Every year when plastic surgery statistics come out there are more breast augmentation procedures performed. In fact, in 2015, breast augmentation was the most performed cosmetic surgery in the U.S.
But not everyone thinks bigger is better. Women with overly large breasts can view them as the ultimate burden — chafing their skin, causing back problems, making their bra straps dig in, keeping them from engaging in many athletic or fitness activities, and generally being a pain…on the chest. For these women, a breast reduction with Dr. Lavey is the ultimate relief.
Who should have a reduction?
Dr. Lavey treats every case of breast reduction as unique. There are no right or wrong reasons for a patient desiring to decrease the size of her breasts. These are some of the more common reasons to opt for the procedure:
- The breasts aren’t proportionate to the rest of the body.
- Constant rubbing is causing rashes and other skin irritation.
- Back pain, neck pain, and posture problems can all be tied to the breasts.
- The breasts are making the patient avoid social situations to avoid the undue attention they cause.
- The breasts interfere with participation in sports and fitness activities.
- It’s difficult to find clothes that fit properly.
Different methods depending on your situation
Dr. Lavey uses different methods depending on the circumstances in your unique situation. Some patients require extensive tissue removal, others somewhere in the middle. Some patients have more fat, while others have more glandular tissue. These are the usual methods he employs for breast reduction.
- Traditional — In this technique, an anchor-shaped incision is made beginning around the areola and traversing down to the crease at the bottom of the breast and then outward in both directions along that crease. This is ideal for women with extremely large breasts, although it does create more scarring. Skin, fat, and excess tissue is removed and the nipples and areolae usually repositioned.
- Vertical incision — Also known as short scar, this technique involves incisions that extend around the areolae and down to the breast crease in a lollipop shape. This method works well when extensive tissue removal isn’t required.
- Scarless — Scarless breast reduction uses liposuction to reduce the size of the breasts with little or no scarring. Liposuction can only remove fatty tissue, not glandular tissue, however, so this method requires the patient’s breasts to be more fatty tissue than glandular.
Recovery
After your reduction, the breasts will be wrapped in bandages or compression garments to help control swelling. Drainage tubes will likely be attached to both breasts to help drain excess blood or fluid from the surgical site for the first few days. For the first week, there will be a fair amount of pain, but it is manageable. Low impact activity can resume in two weeks or so, but anything strenuous needs to wait at least one month.
Are you tired of your overly large breasts? Call Dr. Lavey at 925-820-3633 and let’s talk about breast reduction.
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