast enhancement surgery reported increased satisfaction with the appearance of their breasts, and a greater sense of psycho-social and sexual well-being after the surgery. Since psycho-social functioning is strongly related to sexual functioning, while each of these factors may have contributed independently to improved life satisfaction following breast enhancement surgery, these factors also likely contributed to women’s quality of life through the ways in which they interacted.
A recent poll conducted by RealSelf.com, a consumer review site related to breast augmentation, suggested that breast enhancement surgery improved several areas in the respondents’ sexual functioning. In particular, results demonstrated that following surgery 61 percent of the participants reported having sex more often, and 70 percent of the participants reported greater satisfaction with their sex live.
Interviews with plastic surgeons regarding this poll were not surprised by the findings. A plastic surgeon on faculty at the University of Texas stated that he noticed a difference in how women dressed and the way they carried themselves, which he equated with increased self-confidence following surgery. He added that he believed this improved confidence observed in his patients was likely to affect other areas of their lives in a positive manner including their sexual functioning.
Anecdotal reports suggest that women who have undergone breast enhancement surgery experience orgasm more quickly and are more easily aroused by their partners. Some practitioners have suggested that when a woman feels self-conscious during sex that it’s more difficult for her to relax and experience pleasure from the encounter. Breast enhancement surgery increases overall confidence, which can lead to a woman feeling more relaxed and less inhibited during sex. Most theories related to the outcomes of breast enhancement procedures suggest that the improvement found in women’s sexual functioning was a result of an improved body image leading to increased self-confidence and greater comfort in intimate situations.
This article was recently republished. Original publication was January 21, 2013.