Deflated: Growing number of stars opt for breast implant removal

LOS ANGELES – In Hollywood a big chest can mean big bucks, so wannabe starlets often go under the knife when seeking their big break. But these days, more and more celebrities are going in reverse, and heading heading back to the doctor’s office to get those oversized implants removed.

Heidi Montag of “The Hills” fame captured headlines in 2010 when she suddenly underwent a serious of dramatic surgeries including massive breast implants. But this year, the 20-something star decided she was “tired of being the surgery girl” and ditched the fake boobs. Montag was informed by a specialist that her F-size implants were “bottoming out,” also known as displacement, which results in the loss of tissue support at the bottom half and can mean the implant moves downward on the chest.

In doing so, Montag joined Sharon Osbourne, Victoria Beckham, Heather Morris, Jenna Jameson, Tara Reid, Kimberly Stewart and Courtney Love, who all recently had the removal procedure done.

“I have seen implant removal or downsizing gaining traction over the past few years. This is a growing trend for all groups of women, not just celebrities. Downsizing has been three times more popular than going larger among my patients who decide to change their implant size. You would think that the reason is they bring unwanted attention, but that has not been a popular answer,” Dr. Gabriel Chiu of Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery, Inc. told FOX411. “The most common answer is that they are tired of having such large breasts. The next most common answer has been that the large breasts feel awkward and that it has been difficult to get used to them. The economy and pop culture are also major influencers in why women are going smaller.”

According to Chiu, during the recent recession/depression, flaunting oversized breasts was deemed crass ,which directly influenced breast implant sizing: bigger was tackier and out of tune with the times, while moderation or balance/proportion was key.

“Folks were downsizing their cars, houses, and breast implant size. Plastic surgery often follows trends in popular culture,” he explained. “In the case of breast implants, smaller/perkier was more chic. Fashion has adapted to this trend and clothing today accommodates smaller, more proportionate breasts than larger sizes.”

Fashion designer and model manager Nadja Atwal says oversized implants don't even increase one’s prospect for getting work in show business anymore.

“In the late 90’s to up to five years ago, there was still a big glamour model industry with lots of men’s magazines. That market has died down and the models with the big implants have little to no market anymore. Pam Anderson was the big bust icon during the ‘Baywatch’ era and was often copied,” she explained. “But that trend never crossed over into the film industry and many models who desired to launch a serious acting career while sporting a fake D-cup got the ‘bimbo’ label – not the jobs.”

And as the cup size of the Hollywood community continues to shrink, chances are it is going to be discussed a lot more openly than perhaps it once was.

“It has become socially acceptable to let everyone know that you’re having your implants removed whereas it wasn’t as socially acceptable to announce it in the past. Some are doing it because they are physically uncomfortable with the larger size. In their mind when they had them implanted they were only focused on having large breasts. They weren't thinking about the consequences of  carrying two such large and heavy things on their chest, back pain, discomfort of having something so heavy and large on a small body,” said Cliffside Malibu psychotherapist Stacy Kaiser. “Others are removing them because they once got large breasts to improve their self esteem or self image and have since grown more confident and don't feel they need them anymore to feel good.”

Implants indeed represent more than meets the eye. Potential complications include severe pain, thinning and shrinking of the skin, infection, rupture or a collection of fluid around the implant known as seroma. Depending on what needs to be done, the removal process usually costs around $5000.