Should I Get a Crescent Lift?

Question

I have had breast implants for three months. The left breast looks fine but the right one has not dropped. Before my surgery my breasts were asymmetrical and due to a rapid weight loss, both breasts seemed deflated and the right nipple seemed to sag downward. The breast implants unfortunately only seem to accentuate this problem. My PS suggests that I have a crescent lift to raise the right nipple and to push the implant down. Is there another procedure that would not cause bad scarring?

Tom J. Pousti, MD · Answer

Thank you for the question and pictures.

	I think the best solution would be implant repositioning ( lowering).  If a breast lift is still necessary then a circumareolar  breast lift is your best option,  given that the &ldquo;crescent&rdquo; breast lift is fraught with complications such as scar spreading and distortion of the areola.

	Best wishes.

David Bray, Jr, MD · Answer

The breast implant on the right appears higher than the left. If this is the case, discuss this with your plastic surgeon. If you had asymmetry of the position of the nipple/areola preop, then a lift may improve symmetry. There are different breastlift techniques. Make sure you understand and discuss these options with your surgeon.

Vasdev Rai, MD · Answer

Crescent lift has limited but useful role in breast surgery. It can be used to make minor adjustments to nipple and areola. All incisions leave behind some scarring. You need to factor in scar with any surgery. However, I feel that crescent lift will benefit you and I agree with your plastic surgeon. You need crescent lift more than pocket revisions. Your breast augmentation was not the problem. Your preoperative asymmetry is the underlying cause of your post operative asymmetry. Have a crescent lift

Kamran Khoobehi, MD · Answer

You have breast asymmetry and lift will not resolve it since the issue is the implant position. You need revision to lower the right implant.

Michael Law, MD · Answer

Removing skin around the areola may enable a surgeon to elevate the position of the nipple/areola complex perhaps 1-2 cm on the breast mound, but it DOES NOT lift the breast itself.  In most cases, unfortunately, it serves to distort the shape of the breasts, making them appear flattened at the top.  If the breast needs to be lifted, it absolutely requires some internal rearrangement of breast tissue to create a projecting, aesthetically ideal and lasting result - which in turn requires that vertical incision and vertical surgical scar below the areola (and sometimes in the inframammary fold as well).

	Some surgeons perform what they call a "circumareolar" (or 'donut' or 'Benelli' ) mastopexy.  In my opinion there is absolutely no such thing as a "circumareolar mastopexy.

Should I Get a Crescent Lift?

Answers (8)