Breast Reduction: Q&A

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Breast Reduction Exercise

If I do chest exercises and build an underlying muscle will it lift and shrink my breasts, I am a 32D and I hate that they are so big and sag quite a bit for my age ( I am 20). SO I am looking for a way to fix those problems I want smaller breasts but I also would like them to sit higher up once I get there without surgery.

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48 Doctor Answers | Asked by killacam in orlando

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Exercise will not "LIft and Reduce" your breasts

Sorry, but your exercises will not "Lift and Reduce " your breasts. A breast reduction will do both. Good luck.

Exercise Will Help Your Health

This is a commom question that I get. Unfortunately, building the pec muscle does nothing for the overlying gland. However, it may help you to lose weight which may help to decrease breast size. So after your breast reduction, which will reduce the size and elevate the nipple, you will be in phenominal shape to show off that new body. Find a surgeon that performs a supromedial pedicle. This is a newer and better form of the breast reduction.

Exercise and Breast Reduction

Exercise may help you achieve weight loss therefore reducing the size of your breasts but it will not eliminate the need for a breast lift. If you are at your ideal weight, consult with an ASPS board certified plastic surgeon to discuss your concerns. Best wishes!

"Breast Exercises" Won't Reduce the Breast

There is no harm in trying breast or chest exercises, but there is no chance they will reduce the breast or change the breast. The breast has no muscle in it, so exercises won't influence the breast, other than your getting leaner and losing fat content. The chest muscle behind the breast will benefit from exercise.

Working out will tone your muscles, but not your breasts

Building up your chest muscles will not shrink and lift your breasts. The only way to non-surgically reduce the size of your breast is by losing weight. Since you are young, your skin would shrink better than older skin, but it would still not lift your breasts if they are truly drooping. Losing weight can actually make the breasts look more droopy if you lose volume and the skin doesn't shrink to match. It's no fun to be droopy at age 20, and I can understand wanting to avoid surgery if... more

Surgery and exercise will both help, but not without each other

If you are content with your breast size and are looking for just repositioning them to a higher position on your chest then a breast lift is most helpful. It has minimal down time and works to only remove excess skin. Exercise alone will not be helpful as the weight of your breast has diminished the ligament support to your chest wall. Weight loss and exercise are helpful for tone, but not tightness. Good luck.

No, exercise will make breast sagging worse

In the presence of enlarged breasts, exercise will not help reduce their size nor lift the nipples. Actually, it would cause more tissue loss from the breasts, leading to more sagging. The treatment of enlarged breasts at your age is a breast reduction or lift, which allows most young women to further enjoy exercise with less weight to carry around.

Exercise will not appreciably help sagging breasts

Unfortunately your breast tissue will continue to sag even with exercise. There is not muscular support system to the breast that can be improved with exercise. The breast tissue is supported by a network of suspensory ligaments which are unaffected by exercise. Over many years with heavy breasts, the suspensory ligaments weaken the breasts becomes ptotic (drooping). The only way to fix this is with a breast lift procedure.

Unfortunately not

Hi there- Exercise is great, and will definitely improve your overall feeling of well-being, but will not do anything to help with breasts that have a poor shape. In some women (depending on the composition of your breasts), the breasts may get a bit smaller with weight loss, but the shape will remain droopy (and this may even worsen as they get smaller). My advice would be to achieve your desired weight and lifestyle, then find a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon with a lot of experience in... more

Exercise will not improve the aesthetic appearance of breasts

I understand your frustration, but exercise will not improve the aesthetic appearance of your breasts. This is especially true as it relates to the degree of sagging that you have. In fact, if you experience weight loss from your exercise regimen, your sagging could worsen! This is because the skin envelope is already stretched and with breast volume loss, the breast will droop more. You probably do not want to focus on increasing muscle mass of the pectoral muscles as this will contribute... more

Sadly, no

If you exercise and lose body fat, your breasts will shrink to some degree depending on your genetics and how much fat vs. breast tissue comprises your breasts. But as they shrink, they will also droop more if they are already sitting low. The key is where the nipple and areola are positioned in relation to the crease below the breast. If the nipple is well above the crease you might shrink and just lose upper pole fullness. If the nipple is at or below the crease already, it will stay... more

Unfortunately chest exercises won't reduce your breasts

While exercise in general will likely result in weight loss, and weight loss for most women results in some decrease in breast size, specifically targeting the breasts for weight loss by doing chest muscle exercises is fruitless. Additionally, once the breast tissue is lax and stretched out and the skin is saggy, there is no exercise that will change that, and unfortunately the only effective way to deal with this is breast lift or reduction. I hate to be the bearer of bad... more

It Is Not Necessary Nor Recommended To Do Breast Exercises Before A Breast Reduction

Breast reduction surgery is a great procedure to both reduce size of the breasts and at the same time lift the breasts. It is not necessary nor recommended to do “breast exercises” before a reduction. I am not knocking going to the gym or getting in shape but this will do absolutely nothing to tighten or lift the breasts. It actually sometimes almost worsens the situation. As you burn fat from around the breast and chest area it can make the breasts sag more since... more

Exercise and reduction of breast size

Exercises to work on the breast/chest area will likely not directly reduce the size of your breasts. However, the actual act of exercising may promote weight loss, which will in turn lose weight in your breast area as well. With your desires, a surgical procedure to reduce the size of your breasts should be considered. If you do not get the results with weight loss alone, a breast reduction/lift would serve to reduce your breast size, raise your nipple-areolar complex... more

Exercises Have Little Effect on the Overlying Breast Tissue

Exercises that develop the pectoral muscles have little effect on the overlying breast tissue. An aggressive exercise program may result in weight loss and this might decrease the size of the breast. Unfortunately, this won’t help your breast sag, and might actually make it worse. There are obvious benefits of exercise, but these will not impact the breast. The types of changes that you are hoping for will usually require a breast reduction. This procedure will reduce the breast, lift... more

There are no muscles in breast tissue

Increasing or decreasing muscle mass will not change your breast configuration. There is no muscle in your breast tissue, if loose skin is the issue, than the skin needs to be removed or "filled out".

Breast Reduction Exercise

There are no exercises to reduce the size of the breast. Although one may exercise the pectoralis muscle, the mammary gland sits on top of this muscle and will not be affected by the exercise of this muscle.

Breast Reduction Excercises

Thank you for your post. I am glad to hear that you want to get more active with excercise in order to reshape your body. As stated before, there is no spot training with weight loss and excercise. Building up your chest muscles will have negligible effects on your breast shape. Should you lose a significant amount of weight, then there would be a change in your breast volume, but no real change in the overall shape of your breasts and make them look more saggy. ... more

You may be able to make them smaller but lifting them through exercise will not happen

Hello, Since most the tissue of a breast is fat you may be able to make your breasts smaller through diet and exercise. If you lose weight some of that weight will be lost from your breasts. Breast shape and position however cannot be improved through diet and exercise since the the skin envelope as well as the shape of your breast tissue cannot be tightened by diet and exercise. All the best, Dr Remus Repta

Does exercise improve the symptomsof large breasts?

There is no evidence to support the theory that exercising the chest muscles will do anything for breasts that are symptomatic (i.e., neck pain, back pain, shoulder grooving, intertriginous rashes) and need a reduction. Exercise is good for overall health and muscle tone but surgical intervention is the only way to reduce a large breast. Also, if exercise and weight loss are carried out at a high level the fatty tissue in the breasts will decrease and cause further drooping of the breasts. more

Breast Reduction - Breast Reduction Exercise

No such luck. While many people hope and want it to be the case, exercising your pecs will not do much, if anything, to your breasts. It will make your pecs larger and stronger and if you lose weight, some of that will come off your breasts. So it could actually make them a little smaller - but as far as lifting them? Nothing that I know of, aside from surgery. I hope that this helps and good luck, Dr. E

Breast reduction, exercise, surgery and breast lift

Great question! It would be great if there were a way to give you exactly what you're after through exercise. Breast size is related to weight, so if you are overweight and lose weight through exercise then you will be able to reduce your breast size with exercise. Chances are you'll also feel happier and healthier if you make exercise a regular habit. Exercise can definitely improve your posture. If you tend to sit or stand with your shoulders slumped over (as many women... more

Exercise will not reduce the size of your breasts

What exercise may do for you is to assist in weight loss. If you are able to lose weight, this may produce a significant reduction in breast size. Muscle development will not lift or shrink the breasts. The only way to accomplish this is thorugh breast reduction surgery. If you are not emotionally prepared for surgery at this time, the option of surgery will always be available to you.

No exercise is going to help

Sagging breasts are genetic and has nothing to do with the pectoral muscles under the breasts. A breastlift with a reduction of some of the breast tissue is indicated.

Robert E. Zaworski, MD

4 reviews

Atlanta Plastic Surgeon

Breast lifting exercises

Exercising is good...but not to lift your breasts. reductions lead to scars and then having kids make them droop again. so wait until the symptoms force you to have surgery for physical relief. it is not cosmetic.

Exercise has no effect on breast position before or after breast reduction.

The breast hangs from the pectoral fascia of the pectoralis muscle. It will descend over time due to gravity and loss of integrity of the connective tissue support regardless of any conditioning of the pectoralis muscle.

Exercise will not fix large sagging breasts

Unfortunately, building muscle will not do anything to shrink large breasts. This is because breast tissue is glandular and not made of muscle at all. Rather, the muscle lies underneath the breast tissue itself. Losing weight will sometimes help reduce the amount of fat in the breast, but sometimes makes the sagging worse.

Sagging breast despite chest muscle exercises

You have said that your breasts are large and sagging despite doing chest muscle exercises. This is not surprising as the chest muscles under the breasts offer on means to support the breasts which are suspended by fibrous cords called suspensory ligaments. Exercises do nothing to help theses ligaments. The fact that you breasts are large means that they will therefore pull down and stretch the suspensory ligaments with their weight, A good support bra may... more

No Change

Chest exercises will not lift or shrink your breasts. They affect muscle, but the breast sits on top of the muscle and will not lift or shrink even if the muscle enlarges.

Only surgery or significant weight loss will decrease your breast size

Exercise does not decrease your breast size unless you exercise to a point that you loose a lot of weight. Building up chest muscles will not reduce your breast cup size. To get smaller and perkier breasts, only surgery is your option. Talk to a board certified plastic surgeon, who is able to show you a lot of before and after pictures and you like his or her results. Sincerely, Martin Jugenburg, MD

Chest exercises won't change your breasts

It sounds like a breast reduction with lift will be your best option, since you are thin and have large breasts. Unfortunately, the trade-off is some scarring on the breasts, but these usually fade nicely over time.

Carmen Kavali, MD

11 reviews

Atlanta Plastic Surgeon

Chest exercises will not shrink or lift breasts

Getting in shape is always a good thing. There are some limitations to what it can do. Sspecific breast and chest exercises will not lift your breasts or cause the skin to shrink. Some women can lose volume from their breasts with losing weight, but that is a different than what you describe. Please see a board certified plastic surgeon. Together you can make a plan to achieve your goals.

Breast size and its relation to exercise

In short, exercise will not improve shape, shrink skin or lift a breast. In large breasted women, exercise without a tight fitting bra can cause the breasts to sage and make matters worse.

Exercise alone will not shrink and lift your breast

Unfortunately, exercise alone will not shrink your breast skin and lift the position of your breasts. There are many excellent procedures that will perform this through limited incisions and short downtimes. Your best bet is to work the board-certified plastic surgeon who has a great of experience in breast lift and breast reduction techniques. They will help you choose the technique that will help you achieve your aesthetic goals.

Maybe exercise can shrink breasts, but not lift

Hello, Exercise can help you lose weight. Many women lose fullness in their breasts with weight loss. This varies. Weight loss will not tighten your skin however. Your breasts will either stay the same or droop a bit more after any significant weight loss. Exercise cannot tighten skin.

No amount of chest muscle exercise will lift and reduce breast size

Anatomically there is not any muscular component that comprises or supports breast tissue. Therefore, exercising your chest or pectoralis musculature will not influence the size and shape of your breasts. However, there are varying amounts of fat in a given breast and a vigorous exercise routine may serve to make your breasts more lean and somewhat smaller. To achieve a substantial breast reduction of several cup sizes and to simultaneously lift your breast will require traditional Breast... more

Exercise will not make breasts look better.

Hi. You see, there are no muscles in the breasts, and muscles are the only body part that exercises. So exercise has no effect on the breasts. Breast reduction and breast lift (done together) is safe, gives you smaller, perky breasts, and leaves a lollipop scar which fades with time.

Exercising vs. Breast Lift

There is a chance that exercising can improved your sagging breast. For patients who have good skin tone (younger patients) and have breast which are more fatty in nature, exercising will allow you to lose weight. If you lose weight in a very gradual manner, the heaviness of the breast will decrease, and if you have good skin tone the breast sagging can improve. However, exercising the chest for the stake of developing the chest muscle will not improve your sagging. For older patients... more

Exercise will do a little for you

Killacam: You have the advantage of youth on your side. First, I think pectoral muscle exercises will not lift or shrink your breasts, but they can build muscle definition the can give an attractive appearance to the upper chest and ultimately your breast area. Second, exercises that burn more fat (cardio plus resistance) may help you loose fat within the breast and become smaller. Unfortunately, you cannot selectively reduce your breasts this way. Third, the average woman who looses... more

Exercise not likely to shrink and lift breasts

Building the muscles under the breasts will only make them more prominent. Exercise will do nothing to tighten the breast skin or breast tissue. The only way to reduce the sag is with a surgical lift.

Breast anatomy

The shape of a woman's breast are determined by many different factors. Some of these factors you are born with, others you can control. 1. Your Genetics. This is an all-inclusive factor, but ultimately has the greatest influence on how your breasts will change over time. 2. The thickness and elasticity of your breast and chest skin. This is a big factor in determining breast shape and nipple position. However, even women with great skin will succumb to the forces of gravity over time if... more

Possibly lift breasts

Exercise and diet will help with weight loss and most women also lose volume in their breasts. With the reduced weight of the breasts they elevate a little. If you are at your ideal weight now, then the best option would be a breast lift. I like the verticle lift best, as it gives a round shape with the least amount of scarring.

Not likely

If you lose weight, your breast size may reduce, and your nipples may come up some, however, if you have significant sagging, I do not see how you can achieve an aesthetic look without surgery www.drkasden.us

Unfortunately, exercise does not lift breasts

Hello killacam, We always encourage exercise and a healthy lifestyle. If your breasts are 32D, they have been subjected to gravity already. Genetics also plays a role when we see women who have not had a child but their breasts sag already. If you exercise, lift weights and lose weight—your body will benefit in many ways. However, lifting of the breasts will not happen and it sounds like only a surgical procedure would help you there. Best of luck as you research your options. more

Breasts and exercise

Most breasts have a mixed component of fat and breast tissue. If you exercise and loose weight the breast will deflate but will not raise. To lift the breasts, you probably will require surgery.

Steven Wallach, MD

12 reviews

Manhattan Plastic Surgeon

Exercise and breast reduction

Exercise is a wonderful thing for your health and self worth. Unfortunately if you need breast reduction, exercise will do very little for you. As you get fitter and leaner you might loose some tissue in your breasts, which will make breasts somewhat smaller but also will make your breast somewhat droopier. Once you achieve your optimum fitness goals, if you decide to proceed with a surgery to improve the appearance of your breasts, make sure you get evaluated by a... more

Improving saggy breasts

A woman's body is very unique. Exercise may result in weight loss which can cause the breasts to sag even more. Since you are at such a young age, the skin may bounce back, but not as significantly as you like. If you want to achieve a perkier look, you may benefit from breast augmentation and a lift as well. I would not suggest a breast reduction alone unless your breasts cause you upper body pain or prevent you from activity.