How to Tighten Loose Breast Skin Without Surgery?

Question

i lost about 100 pounds naturally and i'm happy about that but now ive noticed that the skin on my breasts is loose is there an exercise that can help this or is surgery the only option.

Shahram Salemy, MD, FACS · Answer

I'm not aware of any great ways of tightening breast skin without surgery.  Some folks believe that Thermage may help, but I have not felt these results to be consistent or acceptable in most cases.
In my opinion, surgery is the best choice for consistent, natural results.  Options include breast augmentation, breast lift, or a combination of the two.  My advice would be to seek a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon in your area, and he will be able to review your options with you in detail after a good exam and discussion of your goals.

Raffy Karamanoukian, MD, FACS · Answer

Morpheus 8 is a non-invasive skin and soft tissue tightening treatment that is consistently amazing in our patients. We use the Morpheus to exact fractional induced RF into the skin or tissue in order to tighten collagen and stimulate contraction of the tissue. For acne scars, it is quite useful to build collagen in patients who have atrophic scars but is not very productive for ice-pick scars which require TCA Cross. For tissue tightening, Morpheus is ideal for the face and neck and we often combine it with CO2 laser or Ultherapy to further enhance results. Chemical peels and skin resurfacing should be done at least 5 to 7 days after, but can be performed earlier, depending on treatment severity. Avoid exfoliating skin treatments before Morpheus and expect a period of 2-4 weeks for skin contraction to set in.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

Best, 
Dr. Karamanoukian 
Realself100 Surgeon

Mark D. Epstein, MD, FACS · Answer

I agree with the answers given below. While I am seeing some encouraging results (early so far) with non-surgical radiofrequency skin tightening for the breasts, massive weight loss usually results is such dramatic loss of skin elasticity and loss of firmness to the breast tissue itself (gland and fatty tissue inside the breasts), that radiofrequency treatments will be useless to treat this.Surgery is usually the best way to approach this, and for massive weight loss in particular, most commonly I prefer what is called a "dermal suspension and parechymal reshaping" procedure, as first described by Peter Rubin. In these cases, there is no way around surgery and you must accept the scars, but when combined with mesh for internal support of the breast tissue, I find the results to be excellent.

Jerome Edelstein, MD · Answer

Unfortunately, nonsurgical skin tightening treatments may not be able to tighten your breast skin to the point that you'll be happy with. Only a breast lift can safely and effectively do this.

Martin Jugenburg, MD · Answer

Breast lift procedure is probably the most effective way to tighten your loose breast skin.

	Loose skin is best tightened by surgical removal of excess skin and tightening.  Because these procedure do leave scars, many people and companies have tried to find a way to do it non-surgically.  

	There are many lotions, potions, laser and other fancy looking tools out there but unfortunately none of them are able to create more than a very minimal skin tightening effect.  These tools work on people who already look like their skin is pretty tight.  So the reality is, if you need significant tightening, you are looking at having a surgical procedure.  While the prospect of having scars may sound scary, scars do fade over time and tightening and reshaping effect that a breast lift can produce wil probably outweigh the downside of having scars.

Vincent N. Zubowicz, MD · Answer

Your weight loss is a good thing but loose skin is a common consequence. Unfortunately, the only treatment is to remove what is in excess surgically. Any other treatment in ineffectual and a waste of money.

Anita Patel, MD, FACS · Answer

Congratulations on the 100 pound weight loss! Your complaint of loose breast skin is a very common one following massive weight loss. There are no exercises that will shrink your breast skin. Chest exercises will strengthen your pectoralis muscles under the breasts, but will not have the effect of tightening your skin. Surgery is really the only answer in this case, and is called a mastopexy or breast lift. You can opt to do this with or without an implant. In either case the excess skin is removed and the breast shape and position is improved. The length of your scars will depend on how much excess skin you have. I recommend consulting with a board certified plastic surgeon to go over your options and see what you are a good candidate for. Good luck!

Otto Joseph Placik, MD · Answer

It is highly unlikely that you will achieve any significant improvement with the skin tightening technologies currently available (i.e., Titan, Thermage, Velashape, etc.). On a scale of 1-10, these may accomplish a 1-2 when it comes to breast lifting effect.
Surgery is most likely your best option to achieve a 7-9 result. The tissues which would normally be discarded can be "folded" into your breast lift (autogenous tissue augmentation) or an implant can be used to fill the breast.
Your own tissue will likely settle into the bottom half of your breast, whereas an implant is probably the best method to achieve upper breast fullness on a longer term basis.

Steven H. Williams, MD · Answer

Thanks for the question -
Congratulations on the weight loss!
Unfortunately there are no exercises for reducing skin.  It is common to have excess skin after weight loss.  There are radio-frequency and laser treatments marketed at tightening skin but typically patients with large weight loss require surgery to fix these problems.
In your case it sounds like a mastopexy may help with the issues you're concerned about.
I hope this helps.

Robert Applebaum, MD · Answer

Thank you for your question.  After a major weight loss, surgery is the only method to visibly tighten and lift your skin.

How to Tighten Loose Breast Skin Without Surgery?

Answers (20)

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