Will Breasts Appear Smaller After Lift without Implants or Look Bigger because They'll Look Perkier?

After surgery, your bare breasts might appear to be smaller than they used to be because the surgery shortened and tightened them, but the change in size is just an illusion. Your breasts will be the same size they were before surgery because only excess, stretched skin is removed during a breast lift; no breast tissue is taken away. In a bra, you're breasts might look fuller. To get a preview of how you'll look after your lift, put on a good bra and look in the mirror. A lift is essentially like wearing the right bra - the remaining skin is sutured together to create a sling - essentially a natural support bra - that raises the breast. 

Two things happen and seem paradoxical. As as the swelling goes down there will be some shrinkage but at the same time as the muscle relaxes your breast projection grows. In general the breast shape and size proportionality improves..Breast implants initially after surgery when placed in a submuscular position often give superior fullness that corrects itself with time, the "fluff and drop" phenomena. In reality the pectoralis major muscle takes a while to adjust its size to accommodate the implant as well as occasional muscle spasm which keeps the implant projection higher than its final resting shape. Additional variables include:laxity of skin, size difference during prior pregnancies, position of implant,size of muscle, and size of implant.As the muscle relaxes the projection of the implant often increases and the breast shape improves. Massage and use of a superior placed elastic strap can often make this process go faster.

Hi Kathz,

Great question! So glad you asked. There's a new technique called the Ultimate Breast Lift which actually reshapes your existing breast tissue and permanently suspends it to make it look like implants. Breasts are firm and perky giving the appearance of larger breasts because they project more. An added benefit to this procedure is NO VERTICAL SCAR. This technique works for all breast types. Look into it. Best wishes, Dr. H

Hi there-

It is important to understand that not all breast lifts are created equal...

Assuming your breast lift is performed by an experienced and talented breast surgeon, it is possible to achieve both an improvement in shape and the appearance of fulness as the breast tissue is redistributed over the anatomically correct (smaller) footprint of the breasts.

 

A breast lift will definitely provide perkier looking breasts.  In lifting the breasts, some skin and a small amount of tissue are removed to create the desired look, so they may be slightly smaller than before surgery.