 I could feel the heat on my chest as my skin absorbed the rays of the Cretan sun. Something about the sound of the Greek sea was calming me, or maybe it was to do with the fact I was finally comfortable in my skin. I imagined it was going to be a big moment – the first time I took my shirt off at a beach after having my top surgery (also known as a double mastectomy) in September last year – so I'd been working up to it for a while. But sunbathing after this operation wasn't hugely life-altering, or earth shifting. I just felt at peace. The only thing I had to be careful about was making sure I was topping up sun cream over my scars, as it was nine months after my surgery. Sunbathing for the first time after this operation wasn't the huge life-altering, earth shifting moment I'd imagined (Picture: Shivani Dave) It took a long time to get to this point. As a kid, I remember arguing with my parents on those long, hot summer days. I would see countless sunburnt men in public and say: 'How come he can take his shirt off but I can't?' When I first started to develop breasts at 11 years old, a classmate pointed them out. Paraphrasing the film, Bend it like Beckham, they said: 'One day those mosquito bites will turn into juicy mangos.' I started binding my chest as a child (Picture: Shivani Dave) Thinking about it, that was a time-stopping moment. Not only did this classmate point out something I was trying so hard to hide, but she did it by turning a line from my favourite film against me. The very next day, I started binding my chest, which meant using material to compress my breast tissue to give an appearance of a flat chest. At the time, I didn't know there was a word for it or that it was a thing other people did. I also didn't know how damaging it could be for my body – had it gone wrong. Thankfully, that didn't happen to me. The right choice for me was to travel to Scotland in September last year for private treatment (P){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
I could feel the heat on my chest as my skin absorbed the rays of the Cretan sun.
Something about the sound of the Greek sea was calming me, or maybe it was to do with the fact I was finally comfortable in my skin.
I imagined it was going to be a big moment – the first time I took my shirt off at a beach after having my top surgery (also known as a double mastectomy) in September last year – so I’d been working up to it for a while.
But sunbathing after this operation wasn’t hugely life-altering, or earth shifting. I just felt at peace.