Pregnant? What You Need to Know About Your Pregnancy

What Determines Breast Size?

15 May 2015 by Joann Dunn

At some point in your life, you have probably wondered why some people have well-endowed chests while others have a lot less. Unfortunately, a lot of this, you have no control over. How large or small you will be or how your body will change over the years depends a lot on your body's make-up. What happened with one person might not necessarily happen to you. However, there are some common factors that contribute to how your breasts can change.

Genetics

A lot of people may not like to hear this, but genetics play a large part in how small or large your breasts are going to be. If you come from a family of generous cup sizes, the odds are you will most likely follow in their footsteps. However, this gene can come from either your father or your mother, so if one side of your family is smaller while the other side is larger, it will be a toss up as to what side you will take after. One sibling may end up with larger breasts while the other one has smaller ones.

Weight

Most of the breast tissue is made of fat. This means that gaining or losing weight can affect the size of your breasts. If you gain weight, don't be shocked if you go up a cup size. However, if you are dieting and losing weight, you might not notice the waistline decreasing like you want, but instead your breasts are shrinking. The good news is some people can lose weight without seeing any change in their breasts. It all depends on how dense your breasts are. Dense breasts are made of more tissue than fat, so when you lose weight there is less fat to lose in that area. The only way to find out if you have dense or fatty breasts is through a mammogram.

Age

How old you are will also play a major role in your breast size. When you were younger they may have been perky, but now that you are older they sag. Younger people have fibrous ligaments in their breasts that are taut and keep gravity from taking control. As you age, those ligaments stretch, which is where the drooping comes in. Also, the older you get the more, likely you are to have had children. If you have breastfed, you might see a noticeable change in your breasts. The swelling from milk contributes to stretching out these ligaments and usually causes sagging after you have weaned your child.

Just remember that normal breasts come in different sizes and shapes. If you are concerned about anything breast-related, talk to a gynecologist and have a breast exam at a local clinic like Desert Rose OBGYN PC. 

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