What is breast lift surgery?

What is a mastopexy?

A breast lift, also known as mastopexy, is a surgical procedure that corrects breast ptosis while restoring a harmonious shape to the patient’s breasts. Breast ptosis is the drooping of the breasts, which can be caused by significant weight loss or after several pregnancies.

Mastopexy requires separating the excess skin volume from the breast tissue that has become insufficient to fill it. The breast tissue must then be lifted and the excess skin removed.

It is possible to combine a breast lift with implants for women who are not satisfied with the volume of their breasts and who also have significant breast ptosis.

If the patient does not wish to have implants, it is possible to combine a breast lift with lipofilling (injection of the patient’s own fat into the breast).

This procedure is intended for women who have a complex about their breasts, following several pregnancies, or after a strong weight loss or simply the passage of time. It allows the breast to be reshaped, to restore a curved and rounded shape to the breast but also to symmetrize the breast.

Procedure

The breast lift is a surgical operation performed under general anesthesia. It requires a 24-hour hospital stay. As with any cosmetic surgery, the breast lift is preceded by a mandatory initial consultation and a second appointment if additional tests are needed or if you simply wish to see the surgeon again for reassurance. During the first meeting with the surgeon, he or she will give you the details of the operation and recommendations to follow before (stop smoking and drinking alcohol at least 2 weeks before the operation, avoid taking certain medications such as aspirin, etc.) and after the operation.

There are three main breast lift techniques, the choice of which depends on the surgeon but also on the degree of sagging of the breast:

• the areolar incision, i.e. around the nipple
• the areolar and vertical incision which starts from the nipple and goes down to the fold of the breast.
• the inverted T incision.

The cure of breast ptosis requires gestures that can resemble those of a breast reduction: it is to raise the mammary gland and remove the excess skin. To do this, the plastic surgeon draws the outline of the remaining part of the breast after the operation on the awake patient. Then the skin around the areola is removed and the nipple is lifted. The last step is to remove the excess skin and mammary gland to give a round shape to the breast.

The operation lasts between 1 hour 30 and 2 hours on average. If the surgeon performs an additional operation (prosthesis, breast reduction, …), the breast lift operation may take a little longer. Surgeons use absorbable sutures for the sutures. You will not have to remove them.

Recovery

After a breast lift or mastopexy, a suction drainage system is usually put in place to reduce the risk of hematoma. It is usually kept for 24 hours, depending on its production. The breast dressing is removed the day after the procedure. A light dressing will be applied and you will have to wear the non-wired bra prescribed preoperatively. It must be worn day and night for about a month. Hospitalization for breast lift lasts between 1 and 2 days and it is recommended that someone keep you back home. After a breast lift, there is no thread to remove, the sutures are completely absorbable. The first shower after a mastopexy is allowed the day after the removal of the drains.

During the first weeks or months following the breast ptosis treatment, you may notice :

• edema (swelling) of the breasts. This may be asymmetrical and of variable size. It fades in the first few weeks, and can sometimes persist for a month or more.
• bruising of the breasts, often asymmetrical. They persist for a few weeks, and at least 15 to 21 days.
• Breast pain is moderate and well relieved by painkillers.

It is advisable to perform a reference mammogram a few months after the surgery.

Like any surgical procedure, a breast lift carries risks:

• Thrombo-embolic accidents (phlebitis, pulmonary embolism): wearing anti-thrombosis stockings will reduce this risk.
• This is due to bleeding from the operated area.
• Necrosis of the areolas can be total or partial. It is clearly favored by smoking, which permanently alters the capillary circulation of the blood, as well as by obesity. It usually results in large scars. In case of total loss of the areolas, surgical reconstruction is proposed a few months after complete healing, which is itself long and requires daily dressings at home for several weeks or months.
• Infection is exceptional but possible. It may lead to surgical drainage under general anesthesia.
• Changes in sensitivity: numbness, insensitivity, or “strange” sensations of the areolas and nipples, these changes are frequent and usually disappear, at least partially, with time. However, they can be permanent.
• Scars can be large or hypertrophic, in an unpredictable way. They may sometimes require surgical correction when they are large and/or corticosteroid injections when they are hypertrophic.
• Early disunion of the scars
• Imperfections in the result are possible. It can be an asymmetry or an insufficient correction. These imperfections sometimes justify a surgical touch-up several months after the initial surgery.

 

The final results of breast lift, before and after surgery, are visible after a minimum of 3 to 6 months. The majority of patients are very satisfied with this operation. The breast has a much more harmonious shape, a plumped up breast, less flabby and firmer and with a very natural appearance. In addition, in the case of existing breast asymmetry associated with ptosis, it could be corrected and thus regain symmetry of the two breasts.

However, it is important to keep in mind that breast lift surgery can leave some scars that take time to fade. It is therefore essential to be careful to limit sun exposure as much as possible during the first year.