10134995Bigger and Better; breast forms for larger breasts (H-K cup)ClosedGrant for R&DInnovate UKWhat happens if you are a large breasted person and you need a single mastectomy after your breast cancer diagnosis? Usually, there are two options. You might be offered a mastectomy and reconstruction, with additional reduction surgery on the remaining breast to create evenness. Or you might be offered a mastectomy with a reduction of the remaining breast so that you can be matched to current stock size prostheses. But what happens if surgery does not go to plan, there are complications or the additional surgery is just too much to cope with? A cup size of H-K is actually more common than you might think, and current market breast prosthesis just do not tend to cater for this larger end of the market. Why not? Well, traditional prosthesis are made of silicone gel in a polyurethane film and are designed with the assumption that women require a similar weight and 'flesh like' feel to create a feminine shape. At a H-K cup size, the weight of a natural breast can be as much as 2.8Kilos (2.8 bags of sugar!) and this would be extremely uncomfortable to carry around in your bra. Therefore, there is a limit where our competitors stop their sizing. So what happens if a woman in an H-K cup does need a foob (fake boob)? We've heard from women who've been offered two traditional prostheses to wear stuffed on top of each other, or a traditional prosthesis padded with cushion-type stuffing around the edges to make it larger without the weight. These make-shift solutions are far from ideal, and are not great for the wellbeing of the woman either.