Breast reduction or sagging breasts
	Indications
	Surgery
	After surgery
	Conclusion

Indications

Surgery is indicated when the breasts have sagged and/or are too large, or in medical terms Ptosis and/or Mammary Hypertrophy. The aim is therefore to raise them, while possibly also reducing their size.

A mammogram is systematically prescribed prior to the operation. Large-scale studies have been undertaken to ascertain whether surgery could encourage breast cancer. The findings have always been negative and have even shown that a certain number of small cancers have actually bee detected and removed during cosmetic surgery.

Breasts that are too big and too heavy affect the back and the neck, resulting in a stoop and pain. This us often aggravated by poor posture due to the complex, especially in young girls.

The operation provides a triple benefit:

- Cosmetic, of course,

- Functional, by improving back pain and allowing a wide range of activities, especially sport, hitherto too painful or even impossible, and

- Psychological, getting rid of a complex that may be a real handicap.

Hypertrophy in young girls can be treated from the age of 16 or 17.

Surgery

This is carried out under general anaesthesia.

Every breast problem is a special case and different situations may be envisaged:

- Simple ptosis where the breasts need only be lifted and reshaped, with semi-general anaesthetic, a few hours hospitalisation and a scar around the areola, i.e. at the border between the coloured skin around the nipple and the pale skin, and therefore with a natural appearance and hard to see.

- Breasts needing reduction, going from an E or F cup to a B cup, sometimes requiring the removal of two kilograms; general anaesthesia is used, with 48 hours hospitalisation and scarring like an inverted T, with a scar around the areola and a vertical scar descending from the areola to the fold under the breast. Even in extreme cases, the techniques used avoid the armpit and sternum areas that are visible under plunging necklines or sleeveless clothing.

Everything is possible between these two extremes:

- Scar around the areola + vertical scar,

- Scar around the areola + vertical scar + a small horizontal scar.

The patient is treated in a semi-seated position, which is the guarantee of a perfectly symmetrical aesthetic result.
There is slight pain after surgery. On recovery, you wear a bra-shaped dressing, which you must keep on for a week.

After surgery

On leaving the clinic you will be prescribed antibiotics and painkillers. The dressing is removed six days after the operation. You must then wear a bra without underwiring, matching the size of your new bust, day and night for one month.

You may subsequently wear any type of bra.
The stitches are intradermal (between different layers of skin) and are naturally resorbed.

Sport is not advised for six weeks.

You must not expose your breasts or your scars directly to the sun for one year, but you may sunbathe after one month if you wear a swimsuit.

The bust is nicely shaped at once, but will be perfect only after two to three months.

Conclusion

Breast surgery gives great satisfaction, especially in the case of hypertrophy in young girls.

In addition, nipple sensitivity is generally preserved and breastfeeding is still possible. It is therefore not a good idea to wait too long to correct very large breasts in young women. The operation is possible from the age of 17 onwards, to avoid the appearance or aggravation of postural problems. It is also recommended to treat disabling hypertrophies, even after the menopause.

And finally, in some cases of flat and drooping breasts, surgery can be associated with the use of implants for augmentation.