Lumps & Bumps: Front Fastening Surgery Bra

The Front Fastening After Surgery Bra Anita 5523 in 32B

(By the way- just to let you know – that isn’t me in the picture. I know I’m super hot, ripped, and sporty, but not this good three weeks after my breast surgery. But mean three months later, sure, I look just like this … )

I’ve been holding off on reviewing this bra until I had the chance to give it some good and proper road tests.

So pre-surgery I had just started running (for those who read it, you might remember the bra-on-bra action that was required to strap down Ms Lump; I believe I likened it to a ball inside a tin bouncing around) – and I didn’t attempt anything nearly so vigorous until a good few weeks after the surgery.

It was maybe three weeks before I attempted any exercise, and started by resuming the Big Cup – Little Cup fun weekly outing to a Pilates class. Much more gentle, I thought, than jumping in at the deep end of running. Unfortunately I hadn’t taken into account the sheer amount of lifting and lowering ones arms that goes into a Pilates class, and the sorest bit was still my around my armpit area. A bit of a warning: Pilates ain’t so gentle for post surgery boobs!

 

 

 

Overview and Style

Obviously the post surgery bra isn’t anything like as ‘supportive’ as my normal sports bra (the Panache Underwired Sports Bra – upcoming review on that one too!), for the simple reason that it has no underwiring. Which is a good thing. The way it works instead is the ‘strap them bad boys down’ approach, resulting in a pretty fabulous cleavage, but complete flattening of the chesticle area. Obviously I’m wearing this post surgery and during exercise, so that really doesn’t bother me, but it’s good to note.

 

 

Straps and Fastenings

Again, this post surgery bra has front fastening and fully adjustable Velcro straps – always useful! The fastenings on this one though (unlike the Silver Post Surgery bra) are hook-and-eyes rather than poppers. A little more difficult to manoeuvre in and out of, but again, since this is a sports bra I’m going to assume that no one will be popping this on the day after surgery.

The straps are equally useful, providing a very easy way of being fully adjustable, but became a little problematic in the Pilates class. If you manage to get the straps even slightly badly aligned (relatively easy to do if you’re adjusting them yourself and not looking in a mirror) then they can rub and get sore very quickly. That’s the unfortunate nature of Velro – so just be sure you have both side exactly aligned to stop this from happening.

Also – because the straps are so chunky depth wise – you don’t want anything too tight resting on top of them (I’m thinking vest top straps etc) to push them any further into your shoulders. I made that mistake once and never again – gave me some quite sore strap marks.

 

 

 

Design and Materials

The real gem about having this as a special post surgery sports bra is the overall design and material. Shaped more like a crop top, the elasticated bottom of the bra sits well below where any scar / wound site should be. There just isn’t any other non-post-surgery option for this, and that’s the most valuable thing about it. The fabric, also, is super breathable, which you definitely want when dealing with sweat and post surgery sites (ewwww, I hear you all groan.) The cups are lined with a silky feeling material which is actually really comfortable when moving around during exercise. The website describes that it ‘transports moisture away from the body’ which sounds cool, and kind of magical, but I can’t quite imagine working in the way I’m imagining from the wording of that phrase …

 

 

Running: The Road Test

So eventually I felt up to getting back out on the full-blown runs with this baby. I have to admit – I wouldn’t particularly recommend it for anything as hardcore as cross-country running. It does the job just about, but in terms of your post surgery tender boobies, just about doesn’t really cut it. You need something to keep you firmly in place to stop any aches and pains from springing back up again. Springing back up being the operative wording – because that’s exactly what my boobs were doing. Too much jiggle, not enough binding.

 

 

Fit and Function

Again, like most post surgery bras I’ve seen, band sizes start upward of 32 and due to the longer line style that’s absolutely appropriate for someone with a ribcage. I normally fit a B/C or in some cases a D cup, and decided on a B for ultimate bind-ability. It was a good shout, and in terms of post surgery and sports I’d say guestimate a cup size smaller since support in these kinds of bras depend on strapping down rather than hiking up.

 

Overall a really valuable bra to have post surgery, and once that I eventually used to replace my Silver Post Surgery bra as an everyday wear once I’d healed a little more. I wouldn’t recommend doing a marathon in it, but hey, who’d be stupid enough to train for a marathon a month after surgery … ahem …