Nipple surgery can change the size or shape of your nipples, making them smaller, more symmetrical, or more proportionate to your breasts.
It can also turn inverted nipples outward, repair damaged nipples, or reconstruct nipples that have been damaged or removed during a mastectomy.Â
This plastic surgery procedure is often combined with another breast surgery, including breast augmentation, a breast lift, breast reduction, or breast reconstruction.Â
These are the primary types of nipple surgery, according to Dr. Luis Macias, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Marina del Ray, California. Surgical techniques vary, so take time during your initial consultation to thoroughly discuss your concerns and make sure you understand the proposed treatment plan.
Inverted nipple correction surgery
- Nipple inversion can be caused by the milk ducts tethering to the nipples and pulling them inward.
- This surprisingly common concern doesn’t pose health risks, but inversion can interfere with breastfeeding or make people feel self-conscious.
- During inverted nipple surgery, a surgeon cuts under the nipples to free them from the surrounding tissue, then secures them into position with small sutures.
- Some surgeons also apply small stents to keep them in the protruding position. Those should remain on the nipples for the first week of healing time.Â
- Some surgeons perform milk duct-sparing inverted nipple correction, while some sever the duct.
Nipple or areola reduction
- Reducing the size of the pigmented skin surrounding the nipple is a relatively minor surgical procedure, performed under local anesthesia. Learn more.
- To reduce large nipples, a plastic surgeon either makes a small incision around the base of the nipple (encompassing the pigmented area) and removes excess tissue, or amputates the end of the nipple and allows it to heal over a week. Finally, they carefully close the incision with tiny sutures. Â
Extra nipple removal
- A “supernumerary nipple” (or third nipple) can be removed with a simple surgical excision and requires only local anesthetic.
- The surgeon makes an incision and removes the nipple with a scalpel or laser, before closing the incision with sutures.Â
Nipple enlargement or enhancement
- Increasing the size and appearance of the nipple can involve either a nonsurgical cosmetic procedure or plastic surgery.
- Dermal fillers like Juvéderm, Restylane, or Radiesse can be injected into the nipple, to add volume for up to a year.
- An option with more longevity is fat transfer. The surgeon harvests excess fat from another body area via liposuction, purifies the fat, and carefully injects it into the nipple to create the desired volume. Not all transferred fat survives, but the fat that remains after several months is considered permanent.
Nipple reconstructive surgery
- During breast reconstruction, nipples can be created from surrounding skin (or skin taken from another area, like the abdomen) that’s sculpted into shape and secured by sutures.
- Once the tissue has healed, color is tattooed on the nipple and a surrounding “areola.”
- Nipple reconstruction techniques aren’t yet advanced enough to look entirely realistic, and the nipple sensation will be the same as the rest of your breast tissue. For these reasons, some women opt for 3-D nipple tattoos, which can look nearly as realistic.
Related: 6 Things You've Always Wondered About Areolas but Didn't Want to Ask
