Female stethoscope exams

Women, when your doctor listens to your heart, does he/she always place the stethoscope on bare skin? How exposed are you for heart listening?

In the past, the doctor has either done it through my clothing, just one layer, though- if I had on a sweater, he would ask me to remove that) or slid it under a shirt I was wearing, if it was generally accessible. I have never been asked to remove my bra.

I have had on or two doctors to listen my chest with my bra on. Most doctors will have me remove my bra to listen to my chest.

It shouldn't be necessary in normal circumstances for a woman to remove her bra for auscultation with a stethoscope. Sometimes though the bra extends over an area the doctor needs to listen and so it would be normal to ask the patient to move the bra out of the way (happens with straps sometimes, move them across the shoulder) or to ask thepatient if its OK to tuck the diaphram under the bra a small way. very very rarely do you need to get her to remove the bra completely.

I think it depends on the doctor.

Mine makes me take my top off but i keep my bra on. There were a few times where the same doctor asked me to remove my bra.

I have always had to remove my top, and then after that some have asked me to remove my bra and some don't

I think for accurate exam the women should be undressed to her bra.

Hi sobhil,

that's my personal experience, too. As my wife allows me to accompany her for her medicals, I always see that she's auscultated with her bra on. Even at the gynecologist, she is stethed with her bra on. Only for breast palpation, she has to remove it. She hasn't too big breasts, and her bra is rather small; I think, this is the reason she may leave it on. As I'm very much interessted in bras and stethoscopes, I always want to watch women being stethed in her bra. I always also want to learn about it. When my wife accompanied our daughter (15) for her first gyno exam (of course, I couldn't come with them, unfortunately...), I asked my wife if she had to remove her bra for stething. She said yes, "but our daughter is not a fetish object for you..." She didn't tell me any details. I know by my own experience, that school girls in Germany are stethed during school medicals with their bras on.

When we do playdoc exams, we usually start auscultation with her bra on, and then during stething, she has to remove it. I love especially to tell her during I steth her "please remove your bra now..."

I'd like to post some bra and stethoscope pics here, but I don't know how this works :-(

Red Steth Guy

My doctor always places the stethoscope on my skin, but whether or not I remove my clothes depends on what the exam is for. If it's in the course of an appointment for a stomach bug or something then my top and bra stay on and the stethoscope goes underneath. If it's a physical or a potentially cardiac-related problem (e.g., dizziness), then I have to put on a paper vest or gown. Either way there is contact with my breasts, especially when listening to the mitral valve because the doctor has to lift my left breast and place the stethoscope underneath.

I think it is something that varies doctor to doctor. Over the years I've been stethed up under a sweater, down the top of a blouse with a few buttons undone, with a blouse fully unbuttoned, with my top off but bra and also topless.

To perform a complete cardiac auscultation the stethosocpe must be placed on the skin! The faint heart sounds are muffled or obscured by any material between the skin and the scope. Also, in a complete exam the examiner usually will use the "bell" as well as the diaphragm side of the scope with older or more "conventional" scopes. Many newer scopes have floating diaphragms and can be used "one sided" for complete exams.

I always have to take my bra off for a stethoscope exam. My left breast is also lifted and the steth placed under it.

My stethoscope is the 3M Littmann Classic 11 SE and a very nice instrument it is. You can use it one sided to listen to high and low frequency sounds by alternating pressure on the chest piece. Or you can simply rotate the head and use the bell in the normal way. It gives the best of both worlds.

I think auscultation is a nice start to a play examination, it allows the first real physical contact and can be rather exciting for both doctor and patient.

It's nice to steth the lady inside her blouse or t-shirt and to perhaps slip the chest piece under her bra a little to get the full heart beat sound.

A little later you can always steth with the bra off as well.

Dr Philip - The UK Play Doctor

Hi Dr. Philip. Well said. That Littmann is a very good insturment. In real life most of us use similar high quality devices.

Some great insights. Although not always necessary for me I prefer the female patient to be topless.

Yes my doctor always makes me remove my bra under the gown.

For me it's always been steth to skin. Often however that's achieved by reaching up under my shirt or inside my paper vest as opposed to being toppless. I've not been asked to remove my bra for just a steth check but the Dr does sometimes kind of work in under a bit.

The doctor may use it underneath the clothes for a heart exam and for a thorough lung exam top will be removed.

It's always under the shirt and on skin.

It depends, but a quick exam is usually with bra, while an annual exam or a proper heart/lungs exam is nearly always without.

I always prefer steth to skin when I visit the doc. But I'm ok with it being slipped down between my breasts, with just a few buttons undone on my blouse.

When I was younger, like from ages 9 to 13, I just wore my underwear for the exam, so my bra was on while he was listening to heart and lungs.

Once I hit 14, I had a gown, with my bra off underneath. He didn't usually have me completely exposed, but would like pull the left side of the gown down to examine my heart, but he would try to keep as much of my breast covered as he could.

I have never had a real life Doctor ask me to remove my bra while he or she is listening to my heart. They have always worked around my bra and have slipped the bell part of the stethoscope under my blouse and listened from there. I never thought much about this until I started reading this board and discovered that not all Doctors work that way. It also surprises me that I have never been asked to remove my bra, since I have DD breasts.

Lady Teddy, who loves to receive a good and very long chest exam, bra off please, for play Doctors 😃

In all the years that I have auscultated a woman I have never done so with the presence of a bra. In my clinical environment patients are fully nude under a gown. I have however on a few occasions auscultated a few patients over the gown, but this tends to distort the breath and heart sounds at times which given my clinical environment (ICU) is an unwanted addition.

Even as a student most women either in PJ's or a gown rarely wore a bra as in patients and we were taught to auscultated without the presence of any type clothing as this resulted in the ability to clearly identify the various breath and heart sounds.

I have seen doctors auscultate women many different ways. I have seen docs place the 'scope on top of a gown or blouse; underneath a blouse; with the patient's top off, but with bra on; underneath a gown with no bra; and undressed from the waist up (or gown lowered). I suspect that it depended on what they were looking for. I know that for my wife's preop in the office the day before surgery, the doc didn't bother having her take anything off.

When I go the stethoscope is always used right on skin. I don't undress for it, my Dr. usually just does under the shirt or moves the shirt down to get access. I have never been asked to remove my bra just for that, but the steth has been slid under the very top of it before.

Can be bra on or off depending on exam and the doctor.

Before I started wearing a bra I can remember the doctor just slipping the stethoscope up under my shirt. Ever since then it's been with my shirt off and bra either on or off depending on the circumstances.

If I go in to be checked for a bad cough they'll usually just work around my bra and raise the waistband slightly when they're checking under my breast. If it's part of a full exam I'll be in a gown and they'll pull it down a little at the back, then front, then fall to my lap before putting it under my breast with the back of the doctors hand lifting it. They'll then move on to the back and breast exam.

The Doctor slipping the Stethoscope under the shirt or bra sounds pretty hot! Of course bare chested would be better and if I was the Doctor I would start by reaching under the garments a then move to bare breast auscultation.

In all US new video of physicals i see the female patients is draped or wearing a bra and T-shirts. And they do not take it off, the doctors listens heart through the clothes. Is it a normal practice or it's a "censored" videos for TVs?