A woman who had a double mastectomy to avoid breast cancer opted against a reconstruction - and now proudly flaunts her flat chest. Stephanie Germino, 29, had a history of the disease her family so had her double-D cup boobs removed and declined reconstruction to avoid further complications.
She said her surgeon warned she'd regret it - but she defied the comment and insisted she "wanted to be as flat as a pre-pubescent boy" - and has no regrets. The mum-of-one - now dubbed 'boobless babe' - fell in love with her new look and began posing topless on social media to help "normalise" it.
She says trolls write "put a shirt on" - while others assume she's transgender. The beauty salon owner from Tampa, Florida, US, said: "I knew I didn't want to take the risk with breast cancer, so I wanted a mastectomy.
"It only took one conversation with my fiancé to think I'd look fabulous being flat because there are less risks than getting implants. My surgeon warned me I would regret my decision - but told them I wanted to be 'as flat as a pre-pubescent boy' and I don't regret it at all!
"When people see my chest on TikTok, lots assume I am transitioning, which I'm not. Others say they feel sorry for my partner or tell me no man will want me.
"The most original one is people telling me to 'put a shirt on' - I just say 'no thanks, I'd rather not'. People can say whatever they want though - I am confident in my decision so I don't care!"
Stephanie, mum to son Josiah, six, watched her grandmother fight breast cancer caused by a genetic mutation to her BRCA1 gene. Stephanie's mum was found to be positive for the same mutation to the tumour suppressor gene, meaning there was a 50% chance Stephanie was too.
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She said: "I wasn't going to wait until something actually happened to me before doing something about it. I didn't want to take that risk."
So on October 27, 2021, she went under the knife and had her double-D boobs removed. At first she was tempted by the idea of free implants, as she had "always wanted implants" from a teenager.
But her partner, Diana Morgan, 35, quickly changed her mind by reminding Stephanie of the risks of further complications, she said. Stephanie said: "It only took one conversation with my fiancé to think I think I'd look fabulous being flat."
After a few sore weeks and a month off work, her scars had begun to heal. She recalled immediately feeling "confident and badass" when she saw how her flat chest looked.
But she began to notice how unusual it was to people, and many were shocked when she revealed the procedure she'd had. In June 2022, she decided to do something about it to try and educate people and normalise her flat chest.
She posted a video on TikTok topless for the first time - and amassed a whopping 22,000 followers overnight. Since then she has taken pride in flaunting her flat chest and now-healed mastectomy scars.
She regularly posts videos for her 1.4 million followers and garners a lot of support - although not everyone understands her. "People tell me 'nobody wants to see this' but then I look and find that they're actually following my account!" she said.
But she added: "For anyone feeling insecure, comments like I get could put them in a really bad place. But for me - I am so confident in my decision and my flat chest, that I just don't care!"
