A breast lift may be performed alone or in conjunction with a reduction. When you have a breast reduction, your surgeon will remove excess skin, fat and nipples. The nipple-areola complex will be repositioned higher on the chest wall during this operation and may be resized if you desire a smaller size. Your breast contour will be improved with an implant if needed after surgery to give volume to your chest wall or help balance out the proportions of one side compared to another.
A breast lift and reduction is a surgical procedure that reshapes the breasts to improve the appearance of their size, position and symmetry. The size of your breasts may change with time as you lose or gain weight, become pregnant or go through menopause. Breast reduction surgery can help restore your natural shape by removing excess skin and fat from around the nipple-areola complex while reshaping your breast tissue.
Breast lifts can also be done for cosmetic reasons when you want to improve the shape, position and size of your breasts by removing excess skin and fat from under the nipple area without changing their overall appearance too much (i.e., keeping them looking natural).
How Is A Breast Lift And Reduction Done
The brief is just meant to give a hint at the general structure of what you will be writing about in the blog post.
Time to heal: The healing time following breast reduction surgery varies by patient. Patients should avoid strenuous activities for at least four weeks, including lifting their arms above their shoulders and exercise.
There is no set amount of time that every patient needs to take off from work due to their breast reduction surgery.
Pain: Pain is controlled with medication and is usually minimal after the first two or three days.
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Limitations: For the first few days following your surgery, you will experience discomfort and swelling. It is important that you avoid lifting more than 10 pounds during this time to ensure proper healing. For the next four weeks you should wear a supportive top to bed at night and decrease any upper body exertion. This includes limiting computer use and avoiding housework such as dishes and vacuuming. We recommend that you take two weeks off from work but this varies on your job description.
You will have some pain medication prescribed to you at discharge, so be sure to take it regularly. You should also keep your swelling down by icing your breast area for 20 minutes every hour for the first two days following surgery.
To help with healing, we recommend that you:
- Avoid lifting more than 10 pounds (4.5 kg). This includes lifting arms above the shoulders and even carrying groceries or suitcases.
- No driving until cleared by your surgeon
- No exercise until cleared by your surgeon
It is important that you avoid lifting more than 10 pounds during this time to ensure proper healing. For the next four weeks you should wear a supportive top to bed at night and decrease any upper body exertion. This includes limiting computer use and avoiding housework such as dishes and vacuuming. We recommend that you take two weeks off from work but this varies on your job description
Driving: Immediately following surgery, you should not drive a car or ride in a car if you are taking pain medication that could cause drowsiness or impair your judgment or reflexes in any way. You should also not drive a car if your vision is impaired from swelling of your eyes or bandages over your eyes.
Recovery from breast reduction surgery takes several weeks, at least.
If you’re having trouble with driving due to pain in your breasts or arms, talk to someone who can help get around while recovering from breast reduction surgery — such as a friend or family member — sooner rather than later so they don’t have to make last-minute plans on their own schedule when they find out something important has come up that requires travel by car (e.g., picking up children).
How Long After Breast Reduction Will I Know My Size
Following breast reduction, most patients are usually discharged 24-48 hours later. The doctor provides medication and several supportive measures. Most patients can perform routine daily activities on their own after a week and resume light activities two weeks after surgery. Complete recovery after breast reduction usually takes around 8-12 weeks.
What is a breast reduction?
Breast reduction is also called reduction mammoplasty. It is performed by a plastic surgeon to reduce the size of large breasts. People who undergo reduction mammoplasty tend to be the most satisfied patients treated by plastic surgeons. It can be performed at any age following puberty. Patients, including older ones, tend to experience immediate relief from their neck, shoulder, and back pain. Scars that result from this procedure usually heal very well. Occasionally, some redundancy may be present that may require liposuction additionally.
Why is breast reduction done?
This procedure may prove useful for women with
- Large breasts, disproportionate to the body frame.
- Large, heavy breasts causing significant neck, back, and shoulder pain.
- Grooves in the shoulders from the weight of bra straps.
- Difficulty wearing and fitting in clothes.
- Breasts that interfere with sports and exercise.
- Skin irritation beneath their breasts.
- Asymmetrical breasts.
- Self-consciousness or aesthetic concerns.
Who should not undergo breast reduction?
Some people are medically unable to undergo the surgery when other systemic diseases are present. Smokers should quit smoking prior to the procedure because it increases the risk of complications.
Breast reduction and age:
- Patients may seek reduction mammoplasty starting at puberty. If reduction mammoplasty is performed at an early age, such as 14 years, patients may require an additional procedure.
- If breasts are significantly large, surgery can be performed in the teenage years.
- Patients should undergo a preoperative mammogram if they are older than 35 years.
How is breast reduction performed?
In breast reduction, the most important goal is re-establishing a functional breast with normal sensitivity and saving the nipple-areola complex (NAC), with the ability to breastfeed, which is proportionate in size to the woman’s body.
There are several techniques to perform a breast reduction. One of the preferred techniques is the inferior pedicle technique. “Pedicle method” means the surgeon leaves an attached tissue graft (pedicle) with the nerves and blood vessels that supply the breast.
A pedicle can be superior, lateral, medial, inferior, or central. With the inferior pedicle technique, the blood supply to the nipple and areola remains generous. As a result, the inferior pedicle has proven sufficient to sustain NAC with good circulation, good sensation, and breastfeeding ability. In patients with extremely large breasts, the surgeon may consider a free nipple graft to avoid the loss of NAC.
During the procedure:
- The surgery is performed under general anesthesia.
- Breast reduction reduces the skin envelope and volume of the breast tissue, and the nipple is repositioned.
- The breasts are not reduced to a standard size but to one that is compatible with the patient’s body.
- The breast tissue is carefully preserved, marked, and protected so that each specimen from each breast can be evaluated by a pathologist to detect malignancy of the breasts.
- The incision is closed in layers, which heals with minimal scarring in most people.
- Some surgeons opt for surgical drain placement to drain excess blood or fluid accumulation.
Common Problems After Breast Reduction Surgery
So, you’ve decided to have a breast reduction. Congratulations! But now comes the real deal and you need to know what to expect after surgery.
First, if you already have surgery scheduled, talk with your board-certified plastic surgeon about the specific details of recovery. Some surgeons may use drains, others may not. Some surgeons may use sutures that need to be removed and others may not. Some surgeons may use tape or glue, others will use ointments on the incisions.
These details vary from surgeon to surgeon and no one technique used is better than the others; the goal of this article is to talk in general about recovery. The specifics of your care will come from your plastic surgeon.
The phases of recovery
Recovery from any surgery is going to have two phases, an early phase and a late phase. Short-term recovery from breast reduction typically lasts about three weeks. Long-term recovery lasts 3-6 months, sometimes longer. Each phase is unique, but some issues may come up at any time, no matter how long it has been since you had surgery.
The early phase
Let’s start with the early phase. Right after surgery, you will wake up and there will be dressings on your chest. Oftentimes you will have something covering the stitches like tape or glue. There will be some gauze padding and a bra or an ACE wrap to support your breasts and provide a little compression. Your surgeon will tell you what to do with these dressings, like when to change them and when you can shower. In general, the first week after surgery you will have moderate pain in your breasts and around the sides of your chest. Some people mainly feel sore. This pain should be easily controlled by the medications your doctor prescribed and should get a little better every day.
Usually, there is drainage, like blood, or clear fluid, from the incision lines. This will lessen over the first few days. The drainage may leak outside of your dressings onto the sheets when you sleep or any place you sit or lean against. Do not use your best sheets! Plan to sleep on an old towel or blanket that you don’t mind getting a little soiled.
Take it easy for one week. . Do not try to exercise, diet or do anything more than rest and recover. If you are a stomach sleeper or side sleeper, this can be the most difficult part of your recovery, so consider purchasing a body pillow or sleeping in a recliner.
A lot of women feel a sense of relief that the surgery is over and even more relief that the weight is literally off of their shoulders! However, it is not uncommon to also feel low energy and a little blue after surgery as well.
At about three weeks you will notice almost all the bruising is gone and a lot of the swelling has subsided. Your incisions may look pink or brown and they might still feel tender and firm to touch. With your doctor’s okay, you can start doing more activities at this point. Your physician may allow you to increase activities before this, but when planning your recovery, plan to give yourself three weeks off.
About one month after your surgery, you can be fairly confident in your new breast size and can measure yourself for new bras. While some residual swelling may still go away, you can buy new bras at this time. Talk to your surgeon about underwire bras; depending on your incisions and your specific healing, you may need to wait to buy underwire bra styles.