6 month HRT, 34B, hard lumps in my boobs - when do they go away?

[charlotte15]

After 6 months on HRT, I can still feel hard lumps inside my boobs. It's not just the bud: the buds were behind the nipples. It's as if each bud has expanded and split. I am positive I can feel several separate lumps, in different positions around the nipple. The positions and the sizes of the lumps are perfectly symmetric in both breasts, so I'm not worried about a bad lump as they are usually isolated. The lumps are not exactly painful, except if I press on them a bit too hard. They seem to be all connected.

When did you girls stopped feeling these separate lumps? I though I should be done with the budding by now - or maybe I just didn't understand. Is it normal? I don't want to look like an idiot for worrying about nothing.

Also, I realized that I had made a mistake before in my measurements, since the meter was finding a "shortcut" on my back. So I redid the measurements very carefully. I even repeated them several times, while making sure the meter was straight and horizontal, like on the picture:


I always got the same measures: the band is 34 inches, and the cup 37 inches and 1/4. I checked in a mirror, I'm just like on the pictures. No mistake this time, but this would mean I got C-cups, while my boobs don't look exactly like a B-cup yet, more like a B-. They are at a Tanner 3 stage.

I tried to do the exact same measurements while bending at the hip in a right angle, like on the picture:


I totally get the same numbers!! I'm puzzled. I'm praying for C cups, but my boobs ain't no C yet. They are not sagging either. I'm 5'9 and 155, so I'm not extra fat. I just don't understand.

[Sapphire87]

You and I sound like we're in the same boat. I measure the same as you do, I'm about 5'10" and 160 lbs.

Do yours just seem to stick right out, like from a head on view it doesn't really look like you have any breasts but profile view you can actually see a fair amount of growth?

I keep thinking it might just be the extra muscle under there that's the issue, or just that they haven't filled out sideways yet.
For me the bud just seems like its increased in diameter and is still just all one large circular mass

I do wear 34C bras and they do fit but just barely. So i switch between the B and C cups but the C's seem to be more comfortable now

[charlotte15]

After 2 years of antiandrogens before the HRT, I had less muscles overall. On the chest, I can't remember exactly how much, since I was more concerned with my arms and shoulder, but still a bit. Now, the muscles on my arms are slowly turning into fat - I want to wait a bit more before starting light sports to try to remove some of that fat while keeping the boobs 

As you correctly predicted from the front I see at best a small B cup, from the side I do see a little more. In the breast, do not feel a large uniform mass, I feel small masses on the periphery that seem connected to a mass behind the nipple.

So my C-cups are for real? OMG, that the big news of the day!! I was worried it was something strange, now I am a very happy girl!! We are so lucky!!! And yours are starting to fill-up??? I can't wait until mine fill out sideways too!!

I mean, 6 months and I get C cups for real?? I won't complain ever again!!! thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou!!!

Just one thing in the back of my mind- is there any risk that they may shrink? I mean, I don't want to start exercising if I risk loosing my boobs!!

[Sapphire87]

I don't think they've started to fill up yet, hoping soon though. I don't think they are going to get any larger, just hopefully they'll fill out nice and neat and look better.

But yeah they're probably real, I know i sat there for a while thinking mine weren't either but if the bra fits :p

I regards to exercise, any sort of fat loss is going to cause the fat to be lost across your body, so some will be lost from breasts, but as you gain weight again, more should head towards the proper areas

[Lady_Oracle]

The initial budding stage can last a long time. I just hit stage 4 last year and that was at 2 and a half years, where the first bud disappears, rounds out and the 2nd mound appears. Yeah they filled out even more now since I started gaining weight too. Cup sizes themselves don't mean anything though. Your band size is what dictates your bra size since cup size is relative to band size. Like im a 32b (fits the most comfortable) but that has the same volume of a 34a so I'm technically still an a cup, however if I go by my measurements I'm a 30dd but I have yet to try that size so I don't know how well it fits. But my breasts aren't anywhere near an actual DD. I wish though!

So just because someone is an A cup or a D cup doesn't tell you anything about their actual breast size, its the band size that counts but even then that's still not enough info for the perfect fit. A lot of factors go into sizing. If you ever feel like that size doesn't fit quite right anymore then try the sister sizes. In the end measurements are more of a guide to finding the right fit not an exact science. Different style bras and companies can make a big difference in terms of what will fit you and especially which country the bra comes from. It's best to let go of that mentality thinking that a D is big and an A cup is small cause that's not the case at all.

If you lose weight you'll probably see your breasts become smaller.

[katrinaw]

Hi Charlotte, could be the lumps just under your Areola/Nipple could be Lactose ducts? Just a thought... especially being close together... If they are bothering you then just ask your DR 

L Katy

[iKate]

I have to agree with lady oracle. My band size is 34 because my rib cage is 30". I fill b cups and they are a bit tight now at almost 5 months on HRT. However I still have the bud below and itvisbhard and painful. I can't sleep on my stomach anymore and kids love to lay down on me which is also painful but I grin and bear it because I love them. Going to try a C soon within a month or two but I have to stop my estrogen for 2 weeks for surgery in June so I may shrink a little. So after that I will try.

[charlotte15]

Lady oracle, they don't look like C, more like B-, but since some filling out will happen in the future, I guess in the end they will look like C.

I'm now thinking about low cut tops :-) If I'm like you, 2 years from now to stage 4? A bit more? Whatever. I'm a patient girl 

[Jayne]

I have been on HRT for 18 months and still have hard lumps, its no big deal though. One week they'll seem to grow and the next they'll shrink, it takes year for growth to settle so sit back and enjoy the ride

[Violet Bloom]

  Hi, Charlotte.  Take a look at this thread I started a little while back and see if it helps your measurements come out right:

https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,183447.msg1628250.html#msg1628250

  I've studied the measurement issue to death and now I've finally figured out how to generate tape measurements that much more consistently calculate out to the bras that I know fit me properly.  I will note that immature breasts that poke out far but have not filled out their volume well really screw with getting accurate cup volume figures.  Bust circumference is simply not telling the whole story in this case.

  As to when the buds go away, I don't remember when it happened exactly but my breasts are really just evenly firm and squishy now.  I've been on E for 17 months.  They started as rubbery discs under the nipple that quickly expanded to just larger than my areolas.  Then it started forming the multiple individual glands as very firm and distinctive lumps.  Now if I grab my breasts just right I can still distinguish the multiple glands, but as I mentioned it's all a consistently squishy mass at this point.  Size is roughly 34B and I am very satisfied with their shape and overall look.  If they grow more later it's all bonus to me now.

[mfox]

After 6 months on HRT, I can still feel hard lumps inside my boobs. It's not just the bud: the buds were behind the nipples. It's as if each bud has expanded and split.

I haven't felt anything like individual lumps myself.  Do they hurt when you press them?  Gradually my breast bud became bigger and bigger so there's now one semi-firm mass that hurts only a little when bumped, instead of the small very hard lump behind the nipple that hurt a lot.

Are you on progesterone?  One of the benefits is supposedly to help the ducts mature properly instead of forming lumps.

Also has your doctor checked them out?  It could be normal, or something simple like fibrocystic breasts.

I will note that immature breasts that poke out far but have not filled out their volume well really screw with getting accurate cup volume figures.  Bust circumference is simply not telling the whole story in this case.

Yes exactly! Using cis-women cup sizes for trans-women just doesn't seem to work.  Saying "I'm a xxC cup" is kind of misleading, and early transitioners who run out to buy a bra based on a calculator are in for a surprise.  Especially in the first months, most of the bust measurement is pretty obviously a combination of chest muscle, back muscle, and pointed breasts.

Just to give an example, this calculator said I'm a 36DD or 38D because my underbust is 35" and my bust is 39".  But no.. in reality I'm closer to a 38B or 40A.

http://www.brasizecalculator.tk/

[charlotte15]

Well ever since I moved to DC, no doctor for me, so I can't have them checked. I'll take an appointment with WWH, but based on what I've read it might take a few months. Yet it's the best place to go in DC.

In the meantime, the lumps hurt if I press them, it's like one mass with submasses, but I can feel the border of the submasses.

Progesterone? Not officially, but I have been using an OTC cream with USP progesterone. It makes the breast feel swollen, that's all. I was using it for the last 15 days. Indeed, I was hoping it would help with the nipple development and that lumpy feeling. It only had a small effect on the nipples (or it's in my imagination ). Nothing for the lumps.

Maybe I should ask for progesterone when I get the appointment?

[KayXo]

Maybe...see what the doctor says

[charlotte15]

Yes exactly! Using cis-women cup sizes for trans-women just doesn't seem to work.  Saying "I'm a xxC cup" is kind of misleading, and early transitioners who run out to buy a bra based on a calculator are in for a surprise.  Especially in the first months, most of the bust measurement is pretty obviously a combination of chest muscle, back muscle, and pointed breasts.

Just to give an example, this calculator said I'm a 36DD or 38D because my underbust is 35" and my bust is 39".  But no.. in reality I'm closer to a 38B or 40A.

http://www.brasizecalculator.tk/

The calculator said 34C and 2 different 34C bras from different brands fit me much better!!

I don't know, I sure need some rounding on top, but it fits me better than a B. I guess was just missized. As the website says "80% of women are wearing the wrong bra size". I tend to agree.

There sure is a difference with cis women sizes, but following the formula gave me better results than everything else. I should have trusted the numbers instead of my eyes. My boobs thank me now - it's much more comfortable.

KayXo, Jane, katrinaw I'm waiting for an appointment. I'll let you know!

[Sapphire87]

I think we also get into the mind set that there's no way our boobs could be that big as so many website always try to say you'll never achieve anything larger than a B cup

[charlotte15]

Yes that's very damaging to self esteem.

Yesterday I replied to a young girl who was already planning on BA even before starting HRT!! I mean, for FFS ok, because bones won't go away, some details will be softened, but boobs are flesh. Give your body a chance!

It's not nice to tell us that we might at best get Bs, when it's wrong.

[Violet Bloom]

  It's also not nice when it's phrased on the net as "only a B-cup", implying that a B is insignificant, not normal, or worse, not feminine-enough.  For me it is plenty - that goes both for my own body and for the women I'm attracted to.

[charlotte15]

Sorry it wasn't meant to be hurtful. They should just say that any result is possible, regardless of the closest cis relative.

[Violet Bloom]

My gripe wasn't directed at anyone here.  Sorry if it seemed that way!