Everything You Need to Know Before Getting a Breast Lift

Breasts have always been one of the leading symbols of femininity. The way they look also determines how youthful someone appears. Beautiful breasts can be of any shape or size. They do not have to be big. As long as they are perky, they look stunning. However, with time, age, and bodily changes, the breasts often begin sagging. In such cases, women opt for breast lift surgery.

A breast lift or mastopexy is a surgical procedure that removes excess skin, reshapes the breast tissue, and repositions the nipple-areola complex in a higher position. It is often combined with breast augmentation or reduction for ideal results. A mastopexy aims to restore your breasts to their former firmer, perkier, and more aesthetically pleasing shape.

Who are the ideal candidates for breast lift surgery?

Any woman who feels that her breasts have lost their youthful look and wants tighter, more perky breasts can benefit from this procedure. However, it is important to note that mastopexy does not augment your breasts, i.e. add volume to them. For that, you will need to go for breast augmentation surgery, too.

That said, a breast lift also has several benefits, including:

• Making your breasts appear youthful
• Improving the overall body contour
• Achieving any desired fullness or roundness
• Reorienting the nipple-areola complex for perkier results
• Ensuring aesthetic appeal
• Reducing breast-related irritation

Certain women can benefit significantly from mastopexy. They see incredible results and are usually very happy with their new bodies. The patients who receive the greatest benefits from the procedure are the following.

Women Getting a Breast Lift Surgery After Pregnancy

Although childbirth may be the miracle of life, and pregnancy skin “glows”, the changes your body undergoes during this tumultuous time is unparalleled. As breasts swell with full lactation glands, the skin also expands to accommodate the extra volume.

After giving birth, breasts undergo the yo-yo effect, where they contract and expand as the lactation glands fill and empty. This effect is further exacerbated with multiple pregnancies, leading to sagging breasts as the alternate filling and emptying make the skin lose elasticity. The breasts droop and look unattractive.

A breast lift remedies this with sophisticated techniques and safe results. However, the patient should also keep in mind that they should not opt for mastopexy until they are sure they do not want more children. Subsequent pregnancies and breastfeeding can undo all the results you get from the procedure.

Breasts Sagging Due to Gravity or Age

Many older women opt for breast lift surgery due to naturally saggy breasts. With age, your skin loses its natural elasticity and cannot bounce back from expansions and contractions. Additionally, the constant force of gravity on our bodies pulls breasts downwards, forcing them to point to the ground as time goes on and the skin cannot hold them up.

Women with larger chests may experience this more acutely, with saggy breasts causing back and neck pain and compromising their posture. They stay hunched over due to saggy breasts, and, as a result, their bra also gets pulled down, with the bra strap cutting into the shoulder. A breast lift combined with a breast reduction surgery greatly helps these women feel much more comfortable in their bodies while relieving any consequent pain.

Women Get Breast Lift Surgery After Massive Weight Loss

Much like pregnancy and the yo-yo effect, massive weight loss can also affect breasts. Women may lose a lot of weight at one go due to illness or a diet regime that slims them down. However, their breasts begin sagging, looking deflated, and seem very unattractive. Additionally, their skin usually does not have the elasticity to bounce back onto the breast, leading to wrinkled skin on the breasts.

By combining breast tissue reshaping with excess skin excision, mastopexy ensures that the breasts get restored to their former glory while looking entirely natural on the patient’s new body. The goal is always to ensure that the breasts look gorgeous and complement her overall figure.

 

Breast Lift Surgery for Asymmetrical Breasts

It is very common for one breast to be bigger or smaller than the other. Many women go their entire lives without noticing this asymmetry. However, in individuals where this difference is more pronounced, it can become a severe grievance, affecting their personal and professional lives. They have to think twice about anything they want to wear and do not feel attractive in fashionable, well-fitting clothes.

Combining breast lift surgery with a reduction or augmentation mammoplasty can deliver excellent results in such patients. Additionally, if one breast droops more than the other, the breast lift corrects this, bringing both nipple-areola complexes to the same inframammary line (the under-breast area). This is the ideal position for perky, natural-looking breasts – something every expert plastic surgeon aims to achieve.

 

Planning and Preparing for Your Breast Lift Surgery

So, you have decided to go for a mastopexy. Great!

The first step is planning for your procedure.

With proper planning and preparation, you get the best results and increased comfort during recovery. The advanced 3D technology available today also helps you better see the likely outcome and determine precisely what your lifted breasts will look like.

With adequate planning pre-surgery, you can make the right decision, plan an achievable timeline, and know what to expect during and after the procedure. Thus, the first and most important part of this stage is your consultation.

 

Consultation Before Breast Lift Surgery

Having an honest conversation with your surgeon before your procedure ensures much better results. It also shows you what kind of surgeon you have. You want a surgeon who can be honest about the outcomes. Many surgeons promise otherworldly results and disappoint patients when they cannot deliver. Choosing a surgeon who can tell you the realistic results saves you from disappointment and continued dissatisfaction with your body.

You should also choose a surgeon who is compassionate and shows you that they care about you. Especially if you feel awkward or uncomfortable talking about your breasts, having a female plastic surgeon can help alleviate any apprehension. She understands how to speak to you about your needs. Thus, you feel more comfortable and open up about the results you want.

During the consultation, you should also enquire about the technologies and techniques used at the centre. Understanding the available infrastructure can help enhance your results, promising more natural-looking breasts with a shorter recovery timeline. Especially if you are getting other procedures with your breast lift, you need to know all about the possible complications and techniques that could reduce risks.

 

What to Avoid Before Breast Lift Surgery

Like any surgery, sharing your entire medical history with your surgeon before the procedure is non-negotiable. Especially if you are currently taking any medication, it could adversely impact your results and delay your recovery. Therefore, your surgeon may ask you to avoid this medication or adjust the dosage.

Other things you will need to stop before mastopexy include:

• No smoking for at least a month before your surgery.
• Avoid taking any blood-thinning or anti-inflammatory medicines for 2 weeks before surgery.
• Do not indulge in recreational drugs for 2 weeks before surgery

Finally, arrange for someone to take you home after your procedure. Although this is an outpatient procedure, you should not be driving immediately after.

Once you meet these pre-surgery requirements, you are ready for your mastopexy. Let us discuss what the procedure entails.

 

The Complete Breast Lift Surgery Procedure

The procedure begins with anaesthesia. Although surgeons usually use local anaesthesia for patients, they may choose to put you under general anaesthesia depending on your needs.

After administering the anaesthesia, they make the incision or incisions. Yes, there are two kinds of incision used in breast lift – the periareolar and inframammary incisions. If you have minimal sagging and excess skin, the former incision technique is used. Alternatively, the inframammary incision helps patients with very saggy breasts and lots of excess skin.

The periareolar incision is done around the nipple-areola complex, where the darker skin of the areola meets the lighter breast skin. This careful placement hides the scar, promoting much better, more natural-looking results after your surgery for saggy breasts.

The inframammary incision extends from the periareolar line down towards the under-breast. This creates a lollipop-shaped incision and scar that most expert surgeons agree is the safest way to access the breast tissue. While the scar from an inframammary incision is more visible, the fast-healing properties of breast skin ensure that the scar is inconspicuous by the end of the recovery period.

Your surgeon can remove any excess tissue and skin through these incisions while reshaping the remaining tissue for upper pole fullness and a more aesthetic, natural-looking breast. They also excise skin around the nipple-areola complex if the areola is too large while repositioning the complex at a higher position.

Once the desired lift is achieved, your surgeon closes the incisions with absorbable sutures and fits you with a compression garment customised for your new chest.

 

Recovery After Breast Lift Surgery

Mastopexy is a daycare procedure meaning the patient is discharged the same evening, after their procedure. The patient needs to wear a sports bra or compression garment for 6 weeks following discharge. Other staples of the recovery timeline after mastopexy include the following:

• You can resume all your normal activities after 48 hours.
• You will need to take medications for pain and swelling for 5 days post-op.
• You must avoid strenuous work and weightlifting over your head for 6 weeks.
• You will have some swelling and bruising that mostly subside over the first 1 1/2 months.

Over the 6 months after your procedure, your results get better and look more natural. The scars fade to a large extent, and all the swelling and bruising subside. While you see your final results immediately after your procedure, you need the patience to see the final results and how beautiful they can look.

You will have follow-ups with your surgeon at various intervals during recovery after your surgery for saggy breasts. First, you meet your surgeon after 48 hours to check that your results are settling well and there are no complications. You will need to meet them 1 and 6 weeks to ensure that the results meet expectations.

Your final consultation will be at 6 months after almost all your swelling and bruising goes and the scars fade. As an outsider, they will see the actual results and confirm that your outcome matches your expectations.

 

The Bottom Line

When it comes to breast lift surgery, like any cosmetic procedure, it is about feeling good in one’s own body. Feeling comfortable in your skin is not something you should compromise on, especially when you have the resources to correct any problems you see.

Women opt for mastopexy because it fulfils a desire to see themselves in a different light. Being unhappy with your body can have lasting implications for your mental health, reflecting on how you treat yourself and your body. Choosing mastopexy for symmetrical, perky breasts can help alleviate such body image issues and show that such dreams can become a reality.

The breasts are a sensitive point of discussion for many women. By being secondary sex organs, women often feel self-conscious and awkward talking about their needs with a surgeon. The necessary honesty will only come with the de-stigmatisation of such procedures. Thus, it is imperative to understand that when a woman undergoes mastopexy, she is not doing it for anyone but herself and to support her decision.

As a gold-medallist female plastic surgeon, Dr. Priya Bansal always strives to understand her patients’ desires. She approaches every patient with unparalleled compassion, using techniques that ensure remarkable, natural-looking results. With the sophisticated technology at RG Aesthetics, she promises high-quality procedures and incredible outcomes from every surgery!