Breast Augmentation and Mastopexy

I concur that the plastic surgery community is divided on this issue of one-stage vs. two-stage augmentation and lift procedures. I need to asses the patient and the degree of ptosis or sagging. I commonly perform a safe combined augmentation and mastopexy procedure in one stage except when the sagging is very  severe (example: nipples pointing down to floor in a massive weight loss patient) or if there are issues with a patient's health status. What are the risks of a combined procedure? Widening of scars or the areola or worse, partial or complete nipple areola loss. 

 I have an extensive experience with augmentation mastopexy procedures, and I still approach each and every combined procedure with extreme caution.  these augmentatin mastopexy procedures can be quite challenging and their difficulty level must be respected. I recommend you visit with a board certified plastic surgeon who regularly performs these procedures. Remember, there is nothing wrong with a two-stage approach. Its fine to come back and fight another day.

In my experience, when a patient needs a lift and an augmentation,I perform them in one procedure over 75% of the time. When one does this, you have to be a little more conservative on the lift ,because it's better to have the nipple a little low rather than a little high. I don't think that doing it in one stage significantly affects the scarring. I explain to patients that one stage may accomplish what they're looking for ,but they also may require a second ,more minor revision stage, and these I can sometimes do in my office.

Most patients prefer to have the procedure done in one stage and the number of revisions that I perform as a second stage less than 10%.

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