Breast Enlargement Surgery – How to Measure Your Cup Size

Hello. My name’s Adrian Richards, and I’m the Surgical Director of Aurora Clinics. Today I’m going to be talking about a topic which I’m often asked in clinic and this is how to measure your cup size. Studies have shown that in the UK over 80% of women are wearing bras which are the incorrect cup size for them. Interestingly, the most common cup size is a 34C, but many women are much more comfortable in a bra which has a slight smaller band width but a higher cup size. So, if you are a 34C, perhaps a 32D or DD might be more comfortable.

So, how do we measure the cup size? First thing is you need to measure your chest circumference. The way to do this is with a soft tape measure. You measure around your chest. It’s very important to have it transverse so it doesn’t ride up in the back. You measure your chest width where the band of your bra would be. Then you get a measurement of typically sort of 30 to 35 inches. If it’s an odd number, you need to add 5 inches to that number, and if it’s an even number, you need to add 4 inches. Then you’re left with your band width. So, if you measured a 31, you’d add 5 centimetres to that. You’d be a 36 band width. Again, if you were 32 inches, you’d add 4 and, again, you’d be a 36 band width. We’ve assessed that.

The next thing to do is to measure the circumference and the most prominent part of your bust. If you’re relatively small busted, you could do this with a bra. It’s very important to have a comfortable, soft fitting bra that doesn’t constrict you too much when you’re doing this. If you’re slightly bigger busted, it’s often best to do it without a bra on. Then, you need to take the measurement around. Again, very important to keep it absolutely transverse, not riding up at the back, and then you’ve got a measurement of the widest circumference of your bust, again, in inches.

What you then need to do is compare the bandwidth to the circumference of your breast in the most prominent area. If the number is the same, you are an A cup. If your bust diameter is an inch less than your diameter on your bandwidth, you are a AA cup. It goes up one inch by inch after that. Minus one inch, bust one inch smaller than your cup width, which remember you’ve added 4 or 5 inches to, is a AA cup. The sizes in the UK go up the same as in the United States. Slightly different in the rest of Europe, but in the United Kingdom and the United States, we go minus one inch, AA cup. The same width around the bust and the bandwidth, A cup. Then we go up through the B cup, C cup, D cup, DD cup, E cup, there is no EE, then we go to F, FF, G, GG, and upwards like that. The largest bust size in the UK is K and then KK.

That’s how you measure in the UK and in America. I would encourage you to perhaps try these measurements at home to see if you can get a slightly better fitting and more comfortable bra. In the rest of Europe, it’s slightly different, and interestingly the way bust and bra size is measured varies between Spain, France, and Italy but is essentially in centimetres. It will be a much larger number. There are conversion charts on the Internet if you would like to look these up and if you are considering a bra from Europe. I think it would be worthwhile doing this.

I hope that’s clarified this issue. If you would like any further advice about this or any other breast surgery related topic, please contact us either by ringing my office on 01844 214362 or alternatively contact us via the Aurora-Clinics website. Thank you very much.