April 20, 2001 -- Picture a pound of butter. Now picture 10 pounds of butter. Now picture 10 pounds of butter dangling from your chest.

If you have a personal experience with the discomfort of heavy, large breasts, then you wouldn't need to imagine the butter...you know how it feels. The symptoms can be disabling back and neck pain, shoulder grooving, chafing, poor posture, weak back muscles, and restricted breathing.

So it's no wonder why hundreds of thousands of women choose to undergo breast reduction surgery every year. What is a mystery is why breast reduction surgery has had a sudden spike in popularity over the past few years.

In the US alone, breast reduction surgery procedures increased 77% from 1992 until 1998. And in 1999, 101,000 women underwent the procedure.

So why now, in this big-boobed obsessed age, with images of Pamela Anderson and Gisele Bundchen bombarding the public, would women elect to undergo a painful procedure that no only makes boobs smaller, but leaves scars, potentially desensitizes nipples and perhaps conflicts with breastfeeding?

'Women, in general, are more verbal about their bodies now than they were even 20 years ago,' explains Dr. Laurie Casas, MD, FACS, Head of the Division of Plastic Surgery at Glenbrook Hospital and Assistant Professor of Plastic Surgery at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago.

'And plastic surgery is more accepted than it was 10 years ago.'

Plastic surgery, for both functional and cosmetic reasons, is all over the media. It is a hot topic and openly talked about which helps to de-stigmatize the issues. As that happens, people are more willing to admit and talk about having plastic surgery and are more comfortable with the various procedures.

View before & after photographs of breast reduction procedures.

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This information is not to substitute for professional medical advice. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your condition.