One breast slightly larger than the other
I am 15 years old. About a year ago, I noticed my right breast was slightly larger than my left one. I didn't think much of it. However, in the past year the right breast has become a lot larger than the left. The nipple also seems to be large and abnormal. This worries me greatly. What is causing this and what can I do?
Breast growth in young women can be at a variable rate. Although initial breast growth (breast budding) is the first sign of puberty (avg. age 10.8 +- 1.1), completion of growth is often the last step in puberty (on average 4.5 +-2.04 after the initial breast development or 2.3 years +- 1.5 after onset of menses.
By these numbers you can gauge how many more years the breasts may continue to grow. The tables do not tell you, however, that it is very common for the breasts to grow at different rates and there can be large discrepancies during this growth period.
Eventually the slower growing breast catches up but many women will continue to have some inequality in size. The question becomes how much. Most often any remaining inequality is insignificant and is not noticeable by anyone other than the woman herself.
However, it is not uncommon to have a difference of as much as one cup size. Most plastic surgeons do not recommend any treatment unless there is at least a two cup size difference.
But because this may take care of itself, you need to wait at least until about 6 years after the onset of your menses before deciding to have any corrective action taken.
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