Will your nipples be desensitized after having breast surgery?

Statistically, there is a 2-10% chance of alteration of nipple sensitivity following breast augmentation surgery.  Of those, 85% will regain sensation within a two year period.  The chance of a permanent loss of sensation is extremely rare.  My dad started our practice in 1961.  Between us, we have done thousands of breast augmentations and I can think of only one patient who ever had a permanent loss of sensation on one side.  The risk to the nerve supplying sensation to the nipple goes up with breast lifts and breast reductions as there is more trauma to the breast tissue and a greater chance of damaging that nerve.

There is a minimal risk of this occurring with any breast surgery.  Augmentations alone carry the least risk of this.  Lifts carry more of a risk and reductions in which a large amount of tissue is removed carries the highest risk of nipple sensory loss.