One of the more unfortunate parts of aging is the effect gravity has on seemingly all of our tissues. Women’s breasts don’t get a reprieve. Unfortunately, sagging in the breasts is also accentuated by pregnancy, breastfeeding, and changes in weight. What were once firm breasts that sat high on the chest are now drooping and in some cases the nipples can even be pointed downward.
When this happens a woman wonders what happened to her former, higher breasts. The answer is that they are not gone for good, as a breast lift with Dr. Lipton can return the breasts to a higher, younger profile.
Three ways for younger-looking breasts
There are three ways to surgically return the breasts to their younger-looking profile. If a woman wants only a modest elevation of her breasts and wants larger breasts, breast augmentation may be the answer. The nipples will appear higher, and the upper part of the breasts will be fuller. Plus, in augmentation, scars are virtually invisible if they are placed around the areolae.
But when a woman likes the size of her breasts, yet wants to eliminate sagging, the excess skin needs to be removed. This is a breast lift. This procedure creates more extensive scarring. Dr. Lipton uses two incision methods, depending on the amount of lift needed.
- In a lollipop method, the incision circles the areola and extends downward to the breast crease. This type of lift will elevate the breasts about 2 inches or less.
- If a greater amount of elevation is needed, the incision will follow the lollipop method, plus will extend horizontally along the breast crease in both directions. This is called an anchor incision and it allows the largest amount of skin removal.
Combining the two
Sometimes, a woman wants to have a lift, but would also like to replace volume that has been lost due to breastfeeding and aging. In these cases, Dr. Lipton combines a breast lift with augmentation. Adding implants during a breast lift surgery is not difficult, as the access is already available through the incisions necessary to remove the excess skin. Plus, by adding augmentation to your breast lift, you have just a single recovery for what, in effect, are two procedures.
Recovery
Recovery from augmentation and/or a lift, will require 1-2 weeks before the person returns to work or regular activities. With augmentation, where the implants were placed beneath the chest muscle, the patient will feel as if their muscle is straining for about one week. Light exercise such as walking can resume in 1-2 weeks, but strenuous activity and lifting need to wait at least one month. Wearing your surgical bra and then transitioning to a support bra 24 hours a day is critical during your recovery to keep stress off of your incisions.
Interested in returning your breasts to their former, higher position? Or do you want to eliminate some sagging by adding volume through augmentation? Or do you want both? Sounds like a consultation with Dr. Lipton is in order. Contact us at our Lewisville offices, (972) 420-0023.
