What's involved with a breast lift?
A mastopexy, or breast lift, involves reshaping the breast and skin envelop along with repositioning the nipple to provide a more youthful perkier appearance to your breasts. Frequently, the breasts begin to descend and deflate as a result of normal aging, gravity, pregnancy, breast feeding, weight loss, skin laxity, and/or heavy breasts.
The mastopexy procedure accomplishes a few important goals to re-suspend the breasts in an aesthetic manner:
- raise the nipple into a better more elevated position on the breast mound
- improve symmetry of the two breasts
- improve the overall breast shape
- reduce the excess skin and re-drape it to provide a tighter and more well-defined skin envelope to support the breast
- provide a long-lasting result
There are a variety of different mastopexy surgical techniques. Dr. Sharma will go over your options during the consultation and determine what will work best for you. Incisions may be placed around the areola only (peri-areolar circular scar), around the the areola and vertically below the areola (lollipop scar), or around the areola, vertically below the areola, and horizontally along the breast crease (anchor scar). Dr. Sharma will discuss the pros and cons of each of the scars with you to determine what is best for your individual needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Am I a Good Candidate?
Healthy, non-smoking patients who have these features of their breasts typically make good candidates for a mastopexy (breast lift) procedure:
- low-lying nipple position
- sagging (ptotic) breasts
- excess breast skin
- breast asymmetry – one breast sags lower than the other
- stretch marks (striae) around the upper part of the breast
- deflated appearance with loss of ‘upper pole fullness’
- realistic goals and expectations
- a desire to improve the shape of the breasts and feel more confident without necessarily wanting larger breasts
Sometimes a patient may want to achieve perkier breasts with a mastopexy to reduce the excess skin and raise the nipple into a better position, as well as add additional volume (augmentation) to get upper pole fullness. The extra roundedness of the breast can sometimes be achieved with the use of a breast implant, fat transfer, or with repositioning the breast tissue that hangs lower down with the use of an auto-augmentation flap. Dr. Sharma will review the pros and cons of the various options with you during your consultation, and whether or not you are an appropriate candidate for a mastopexy-augmentation procedure versus mastopexy alone. It is important to note that a mastopexy alone will not change the volume (cup size) of the breast, without the addition of a breast implant or with fat transfer.
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What happens on the day of surgery?
Surgery takes place in the operating room with you asleep under a general anesthetic, and can take 2.5-3 hours. Markings are first made before going into the OR to plan how much excess skin to remove and to mark out the new position of the lifted nipples. Once you are asleep the incisions are made very carefully. The areaolas are commonly reduced in size to be more proportionate. The blood supply is preserved to the nipple without detaching it and re-positioned into a lifted position. All of the stitches are dissolving underneath the skin to give you the best possible scars. Generally drainage tubes are NOT required. Paper tapes and gauze dressings are applied. You are placed into a customized post-operative surgical bra that we give you at the end of your surgery to provide support and minimize bruising/swelling. After surgery, you will be in the recovery room for a couple of hours and monitored closely. All post-operative instructions and prescriptions will be given to you before going home. Generally, no overnight stay is required and you will be able to go home the same day of surgery with a responsible adult.
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What happens after surgery?
Recovery is a gradual process. You are encouraged to take it easy but still get up frequently for short walks to reduce the risk of blood clots in the legs from immobility. The first 3-4 days you may need some of the prescribed pain medications, and will be recovering from the anesthetic and medications you were given. Most patients are needing only Tylenol or Advil after that. You will be able to shower directly over the paper tapes after 2 days. Generally it is a good idea to take 1-2 weeks off work, depending on what type of work you do. At 4 weeks from surgery you will typically feel fully recovered. You will have to avoid heavy lifting and vigorous exercise up until about 6 weeks from surgery. The final breast shape can take up to 3 months before all residual swelling has completely subsided.
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