Breast Reduction

What is Breast Reduction?

Breast Reduction is essentially a surgical procedure where the size of the breasts is reduced by removing the excess fat, skin and the glandular tissues. Sometimes, this procedure may also be combined with a process that reduces the drooping of the breasts.

This procedure is primarily performed on women, but some men suffering from certain diseases may also undergo this process.

Breast reduction surgery is performed on women who have large breasts which have a tendency to droop. Some women have such large breasts that the weight of their breasts can also cause chronic pain in their neck, back, head and shoulders. They can also suffer from circulation and breathing problems due to their large breasts.

Other women often want to go in for breast reduction surgery if they feel that the size of their breasts is larger in proportion to the rest of their body.

Men who suffer from diseases such as gynecomastia also go in for breast reduction surgery because they tend to develop breasts during their adolescence.

This surgery is also referred to as Reduction Mammoplasty.

Techniques of Breast Reduction Surgery

The breast reduction surgery is performed on the patient who has been given general anesthesia. There are two basic techniques of performing a breast reduction operation. They are:

Inferior Pedicile Technique

This technique of breast reduction surgery is also known as the keyhole technique or Weiss Pattern technique. An anchor-shaped cut is given that includes cutting a circle the areola and then making an incision that extends downwards and then follows the natural curve of the breast. Then, the excess fat and tissues are removed from these cuts. The nipple and the areola are then moved into their new, higher positions.

Vertical Scar Technique

This technique is also known as the short scar breast reduction procedure. This involves cutting a circle around the areola and then making an incision that extends downwards. There are no further horizontal cuts as in the Inferior Pedicile Technique.

The vertical scar technique is being preferred by most women because of the reduced number of cuts, which lead to reduced number of marks and scarring on their breasts. Also, it is known that this technique results in better long term results and the scars also don’t broaden as in the Inferior Pedicile Technique.

Only Liposuction Breast Reduction

Sometimes, women perform breast reduction surgeries that involve only liposuction. This is used for women who do not have such large breasts. Due to this, the procedure does not involve removal of much tissue from inside the breasts, as only fat is removed from the breast. The nipples and the areola are not cut.

Therefore this procedure is also less costly, less painful and it also has a quicker time of healing.

Also, this is the technique which is used most often for men suffering with similar problems.

After any of these above mentioned procedures, the time for recovery can be a few weeks. It often takes about 6 months for the body to adjust to the new size of breasts. In the initial weeks, some women also suffer from pain and discomfort when their breasts swell up during their menstruation cycle after their surgery.

Risks of Breast Reduction Surgery

As such there are risks involved with any kind of surgical procedure.

With breast reduction surgery, the risks involved include scarring, asymmetry, delay in the healing of the wound, change in the sensation of the nipple, and retention of fluid in the breast.

However, the most risky outcome of breast reduction surgery is the increased difficulty to breast feed, because of the surgical procedure involving the moving of the areola and the nipple and the surgical process which disrupts the lactiferous duct system. Often, patients who have undergone breast reduction surgery cannot breast feed after the operation.

Most surgeons now perform the breast reduction surgery so that the scarring is not very visible. However, the risk of the scar remaining is always there.

Advantages

Apart from the usual advantage of breast size reduction, there are other advantages of this surgery as well.

It is a well known fact that a woman’s risk to developing breast cancer is directly proportional to the amount of breast tissue. Therefore, when breast reduction surgery reduces the amount of breast tissue, the chances of the woman developing breast cancer also reduce.

The surgery is also known to make mammograms easier as excess breast tissue can interfere with getting an accurate mammogram done.

Breast Reduction Pills

Nowadays, different types of pills are also available in the market, that claim to reduce the size of the breasts. These pills are usually herbal supplements which help dissolve the fat cells in the breast. One can simply stop taking the pills once one reaches the desired breast size.

These pills are being touted as an alternative to expensive surgery procedures.