The Big Picture on Breast Reductions
For many women, breast size is a burden. Often after years of accepting sore shoulders and back, awkward moments physically and socially, and an underlying feeling of uneasiness, more and more women seek relief by surgically reducing or refining the size of their breasts.
Like all plastic surgery, the exact procedures for achieving their goals are different for each woman. The best beginning is to envision more precisely what profile each woman desires. It is at this early stage that a visit to an experienced, board certified plastic surgeon makes sense.
How It Works
Breast reduction surgery, or reduction mammoplasty, involves removing some of the skin and underlying tissue of the breast and sculpting a smaller, and often higher, new profile. In some cases, liposuction may also be sued to remove excess fat. The nipple is often re-positioned to conform with the new contour, and the size of the areola may be reduced as well.
Breast reduction is a surgical procedure, yet, in most cases it is performed without an overnight hospital stay. Recovery is carefully supervised for a period of weeks and the results are lasting.
The Needs Are Real
The consequences of macromastia or gigantomastia are practical as well as aesthetic, and so insurance coverage may include benefits for breast reduction because physical difficulties are involved in many cases. Women with over-large breasts experience neck, back, and shoulder pain, and often are limited to some extent in leading an active life.
And the aesthetic considerations are just as real, because body image and self-esteem are so closely linked. The effects of living with breasts that are uncomfortably large can limit a person’s whole outlook.
It’s Medical and Highly Personal, Too
You and your plastic surgeon can select a breast reduction surgery technique that best suits your own unique concerns, objectives, and characteristics. At least three incision patterns are options, depending on the size and shape of the breasts, and the unique patient goals to be achieved. And the scope of your own procedure of course depends on where you are and where you want to go with your body contour.
It is not unusual for a woman to have breast reduction surgery in her 20s and then revisit the procedure again many years later, after life events have unfolded. Weight gain or reduction, childbearing, breastfeeding, and other changes we encounter in the course of life all have an effect on breast size and profile.
It may be a good idea to consider these possibilities when scheduling a breast reduction procedure. But it is never too soon to consult a plastic surgeon and find out more about the solutions that are available to you, because suffering longer than necessary is not a good idea.
I would consider it a privilege to have a careful, considerate, individual conversation about your own unique situation, concerns and goals.