By the time women reach a certain age, most are familiar with the concept of sagging breasts. The loss of skin elasticity causes this natural change as it lets the breasts droop below their former position.
The effect of sagging breasts can increase a woman’s perceived age, distort her natural body shape, and make it difficult for her to wear her favorite clothing.
While aging plays a major role, past pregnancies, changes in body weight, and other factors can play a factor in how much a woman’s breasts sag. Thankfully, the breast lift procedure can provide a solution for any woman experiencing this problem.
Candidates for a Breast Lift
Prospective patients for breast lift surgery should be in good physical condition, not smoke, and have a reasonable expectation for their surgical result. Candidates should also be exhibiting some trouble with sagging breasts and loose skin. Most breast lift patients are around 40 years old and have recently noticed a change in the shape of their breasts, the position of the nipples, and their breast volume.
Stretched skin, downward-pointing nipples, pendulous breasts, and breast asymmetry may also be involved. Before your surgery, several assessments will be needed, including a mammogram, bust-line measurement, and a consultation with your surgeon.
The Breast Lift Procedure Explained
Breast lift surgery, called mastopexy, can be performed as an outpatient procedure in a surgeon’s office facility under general anesthesia, often lasting one and a half to three and a half hours. To begin the surgery, your surgeon will place an anchor-shaped incision from the bottom of the nipple down and along the breast crease. Excess skin will be removed, the nipple and areola will be relocated to a more natural position, and the breast will be reshaped before the surgery ends with suturing the incisions.
If you have smaller breasts, your surgeon may recommend a smaller-incision mastopexy. This procedure is often called a concentric or doughnut mastopexy because it involves two concentric circular incisions around the areola to remove a doughnut shaped swathe of skin.
Following surgery, your breasts will be wrapped with gauze and fitted with an elastic bandage or surgical bra. A few days later, a soft support bra will be worn instead for 24 hours each day throughout the first month. You should experience some numbness, tingling, swelling, and discomfort which will gradually subside over time.
The Benefits of Breast Lift Surgery
Aside from the obvious physical changes, a breast lift surgery can offer its patients many additional benefits. In some cases, it can even be a life-changing event. If you choose a breast lift surgery for yourself, you may experience some of these benefits:
- Firmer breasts that do not sag
- More youthful body contour
- Clothes and bras will fit better
- Shopping for your clothing will get easier
- Increased levels of self-confidence
- Increased self-esteem
- A more positive self-image
- You’ll achieve a more feminine look.
While your breast lift surgery provides many improvements, remember that it’s not meant to turn you into someone else. Your natural contours will be enhanced with this procedure.
How to Boost Breast Lift Results
Sometimes, prospective breast lift patients also express dissatisfaction about the volume they may have also lost. As breasts age, it is common for them to become smaller, losing mass as the breasts sag. If you’ve lost too much volume or you’ve always wanted larger breasts anyway, adding breast augmentation to your breast lift can help. Breast implants can restore your breasts to their natural size or add volume that you never had. By achieving the right shape and size, you’ll also increase the benefits of the breast lift surgery.
Contact Us and Book a Consultation
Please contact a patient care coordinator by phone at 281-484-0088 if you would like to schedule a confidential consultation during which Dr. Vitenas will go over your complete medical history, take the time to understand your goals, and answer all of your questions. Computer imaging will be used to help you visualize your own personal results. Dr. Vitenas will discuss reasonable and expected outcomes, and explain the details of the procedure including the technique, the recovery, the risks, the costs, and financing options.
Our office is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. You can also email us anytime, and one of our patient coordinators will get back to you.
We are conveniently located in the heart of Houston. If you are not a local, we can schedule an online consultation. We can also assist with travel arrangements.
Dr. Paul Vitenas, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.S. of the Vitenas Cosmetic Surgery and the Fine Art of Natural Cosmetic Surgery is a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon and founder of Vitenas Cosmetic Surgery. He has practiced in the Houston area since 1990, and has been named one of Houston’s Top Doctors and America’s Top Plastic Surgeons. He’s also been awarded Houston’s Most Compassionate Doctor and a Top Doctor for Women.