Breast Lifting (Mastopexy)
General Anesthesia
What is Breast Lifting (Mastopexy)?
Breast lift surgery is also known as mastopexy or breast lift surgery.
With the advancement of age, the body loses its elastic structure, hormonal causes, pregnancy and post-breastfeeding, and sudden weight loss causes breasts to sag. A vertical incision is made around the nipple of the patient, who is examined on an outpatient side, to the breast fold, and the breast lift is performed with the prosthesis placed under the breast.
Breast sagging, softness and deformation are among the issues that women are most sensitive. The breast tissue, consisting entirely of fat and milk glands that do not contain muscle in its structure, loses its old fresh and upright appearance due to reasons such as gravity, aging, frequent weight gain, birth, breastfeeding, wrong bra use, emptying or excessively abundant skin, sagging and aesthetic it causes women to be uneasy and pushes them to search for various solutions.
Why do breasts droop?
Breasts gradually sag over time with the effect of gravity and the loss of skin elasticity due to age. Frequent weight gain and loss, birth and breastfeeding procedures, and excessive breasts cause sagging to occur at an earlier age.
Can sagging breasts be corrected with non-surgical methods?
In the non-sagging breast, the nipple is above the under-breast fold line. In mild breast sagging, the nipple is at the level of the sub-breast fold. In further sagging, the nipple is below this line. No massage, cream or tool can make the nipple go up.
How is breast lift surgery decided?
In breast lift surgery, the patient is examined on an outpatient basis. The nipple location and the amount of mammary gland are measured. The patient’s expectations are evaluated.
- If there is a slight sagging, if the amount of the mammary gland is at an acceptable level, the breast becomes fuller and upright with a silicone breast prosthesis placed under the mammary gland.
- If the sagging is too much and the amount of mammary gland is sufficient, it will recover similar to breast reduction techniques.
- If the sagging is excessive and the amount of mammary gland is insufficient, both silicone prosthesis is placed in the breast and breast recovery is performed. This surgery is technically the most difficult breast surgery. The size of the prosthesis placed under the breast and the recovery rate to be made on the breast skin are definitely decided during the surgery.
How is breast lift surgery performed?
Regardless of the technique, breast lift surgery is definitely performed under general anesthesia. Depending on the technique to be used, the duration of breast lift surgery varies between 2-4 hours.
A silicone prosthesis is placed under the breast for patients with slight sagging. Similar procedures to breast reduction surgery are performed on patients with obvious breast sagging and whose mammary gland is quite sufficient. As a difference, breast gland reduction is not performed.
If the amount of mammary gland is very insufficient, after the silicone prosthesis is placed under the breast, the abundance in the skin is collected similar to the breast reduction technique. The mammary gland is not removed.
What awaits us after the surgery?
Immediately after the operation;
- Ice compress treatment is started.
- Sports bra is worn.
- No other dressing is used except thin bands on the stitches.
- The drains placed in the operation are removed 24-48 hours after the operation.
- You can take a shower 1 or 2 days after they are removed.
- Stitches are removed after 15 days.
- Sports bras must be worn continuously for 4 weeks. This bra reduces the patient’s perception of pain and makes him feel more confident. At first, edematous breasts gradually take shape. It takes about 8-10 weeks for the breast to take its final shape.
Can I breastfeed after breast lift surgery?
Preservation of the milk-giving function depends on the technique chosen and the sagging of the breast. However, breastfeeding function is generally expected to be preserved.
Can there be sagging again after breast lift surgery?
A pregnancy or major weight changes that may occur after breast lift surgery may cause a sagging breast again. Therefore, it would be more appropriate to perform lifting surgery in patients who are no longer planning a child and whose basal body weight does not fluctuate.
Does breast lift surgery remove all cracks in the breast?
Cracks on or on the sides of the nipple cannot be removed during surgery, because only the skin can be removed from the part under the nipple.
Are the scars left on the breast after breast lift surgery uncomfortable?
After breast lift surgery, a small scar of 3.5 cm remains under the breast in patients with only breast prosthesis. Since this scar can be hidden under the breast, it does not usually bother.
Depending on the technique chosen, an I, L or T-shaped scar will remain under the nipple in patients to undergo skin recovery.
The scar around the nipple is not so obvious as there is a difference in tone from the nipple to the normal skin.
The vertical line descending from the nipple is the best healing scar.
Generally, it is difficult to choose the scar one year after breast lift surgery. The line under the breast is not visible when viewed from the front or the side.
What are the problems that may arise in breast lift surgery?
- There may be bleeding, blood loss, hematoma (blood accumulation in the tissue) during or after breast lift surgery.
- Conditions such as delayed wound healing or significant scarring (hypertrophic scar – keloid) may occur especially in diabetics, heavy smokers or those who are familially prone to bad scar development. These patients can be treated with some special methods.
- There may be infection, inflammation, wound opening, stitching. These situations can be corrected with timely intervention. The opened stitch can be sewn again.
- After the surgery, there may be fat necrosis, that is, the breakdown and melting of fat tissue. Therefore, discharge may occur from the wound edge or between the stitches. There may be pain, burning and stinging sensation in the breasts in the postoperative period.
- There is a risk of losing the nipple when using methods that protect the nipple in very sagging breasts. It would be more appropriate to prefer techniques in which the nipple is applied as a patch to patients with such a risk. It is possible to reconstruct the nipple by using methods that combine surgical methods with tattoo application in patients with nipple loss.