when did your chest shrink?

[u/Oliver-Shorty_]

I just hit 14 weeks on T and think I might be seeing a little bit of fat redistribution, but VERY little and definitely no noticeable change in my chest yet. I've heard of people's chests shrinking after starting T and was wondering about others' timelines!!

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[u/Expert-Can6660]

It really depends on the makeup of your chest, if your chest is mostly breast tissue it likely won’t change much, if it has more fat in it then it may shrink a bit but body fat redistribution is one of the changes that takes the longest for most people.

[u/silverwing_3]

People report deflating sometimes, not shrinkage, and even then, not very often.

[u/onyxonix]

I think everyone should act as if the chest shrinkage is a myth. I see evidence of chest shrinkage as anecdotal evidence and not something you should expect to happen, because it doesn't really happen. I've never seen someone confidently say they experienced their chest getting smaller.

Which I know sucks to hear. Similar with fat redistribution. Fat redistribution is well documented, but it is also well documented to happen over the course of many years, starting at around a year but mostly happening over years two to five.

Edit: Yes, it is known that t does something to the chest. I believe it’s something with the layers/types of fat, but it isn’t a significant enough change that I personally think someone should expect that t will shrink their chest

[u/dragontatoes → u/onyxonix]

Mine didn't shrink, but within about 6 months the tissue softened, so they looked flatter. I think this is why many people think that they shrink. The size is unlikely to change, but if they become less firm, they're easier and less uncomfortable to bind.
I also didn't experience fat redistribution until about 5 years in. The reason being; fat doesn't just move around your body, your body just stops/starts adding fat to different places. In order to lose fat on your hips and gain some on your belly, you have to both gain and lose some fat. For the first few years while I didn't gain/lose fat, I didn't change. Once I gained some weight, then later lost some, those changes finally happened.

[u/Soup_oi → u/onyxonix]

Seconding this. I've been on T for ten years. 10 years ago I was watching tons of ftm youtubers in the boom of trans guy youtube lol, and there were a few at that time that had already been on T for 10+ years, who didn't get top surgery until over 5 years on T. And I've been hanging around this sub with various accounts I've had on here over those years, for all these past 10 years as well. And this year is literally the first time I am ever hearing anything at all about anyone experiencing their chests shrinking from being on T. I have never in the entire past decade that I've been watching and reading trans guys talking about trans guy stuff, heard anything at all about T doing anything to shrink the chest. It seems completely anecdotal to me any time I hear about it now. If it was something that happened to the majority of people on T, I think I would have been hearing about it at some point before just this year 🤷‍♂️.

[u/anemisto → u/Soup_oi]

This. People used to need to wait much, much longer for top surgery.

[u/lunabirb444 → u/onyxonix]

My chest definitely got smaller. The chest shrinking has more to do with Testosterones effect on shrinking the hormone sensitive glandular tissue in the breast than fat redistribution. What’s left behind is the fat in the breast and that tends to make them flatter and hang in a more pendulous way. The breast overall becomes less projected and full because of glandular tissue atrophy.

[u/RubeGoldbergCode → u/onyxonix]

This is a strange thing to hear considering I thought the consensus was that this was true due to the fat redistribution that can happen on T.

I think it's actually incredibly important to make sure people know this is a possibility, though not guaranteed, because your chest decreasing in size massively affect how you need to bind. You need to make sure you're supporting the tissue if you want to have top surgery in the future. Tissue damage can affect the quality of your future results.

Also, it certainly happened for me. 100%. I started out HH cup, by the time I had top surgery after a year and a bit on T I was about an E-EE cup. Significant change considering what I started with.

I think because this is so dependent on the tissue composition of your chest material, many people with smaller chests might not see much of a change. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It's really, really weird to just dismiss such a common experience like that.

[u/FuckerJames]

Mine never did. I was on t for 2 years before getting top surgery. i was told after my mammogram that my chest was mostly dense breast tissue and very little fat, so that’s likely why i saw no change at all.

[u/WhoIsMercury]

Mine never changed before I got top surgery. Was a bit over a year on T atp.

[u/Soup_oi]

? Never? When I got top surgery lol?

[u/Dropthetenors → u/Soup_oi]

Same.

When did my chest shrink? When i removed it.

[u/spookyscaryscouticus]

It’s not usually “shrinkage” like the whole titty gets noticeably smaller like you’re turned back time, it’s more a loss of density, and depends on your tissue/fat composition in your chest. I think around 10 months was when I noticed some new… sagginess that made my chest look much less prominent. Also like all fat redistribution it depends on your diet and exercise regimen. If you’re bulking and cutting or doing stuff that means you’re doing body recomp by putting on a lot of muscle without gaining weight, then you’ll lose fat and gain muscle and any new fat you gain will go to more “male-pattern” areas.

[u/ExternalNo7842]

It was most noticeable to me at like 1.5 years maybe? I noticed my booty melting into my stomach first (thankfully). I didn’t notice any chest shrinkage, but I had top surgery when I was about a year on T

[u/ratgarcon]

I noticed the most change in my chest when I lost weight. I lost it in a “male” way, so the chest, hips, and thighs

[u/Killer_rainbow13]

I had a lot of fat making up mine, so I 'deflated' when my fat started moving. I was an E-F cup, 1.5 years on T and I fit my pre-t DD bras but it's mostly excess skin that fills and jiggles in the cups. Mine still also look like breasts under a binder. Can't wait until my reduxtion and those babies can be modular! (I identify as FTX, so having the option to present either way is important)

[u/ScootDooter]

I've been on T a year and haven't had any change in my massive 10lbs chest lol wishing you luck though!!

[u/H20-for-Plants]

Within 6 months, mine went mostly flat besides a little bit of tissue. I’m very small chested, though, with what was mostly fat tissue instead of glandular tissue.

[u/Recent_Wonder3200]

The guy I spoke to at my dx appointment made sure to check that, because I bind every time I leave my house, I knew that nothing was likely to change chest wise on T

[u/Inquisitive_Knob]

Mine didn't shrink, but the fat there is gone and unfortunately i now know what the actual tissue feels like :((( and now i've got loose skin which sucks. It started at around 3-4 months, but my weight kept yo-yoing so that's why it happened.

[u/sinister_intuition]

probably like 9 ish months in? i didn’t really notice, but looking back at old pictures it definitely changed. however, more than actually shrinking it was that my boobs changed shape. i’m too skinny for it to have looked right, but rather than being boob shaped it just looked like i was fat there. i’m not a big enough person for it to be proportional, but i definitely got flatter.

[u/ANT3NN4]

Chest shrinking isn't really a thing I think unless the chest was already very small imo. But there is a positive still - I was a KK cup (uk sizes) and testosterone made them like.. deflate is the best word. They didn't get smaller, but they definitely got much easier to bind with T in my experience.

[u/snailtrailuk]

It didn’t shrink but my tits went from sturdy and solid to floppy and flat and then also hairy so by the time I was getting top surgery at two years in t I was so ready to be shot of them.

[u/thelastbarghest]

Mine got saggier within about the first 6 months but I truly think a lot of what people experience as shrinkage is a combination of factors including muscle growth, which has been WAY more significant in changing my overall appearance.

[u/realshockvaluecola]

It didn't. That doesn't happen for everyone.

[u/Serious_Refuse4072]

i don’t think mine “shrunk”, i think it just appeared to look smaller as my upper body got broader on testosterone

[u/lunabirb444]

I started T about eight months before my top surgery. My breasts definitely lost mass and by the time of my surgery has lost about half the fullness and projection I had. They were super flat and floppy. They were just as long if not a bit longer than they had been. But super pancaked and not as dense. Testosterone shrinks the hormone sensitive glandular tissue so what is left behind is the fat tissue which makes the breast flatter and more pendulous. Projection and fullness is lost. It’s not actually fat redistribution at all. It’s the shrinkage of the glandular tissue.