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Transgender Breast Measurement Technique
Source : http://www.transgendercare.com
Our Breast Measurement Technique
We have tailored our measurement techniques based on the results of our hormone therapies—we have prescribed to literally hundreds of transgender women. And while most measurements are taken no differently than for a genetic female, we have noticed that a crucial body measurement needs to be taken differently for the transgender woman.
The measurement area of concern is the breast. Often the medical literature as well as physicians not familiar with transgender practice will suggest measuring the breast itself. This technique calls for measuring each breast—taking a measurement of the breast along the horizontal and vertical axes. While treating the breast as a hemisphere and taking measurements accordingly works well for the genetic female, it offers little for the transitioning female. Let’s take a look at why:
For the genetic female, no de-virulizing takes place. The muscles in the upper body do not diminish as they do in the transgender woman and breast growth is normally significant. So for the genetic female, taking a measurement of the breast, itself, is the most telling. But, this traditional technique is not very useful for the transgendered woman.
For the transgender woman, breast growth occurs along with the diminishment of upper body muscle mass. So the traditional technique which measures only the breast area does not take into account the competing forces of breast growth and decreasing upper body mass, and provides little in the way of useful information.
For the most accurate and reliable means of measuring the breast area for the transgender woman, we recommend measuring the breasts and the surrounding upper body area as a single measurement, as shown above. Our TransLog database application supports this method.
Look for the Differences
Often during transition, the breast area values (numbers) do not show much change. At first glance, one may feel that not much change is happening. Usually, more changes are occurring than you realize. Keep in mind that your muscles are diminishing as fat is redistributing itself towards a normal female form. The change in breast size is seen by looking at the numeric differences between the chest, bust and rib cage measurements. Additionally, the overall decrease in one’s frame size (size decrease due to overall loss of muscle mass) is seen in these measurements.
The true degree of breast growth in the transgendered woman is often hidden by the fact that the chest wall diminishes as quickly as the breasts enlarge. Therefore, the overall breast measurement may stay the same even though it has enlarged by an inch or more because the chest wall has diminished by that amount.
Jane
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