Breast Reduction
Age: 19 Breast Reduction
This is a 19 year old who is 4’11” and 160 pounds who requested a breast reduction and correction of asymmetry. Her breasts have stopped growing and her weight is stable.
She is seen here after a bilateral breast reduction with the removal of 612 grams of tissue on the right and 114 grams on the left. Photo 1a is pre operative. In photo 2a she is seen six months after surgery and in photo 3a she is seen two years after surgery. Her weight has remained stable. There has been some settling of the breasts over the two years (they are not as tight, there is less superior breast fullness and they have “dropped” a bit).
On the right in photos 1b, 2b, and 3b, you can see the improvement in the appearance of the scars over this time period. There is also a very nice improvement in the symmetry of the breasts.
Age: 36 Breast Reduction
This patient is 5’6″ and 190 pounds and had excessively large breasts and wanted them reduced. She is seen here five months after her breast reduction of about 700 grams of tissue each breast (about 1.5 pounds each breast). When excessive breast size becomes burdensome, exercise is difficult, clothing doesn’t fit, back pain is present and you look older and heavier than you are you might want to consider a breast reduction. It is “happy surgery” because patients are typically thrilled with the results. Most patients lose weight after the procedure because they are liberated to do all the activities that “normal” people do and you have a new appreciation for your body.
Age: 39 Breast Reduction
This weight loss patient desired a breast reduction. She is seen here at two years after her procedure. I removed 203 grams on the right and 253 grams on the left. She has healed very well with a beautiful shape. She has a small amount of fullness in the lateral breast area (dog ear) that we will treat with liposuction. She has supported her breasts with an excellent bra since surgery which I believe helps maintain her youthful shape.
Age: 65 Breast Reduction
This woman who is 5’3″ and 172 pounds suffered from symptomatic macromastia (very large breasts that cause back and neck pain and interfere with daily life). She had a two stage procedure, the first being an amputative (free nipple graft) breast reduction of about 1200 grams of tissue from each breast (a bit less than three pounds per breast).
She also had axillary breast tissue that was removed about seven weeks after her breast reduction. The arrow points to the axillary breast tissue that was removed at her second procedure. Without removal of this tissue she would continue to have fullness up under her arms which would compromise the appearance of her result. Needless to say, her breast reduction has changed her life and she only wished she had the procedure done when she was younger.
Age: 38 Breast Reduction
This woman desired a breast reduction. Her breasts were very large and pendulous. We discussed the different options for her reduction and convinced her that an amputative breast reduction would serve her best. An amputative breast reduction involves using the nipple and areola as a free graft on a newly created breast mound using the upper part of the breast alone. A pedicle of tissue is not used in this case to “carry” the nipple and areola. She was told that there would be no sensation to the nipple when complete, but in her case (surprisingly) some erectile properties remained. An amputative reduction is a wonderful procedure on larger, more pendulous breasts because it offers the best result in terms of breast shape and durability of results.
*Note the degree of “lift” provided by the procedure by comparing the level of the nipple to the mole on her breast.
