1. What are some of the most common benefits of breast lift surgery?

The most common benefit of a breast lift is its ultimate goal, a higher, perkier breast! Many women lose confidence in themselves when their breasts begin to sag, either from having children or losing weight or sometimes simply from the effects of gravity. Correcting that sag can even lead to increased confidence and the ability to wear many more fashions or go braless.


2. What will happen at the initial consultation ?

As with all consults with your plastic surgeon, s/he should take a complete history including any family history of breast disease such as cancer and do an examination of the breast. The surgeon will want to know what bra size you wear and whether you want to be larger, the same size but firmer or even smaller. If you do want to change size, the surgeon will need to go into detail about what size you want. S/he will want to know what you consider an ideal breast; some women simply want the nipples not to hang too low and others want to have upper pole roundness. The latter is difficult to obtain without using an implant so if you want to stay the same size, a small one might be recommended combined with some removal of hanging tissue off the bottom of the breast. The surgeon will want to make sure you do not have any abnormalities of the breast such as masses or extra nipples and depending on your age and history, may want you to have a pre-operative mammogram or ultrasound. There are many different types of breast lifts but most require an incision around the nipple to raise it unless you have very little droop and then an implant alone may perk you up enough. If you do need the nipples raised, please understand that the nipples are not cut off, they are simply raised to a higher position. Then the breast tissue itself may be raised or tightened and there are a variety of incisions which are used. These incisions have names such as the Bennelli or circumareolar scar, the lollipop or vertical mastopexy, the anchor or Wise pattern scar. There are over two dozen such named operations and your surgeon will discuss his/her recommended approach. Sometimes you will be allowed to choose the scar but in general, the lower your nipples hang and the floppier the breast, the more extensive the approach has to be! If you are not sure which one is right for you, ask your surgeon why s/he recommends what s/he does; if the answer is not clear, seek a second opinion and by all means ask to see representative patient results so you can get an idea of your surgeon' s work and how the scars look.


3. How long does breast lift surgery take?

How long breast lift surgery takes depends on what is done. For a simple implant placement to perk up a breast that lost volume but has good nipple position, it may take less than half an hour. For a complicated, saggy breast that needs implants plus major nipple relocation, it can take two to three hours.


4. Do I have to stay in the hospital?

Breast lift surgery is mostly performed as outpatient surgery as long as you are in decent health.


5. How much pain is there?

Most patients feel that breast lift surgery is not as painful as common female surgeries such as hysterectomies and c-sections. If an implant is placed under the muscle, that may lead to more soreness since any work on the muscle is more uncomfortable than work on the skin. Many people think that an incision around the nipple must be painful but that is a false assumption. The breast is a modified sweat gland(a skin appendage) and therefore surgery of the breast is usually not excruciating.


6. What can I expect after breast lift surgery ?

After surgery, you will wake up with surgical bandages on and possibly a drain in each breast. The purpose of the drain is to carry away extra blood and fluid so you will have less swelling/bruising and a faster recovery. Most surgeons remove the drain within a day of surgery and will have you wear a good supportive bra. The type of bra and activities allowed vary from surgeon to surgeon. S/he will let you know before surgery what you should expect but most will let you resume activities fairly quickly. I personally want people to avoid aerobic bouncy exercises or reaching which could stir up bleeding for a week. After that, I let my patients exercise as long as they have their supportive bra on for six weeks. I find that earlier resumption of normal activities leads to faster recovery.


7. What is the longterm outcome like ?

The long term outlook for breast lift depends on many factors. Some of these are under your control, some of these are the result of the surgeon' s technique and some are beyond anyone' s control. The factors under your control are to take care of your health and maintain your weight. Avoid smoking tobacco as that accelerates aging and worsens scarring. Obviously, no matter how high we hike the breasts, gravity is not our friend and we cannot expect a lift to last forever. In general, the better you are about wearing a bra and the smaller you are, the slower the descent will be. As with many of the "tightening" procedures, if you do re-droop faster than you think you should, there are often quick touch-ups that can be done which do not require a full lift.