Areola Reduction and Tissue Expantion for Tuberous Breasts, Will This Give Me Normal, Full Looking Breasts?

There is a new technique called The Mini Ultimate Breast Lift.  Using only a circumareola incision it is possible to reduce the puffiness of the areolas, reshape your breast tissue creating upper pole fullness, elevate them higher on the chest wall and more medial to increase your cleavage.  Aligning the areola and breast tissue over the bony prominence of the chest wall maximizes anterior projection.  This technique does not require expansion or implants and produces a natural appearance. 

 

Best Wishes,

 

Gary Horndeski, M.D.

correction of tuberous breasts

like all patients and surgeries, there are frequently more than one answer.

periareola surgery is generally required..   expansion can be used but often is not needed and the use of implants alone or  serial exchange of implants is sometimes less expensive with excellent outcomes.

The main issue is how much constriction or tightness you have in your breast tissues and overlying skin, especially at the bottom of the breasts.  This is one of the main reasons why tuberous breasts develop the way that they do.  The skin and breast tissue ligaments are tight and constricted, again, mostly at the lower aspect of the breast mound, and this prevents the breast mound from developing into a full, round, normally pendulous shape.  With nowhere else to expand, the growing breast tissue begins to force its way through the areola, which then becomes the weak link in the chain, and that is why the tuberous breast has its characteristic appearance of large, dilated areola with puffiness, or sometimes herniation and ptosis (drooping) of breast tissue through the areola.  With this background, you can probably appreciate the rationale behind correcting the deformity.  If it only involves some puffiness of the areola and a relatively normal shape to the lower breast, it may be possible to get a natural looking breast and a decent result with just an areolar reduction/tightening procedure alone.  On the other hand, if there is any significant degree of constriction of the tissues and deformity of the shape of the lower breast - flattening, elevation of the fold, overhanging of the breast - then simply correcting the areolar size will not address these issues of shape, and I would expect that the breasts would still look abnormally shaped.  In order to correct those things one would have to create some expansion of the lower breast tissues to reverse the constriction that is naturally there.  The only way that I know how to reliably do this is either by releasing the breast tissue internally and placing an implant, or using a tissue expander, which can then be left in if it's an expander/implant type, removed altogether once the desired expansion of the tissues is achieved, or replaced with a small implant to preserve the shape that is achieved.  You don't necessarily need an implant, but you could go with a small one to maintain some shape of the breasts if you want.  Without seeing your breasts it is hard to give you specific recommendations, but at least that gives you an idea of what options there are and what the thought process is, at least for me, when deciding which way to go.   I suggest that you schedule a consultation with an experienced board certified plastic surgeon who does a lot of corrections for tuberous breasts and can properly advise you on all of your options and help you select the best one for you.  Good luck.

If you have tuberous breasts, there are different approaches depending upon the severity of the deformity.  Best to be seen in person to figure out what is best for you.

Areolar reduction is performed with a circumareolar incision

Adjustable implants function as a tissue expander and an implant and are often used to correct asymmetry and tubular breast deformity

see the attached link

Dear Marinamar,

Thank you for your post.  You do not necessarily need implants or tissue expansion for correction of tuberous breasts.  If you like your current size, then a lift surgery is all you need.  You can always get an augmentation later.

Best Wishes,

Pablo PRichard, MD