Is this retained areola normal? (Photo)

Retained areola on the vertical limb of a standard breast lift and/or breast reduction is often found present when one's pre-operative areola is very, very large.  You are to be congratulated on picking an excellent surgeon who gave you two truly nicely shaped breasts.  In the future, once your tissue relaxes which it always does (and usually sooner than we wish), then your surgeon can resect the unwanted areola tissue, make your nipple areolar complex smaller, and give you a slight lift all at the same time.These secondary touch up procedures are not unusual even in the best of surgical hands.  Building the perfect breast is not unlike building the perfect house.  There is always a punch list at the completion of the procedure.  We all want one and done, but cosmetic plastic surgery is always a process and hardly ever an event.  Communicate your concerns to your plastic surgeon.  I am sure he or she can work out these minor kinks.

Thank you for the question.
The “dark patches” you demonstrate are residual dark areola skin (that could not be removed during the breast reduction surgery without distorting breast shape). The residual pigment may be present, in some cases, after breast lifting/reduction surgery. It is more commonly seen when patients start out with relatively wide areola. It is certainly not "malpractice". In the longer term, once the tissues have "relaxed", it is likely that excision of the pigmented areas can be done. Best wishes.