For decades, breast augmentations have been one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries in the United States. But in recent years, a new trend has emerged: the breast reduction. Lisa Miller, who covers personal and cultural approaches to health for The Times, discusses why the procedure has become so common.
We might think of science as clinical, but as far as scientists are concerned, there is still beauty to be found in the patterns that explain our world.
Hi, I'm Isabella Russellini, and in the latest episode of this Is Not a Beauty Podcast, we'll hear from scientists and researchers about how beauty has spurred innovation and discovery.
Listen now on your favorite podcast platform.
From the New York Times.
I'm Rachel Abrams and this is the Daily.
For decades, breast augmentations have been one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries in America.
But in recent years, a new trend has started to emerge the the breast reduction.
Today, my colleague Lisa Miller on understanding the appeal of the smaller breast.
It's Wednesday, November 20th.
Hi, Lisa.
Hi, Rachel.
So you recently wrote a story about something that I am pretty sure we haven't covered the Daily before, and that topic is breast reductions.
And I'd really love to hear, before we get into it, why you wrote about it and why it interested you.
Sure.
I work on the well desk at the New York Times, and well is the area of the Times that covers health and wellness, nutrition, fitness.
I am particularly interested in the subject of women's bodies and how it feels to be in a female body walking around in the world.
So those are the kinds of stories that I do.
So my colleague Stella Bugbee, who is the editor of the Stiles desk, handed me these numbers one day.
And the numbers were from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
And they showed this dramatic increase in breast reductions over the last five years driven by women under 30.