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Are Bigger Breasts Better For Women?

POSTED: 6:23 am EST February 24, 2004
UPDATED: 8:48 am EST February 24, 2004

BALTIMORE -- Breast implants aren't just for Hollywood anymore. Local doctors are performing more breast implants than ever before.

Karen Dixon: "Every year my husband would ask me, 'What do you want for Christmas?' and I always said 'boobs'."

Karen Dixon finally got them in 1979 -- full C's.

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Women Aim For Bigger Breasts

Dixon: "I didn't want to do it for anybody else. It wasn't for him. It was me. And it just made me feel more feminine."

Those implants lasted 24 years. Karen, who will only admit to being over 50, recently had them replaced. This time she went bigger -- much bigger -- double D's.

And she isn't alone. Her son's girlfriend got them too.

Ann Clabaugh: "I wanted to be the size my family was. We have big boobs."

Ann Clabaugh, 35, says she always wanted a big chest. Now she's a double D too.

Clabaugh: "I came from a family where there were 4 daughters and I was the youngest and I was the one who didn't have the boobs."

Dr. Charles T. Lopresto, Loyola College: "I think it's more of a female driven phenomenon."

Dr. Charles Lopresto is a Loyola College professor and psychologist. He believes many women -- like Ann -- compare themselves to women with big breasts and it makes them feel bad.

Lopresto: "So there's this kind of growing discontent I think among women with the way their bodies look and the belief that bigger is really better."

Dr. Alyson Buckner: "It's very, very difficult for the average American woman to be perceived as beautiful unless they have very large breasts and they're very thin."

Dr. Alyson Buckner says breast augmentation is now the no. 2 plastic surgery behind liposuction. Most women request a C-cup but Buckner said, "I will tell you that a lot of women are very happy, but they wished they'd gone just a little bigger."

Hollywood has been a major influence in all this. Actress Pamela Anderson is one of many actresses who've boosted their breast sizes.

Lopresto: "You know, I don't mean to be crude, but I think a lot of the implants look like plastic fruit and I think if you ask a lot of guys really what they prefer, they'll hoot and holler in a group, but I think individually there is something being lost in terms of just natural form."

That kind of thinking doesn't bother Karen or Ann at all.

Breast augmentation surgery isn't cheap. The procedure runs anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000.

Buckner says breast implants are generally safe. However, there are the risks associated with any surgery in addition to the risk of infection.

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