Breast Lift: Q&A

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Is It Possible to Breastfeed After Breast Lift Surgery?

I have successfully breastfed 4 children in the past. Two years ago I had a breast lift and augmentation. Now, I am unexpectedly expecting and would love to be able to breast feed this new baby. What are my chances?

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breast feeding 2 years post-op

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19 Doctor Answers | Asked by jennifer37 in Kansas

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Breast Feeding After Breast Lift

Congratulations on your pregnancy! There is every reason to expect your breast will respond normally to pregnancy. There is a small chance you may not be successful with attempts to nurse your baby, but you certainly should try: you will most likely be successful.

Breastfeeding after breast lift with implants is possible

While we don't have exact numbers to give you, I can certainly say that many women are able to breastfeed after having an augmentation and breast lift done. You should definitely try to breastfeed, since it's something you want to do. You may find it works just fine!

Carmen Kavali, MD

11 reviews

Atlanta Plastic Surgeon

Breastfeeding after breast lift

It is often possible for patients who have undergone either breast lift alone or in combination with augmentation to breast lift after subsequent pregnancy. Some of the factors which will affect your chances of breastfeeding are placement of incisions on the breasts, amount of dissection, preservation of nipple ducts and formation of scar tissue after surgery.

Breast-feeding after breast lift surgery

It is possible to breast-feed after breast lift surgery. As the surgery will rearrange your breast tissue, you may produce less milk than if you have not had the surgery in the first place. Discuss your concerns with a board-certified plastic surgeon with a great deal experience in breast lift surgery. They may be able to modify their surgical technique to preserve as much of your central breast mound and keep intact as possible so as not to disturb the production of milk in... more

Breast feeding after breast lift surgery

It is difficult to predict how successful you will be in breast feeding your next child. Some of the ductal tissue may have been divided during your previous surgery. However, that does not mean that you may not be able to breast feed at all. You just may have to supplement.

Steven Wallach, MD

12 reviews

Manhattan Plastic Surgeon

Breast feeding after breast lift

The answer is simple. Yes, it is possible. It may even be probable. But you won't know for sure until you try. Many women have successsfully breast fed after these procedures, but for you as an individual, you won't know until you try. Congratulations on your family.

You could have high chance of breastfeeding after lift

There is a good chance that you could breast feed after your surgery. As mentioned before the technique used during surgery and how much breast dissection was done are key issues. I would not worry much about it, time will tell.

Highly likely

With an augmentation/mastopexy it is likely that the incision was made around the areola. This disrupts some of the breast tissue but not to a significant degree. If the incision was made in the fold and the lift done by just deepithelializing the skin than this is even at less risk. The long and short of it is that you should be fine. Congratulations!

You have a good chance of breast feeding

You have a good chance of breast feeding. However, there are many factors that you have to consider. First, it depends on the type of life you had. Second, it also depends on the tissue that was removed. However, if most cases, patient are still able to breast feed without a problem. Good luck.

Nursing and lactation after augmentation mastopexy

It very much depends on the technique used. However, in the vast majority of cases, you should be capable of lactation and nursing. Many feel that there are strong benefits to nursing your child and you should proceed if this is your wish. However, there are a couple of issues which you may want to take into consideration: 1) Depending on how large and how long you nurse you may become, you may develop recurrent sagging (ptosis). You may need to be prepared to have another lift. 2) There are... more

Otto Joseph Placik, MD

32 reviews

Chicago Plastic Surgeon

Difficult to say

Hi there- It is very difficult to say what your chances of success are, because to some extent they will depend on variables which cannot be perfectly understood (such as how your breast tissue reacted to the surgery). It is clear that your chances of producing the same amount of breast milk as you did before surgery are reduced, however if you are approaching breast feeding as an important means of transferring your immunity to your baby, every little bit counts, even if you have to... more

Possible to breastfeed after breast lift

Since you have breast fed before, the combination of breast augmentation and breast lift will decrease the chance of successful breast feeding only minimally. Even breast reduction surgery still allows over 2/3rds of patients to breast feed. A lift or augmentation interferes less with breast tissue.

Your chances of successful breast feeding are somewhat reduced.

Hi! By all means try, but recent studies show that women who have had breast augmentation are less able to breast feed. Breast lift alone has no effect on breast feeding.

Rare for patient to be unable to breastfeed after lift surgery

Hello Jennifer, You have proven you can breast feed, as you have done so successfully 4 previous times. Our experience has been that it is rare that a patient cannot breast feed after an augmentation/lift, so I think the odds are with you. Discuss it with your plastic surgeon and he/she will be able to give you some numbers pertinent to his/her individual experience. Good luck with the baby!

It depends

At least you know that you are capable of breast feeding. Most breast lifts don't take away the natural mechanism for breast feeding so you will just need to see what happens. Good luck!

Breast feeding after a breast lift

In my experience (over 30 yrs) with both breast lifts and reductions, the occasional patient has been able to breast feed successfully. A lift (mastopexy) will usually leave more ductal tissue entact, BUT this is not necessarily a guarantee of successful lactation and feeding.

It is hard to say...

You can only try and see if it possible. Breast augmentation does not change the statistics regarding ability to breast feed. Some lifts cut across the milk ducts but this does not mean you will not be able to breast feed. You also have to remember that not all women without breast surgery will be able to breast feed (only about 80-85%) and that just because you breast fed before it doesn't mean you will be able to breast feed again. This may not have anything to do with your surgery since... more

Robin T.W. Yuan, MD

4 reviews

Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon

It all depends

Different techniques have a different chance of breastfeeding. Some techniques damage the breast ducts (the tubes that bring milk to the nipples), while others do not affect the flow or production of milk. Regardless of the procedure performed, I advise against breast feeding if you have lost sensation in your nipple. This problem would put you at risk for developing a mastitis. If you do have decreased sensation in one or both breasts, you can pump the milk and then feed it to the baby.... more

Breast feeding is possible after breast lift surgery.

There is no guarantee that a woman can breast feed with or without antecedent surgery. I have had many patients that have breast fed after a lift. The lift certainly doesn't make feeding any more likely but it does not remove the possibility of it.