Alleviating Discomfort with Breast Reduction
While some women choose to enhance their breasts with breast augmentation, many women with large breasts, or macromastia, may benefit both aesthetically and physically by having a breast reduction. These larger breasted women can suffer from debilitating back, neck and shoulder pain, improper posture, and even skeletal deformities. Often, the condition can make physical activity and exercise difficult, leading to the health problems that can result from a sedentary lifestyle, lowered self-esteem, and depression. Moreover, these issues can affect men as well as women. Gynecomastia, a condition marked by enlarged male breasts, can affect men of any age or size, not just those who are overweight as is commonly believed. Fortunately, reduction mammaplasty, or breast reduction surgery, is performed to alleviate the embarrassment and discomfort associated with overly large breasts.
The goal of breast reduction is to remove excess fat, glandular tissue, and skin from the breast in order to make them smaller, lighter, and more firm. Women who are best suited for the procedure are those who have breasts that hang low and have stretched skin, whose nipples rest below the breast crease when the breasts are unsupported, or who have enlarged areolas caused by stretched skin. Typically, after the incision is made, the nipple, which remains attached to its original nerves and blood vessels, is repositioned to a higher place on the breast. If necessary, the size of the areola can be reduced by excising skin around the perimeter, a procedure known as areola reduction. Then underlying breast tissue is reduced, lifted, and reshaped. Often, the most optimal breast reduction results can be attained when the procedure may be done in conjunction with a breast lift, in order to position the breasts higher on the chest, or with liposuction to better shape and contour the breast region. In some cases, particularly in men suffering from gynecomastia, where the enlarged breasts are primarily the result of excess fatty tissue, liposuction techniques alone may be used.
If you are interested in a procedure I perform, please contact my office to schedule a consultation today. Additionally, a number of medically necessary procedures may be covered by insurance and we can provide a variety of options for financing, including Care Credit® to assist you. Please contact us with any questions you may have concerning the financial planning of your procedure. Be sure to also connect with me, Dr. Allyson Maske, on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ for the latest plastic surgery news and updates.
During pregnancy a woman’s breasts become larger as her body prepares for nursing. Several days after she gives birth, the breasts grow even fuller and heavier as the milk is produced. Due to the natural shifting in size and weight, inevitably stretching and ptosis, or sagging of the breasts, is a common result. There is very little that one can do to avoid ptosis; it is an outcome of aging and eventually occurs in all women whether they become pregnant or not.
Give yourself enough time to heal. Depending on the nature of the surgery, varying times will be needed for healing. The first few days only a minimal amount of activity is recommended, but within a week, light activities are allowed and encouraged. Often, after invasive surgery a period of a month or longer without intense physical exercise will be requires. The last thing a patient should want is to potentially compromise their