A Webtoon in South Korea Depicts Breast Hypertrophy Side Effects
Cases of breast hypertrophy, an adverse effect causing extreme breast enlargement after COVID-19 vaccination, have been reported both domestically and internationally. In particular, in South Korea, a webtoon artist is actively depicting this side effect based on personal experience.
Webtoon artist Mulleongi has been sharing the side effects of the Pfizer vaccine through the Naver webtoon "One Day Suddenly My Breasts Got Bigger," which has been serialized since September last year. The artist revealed that after the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, she experienced heat and pain in her breasts, which grew from an A cup to a B cup, and after the third dose, the size increased rapidly.
The artist complained, "Both breasts enlarged asymmetrically, causing severe pain and discomfort." She visited a hospital six months after vaccination, but the prescribed medication did not improve her symptoms. Later, at a university hospital, she was diagnosed with 'lymphedema' and underwent surgery to unblock the blocked lymphatic vessels. However, the medical staff said, "The lymphatic vessels were all hardened and blocked, so the surgery failed." According to the medical team, there were no usable lymphatic vessels.
The breasts eventually grew to an H cup, and she was finally diagnosed with 'idiopathic gigantomastia' and underwent breast reduction surgery. She is currently taking hormone therapy daily to suppress breast cell growth along with regular check-ups. The artist stated that she created the webtoon to encourage others who have had similar experiences.
Similar cases have recently been reported overseas as well. A 19-year-old woman in Canada experienced a side effect where her breasts grew four times larger six months after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in September 2022. She had received two doses of the widely used Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
Immediately after the first dose, she began to experience tingling and breast enlargement, and these symptoms worsened after the second dose. Six months after completing vaccination, her breast size had increased nearly fourfold, from a B cup to a triple G cup.
CT scans showed some swelling of the lymph nodes around the armpits and dense blood vessels. Medical staff suspected that the sudden breast enlargement might have been caused by pseudoangiomatous stromal hyperplasia (PASH). PASH is a benign proliferative non-neoplastic lesion occurring in the breast.
In 2021, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania announced that COVID-19 vaccines can cause lymph node swelling, which may lead to abnormalities detected in mammography and breast ultrasound examinations.
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