What is Breast Lifting?

The breast is a skin gland that has attachments to the overlying skin and the muscle below it which serves to hold the gland in place. Over the years, with an increase in size of the breast tissue due to weight gain and/or pregnancy, the ligaments become stretched and the gland and nipple descend on the torso, creating a "droopy" look. The breast lift or mastopexy is an operation, done several different ways, to lift the gland and nipple/areola into a more attractive position, hopefully creating a "perky" appearance. This can be done with or without augmenting the breast, although the use of an implant gives the breast a more youthful round look.The different options in breast lifting usually depend on the amount of droop. With just a little drooping, the nipple can be pulled up with a crescent of tissue removed from above the areola and the tissue essentially "pinned up" (Crescent mastopexy) and usually augmented. With a little more droop, one can have a circumareolar lift, also called the Benelli procedure, which leaves a scar completely around the areola. The current method of choice is the "vertical lift", which changes the shape of the breast itself as well as lifting the areola. This technique, in my opinion gives the best result with the least scarring -- around the areola and vertically down from the six o clock position of the areola straight down almost to the crease. The final type called the "anchor" lift is for very droopy breasts and leaves a scar like an anchor, around the nipple, vertically down to the crease and across the crease from medial to lateral. Of course, all of these techniques can be done with or without an implant. The results are usually pleasing, but one should be aware that there is a trade-off in shape and position versus the scar which can be nearly invisible or in some percentage of cases, ugly, depending on wound healing. There can be substantial risks in addition, but fortunately in small numbers of cases. The vast majority of women get pleasing results with minimal risks.