Best way to eliminate brown 'stripes' left by areola tissue post breast lift 5 weeks post op? (photos)

It is common with large areolae to leave some of that dark skin in the vertical incision- removing all of it during surgery would make it too wide to close.After several months when the skin relaxes, the areolar "stripes" can be easily removed, many times under local within the same vertical scar.Close follow up with your plastic surgeon is recommended.

Plastic surgery scars require attention after surgery so that they remain cosmetically-appealing and barely noticeable. In our office, we use a protocol for scars that minimizes their activity in the 6-8 weeks after surgery. If you have late plastic surgery scars, you may also require laser and RF therapy to help reduce the longterm effects of the scarring. Keloids, hypertrophic scars, widened scars, red scars, and hyperpigmented scars all require scar modulation with topical creams followed by lasers and RF therapy. Topical skincare should be directed to a specific need, whether for pigmentation or hypertrophy and our office can guide you through the process to obtain the correct Plato’s Scar cream or Melarase cream for hypertrophy and discoloration. In terms of lasers, we would employ the vbeam laser for redness, Venus Viva RF, PRP microneedling, chemical peels, and Morpheus 8, fractional erbium, or fractional co2. All of these have their individual benefits. Most of all, we recommend you visit a solid plastic surgeon who understands surgical scar revision, laser therapy, and RF therapy for scars.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

Hi Nart89,

For scars, I close all of my incisions in 5 layers and do not use absorbable sutures because they cause inflammation and worse scarring. I tape all of my incisions in the office visits once a week for six weeks after surgery to improve the appearance. After taping, I start my patients on a scar gel therapy for 3 months that they have to put on their incisions twice daily.

I understand you are concerned with the appearance of your scars. As your scars heal, it should flatten out and lighten. Loss of pigmentation may also be experienced but will resolve over time. Always follow your surgeon's post operative care instructions when it comes to scar management to avoid any complications like infection and for faster healing and recovery.

If you are concerned, you should visit your plastic surgeon for assessment and to discuss your concerns, as different surgeons have different approaches in scar management. Your surgeon can also advice you of new innovations that can help with managing and improving the appearance of scars like lasers and other scar treatment modalities.

Daniel Barrett, MD, MHA, MS

Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery

Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery

Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Thank you for the question and pictures. The best way to eliminate the residual areola pigmented skin is to excise it directly. This can usually be done once the breast skin "envelope" has relaxed,  so that the excision of the residual pigmented skin does not cause distortion of the breast.  It may take a year before this can be done.  Often this can be done under local anesthesia only. Best wishes.

Sometimes with large areola, portions of it can not be removed and sometimes they have to be left along or near the vertical closure. Many times, after the tissues soften, the scar can be revised and the pigmented skin can be removed.  You will likely have to give it about a year.