Pleasanton Breast Lift doctors

Thanks for your question -

In our Bay Area practice we frequently perform traditional and short scar / vertical scar mastopexy (breast lift).

The challenge with this procedure for many patients is the scar and plastic surgeons have been working for decades to find ways to minimize the scar while keeping the powerful and long lasting results of traditional lift techniques.

Unfortunately, no one has nailed a scar free technique.  Suture techniques have been tried in other areas (facelift, buttock lift, etc.)  Most of these techniques have been abandoned as reliable alternatives to traditional surgical techniques.

I would doubt that a suture technique would produce a long lasting change.  In addition, the concept of suture techniques in breast lifts makes even LESS sense than these same techniques in facelifts because with many breast lift candidates you really have an excess of skin that won't change.

I hope this helps!

There are three ways to do a lift, basically.  They are peri-areolar, vertical (lollipop), and anchor or inverted-T.

The peri-areolar technique tends to flatten the breast, not make it perky, unless an implant is used.  For someone who already has sufficient volume and does not want more, not a good choice.

That leaves the other techniques.  For a patient who does not need much nipple elevation, the vertical lift might be fine.  However, there is a scar on the front of the breast.  This scar usually heals well as a fine line over time.

Sometimes the vertical lift requires the addition of a small horizontal incision in the inframammary fold to remove excess skin in the vertical direction.

Unfortunately, when excess skin must be removed to get elevation, there will have to be a scar on the front of the breast. These trade-offs should be frankly discussed with your plastic surgeon and should be acceptable to you if you want a breast lift that has the potential to give a nice lifted shape.

A breast lift requires repositioning the nipple/areola upwards and removing some skin.

The use of an implant as opposed to only a mastopexy without implant may allow a peri-areolar scar if the implant is relatively large with respect to the breast volume. It doesn't work, for example, if you are taking a C cup and putting in a small 150-250 implant.  There is just not enough volume from the implant to make a large enough platform to tighten down a purse-string suture without flattening the breast.

On the other hand if a patient is an A cup, and had not previously been a D, implying a lot of stretched out skin excess,  an augmentation to a C would take up a lot of the slack in the skin, decreasing the amount to be removed.  If the degree of vertical lift was only 2-4 cm, then this kind of lift works well, and the scar is just around the areola. 

When can you not do this and get an acceptable cosmetic result?  When there is just too much skin to be removed. That's where your doctor's experience and judgment will guide you.

Another point is that it is easier to control areola size post-op with the standard mastopexy. With the peri-areolar mastopexy with augmentation, there is outward pressure on the closure. That can result in unpredictable widening of the areola later, even though all precautions are taken with one or more permanent purse-string sutures.

With your history of going from D to A, implying a lot of skin excess, the vertical technique sounds appropriate.