Does weight loss impact your breast reduction results?

Question

Just wondering how much weight you would have to lose in order to affect your breasts after a breast reduction surgery. Like would a few kg or max 10kg make much of an impact?

Gary M. Horndeski, MD · Answer

If
you lose weight after your breast reduction, your volume will go down and the
skin envelope may become loose.  A few
kilograms may not be significant but 10 kilograms may be.  Unfortunately, you have not provided any
photos, told us your bra size or weight. Best Wishes,Gary Horndeski, M.D.

Sophie Ricketts, MBBS (Hons), FRACS (Plast) · Answer

Weight loss that is significant (at least 5, more likely 10kg) is likely to have some effect on your breast reduction. The breasts will typically start to appear 'deflated' as the volume of fat within them reduces and the breast skin is no longer 'full'.

Jeremy Hunt, MBBS, FRACS · Answer

Hi,Breast reduction is one of the procedures with the highest rate of patient satisfaction regardless of weight. It is true though that will fill the final breast cup size will be a combination of breast tissue and fat, and this ratio will vary from patient to patient. For that reason some woman can change their weight and not effect their cup size, while for others the weight loss can result in a drop in cup size and loose of fulness.Most patient though after a breast reduction will be able to loose 10kg comfortably without " undoing " the good result of a breast reduction. I hope that is of some helpJeremy Hunt

Miguel Delgado, MD · Answer

Weight gains and losses can affect your breasts, but how much will be different for different women, some women will have more fat in their breasts and some more tissue. It is best to try to be at your goal weight before surgery and maintain it after surgery. Good luck.

Richard Bloom, MBBS (Hons), FRACS · Answer

Hi there and thanks for posting,There is no definitive answer to you question. It depends on whether your breasts are largely made up of fat tissue or breast tissue. Also people tend to lose weight from different parts of their bodies in an individual manner.That said 10kg is likely to affect your breast volume.My advice is achieve your goal weight prior to surgery, then your surgeon will have the right baseline to work from.Best wishesRichard

Carmen C. Munteanu, MD, FRACS · Answer

Hello and thank you for the question!
Breasts are formed out of breast tissue and fat, with breast reduction we reduce both components. It really depends of your individual breast composition if weight loss will have a bigger or smaller impact on your breast size. When you lose weight, you also lose it form everywhere but certain areas will be more affected than others.
Try to think when you used to vary your weight in the past, how much did that affect the size of your breasts, it would probably be a good indicator for the future.
However, if you are planning to have a surgery, it is better to have it as close as possible to your cruise weight, so the result is not affected too much.
Good luck and take care!
Carmen

Tom J. Pousti, MD · Answer

Thank you for your questionBreast reduction surgery tends to be one of the most patient pleasing operations we perform. By removing “excess” breast tissue, adipose tissue, and breast skin this operation reduces and lifts the breasts to a higher position on the chest wall. By doing so, patients often find improvement in neck, back, and shoulder discomfort and find it easier to form their activities of daily living and exercise.
Timing of the operation will depend on the patient's life circumstances. In general (ideally), it is best to do this procedure ( like all other elective body contouring the stages, when patients have reached their long-term stable weights (within 5-10 lbs). Losing weight prior to the procedure will improve the safety of the procedure and minimize the need for further surgery ( in the event of weight gain/loss after the breast reduction procedure). 
Losing weight after surgery (depending on several factors) can potentially change the results.  
  Best wishes.

Ahmed Ali-Khan, FRCS (Plast) · Answer

HI thank you for your question. It depends on a patient's unique makeup (for instance some women have more glandular breast tissue than fat and some are the other way round; in addition some women lose volume easily off their breasts and others lose it elsewhere first - hips and tummy for instance).Therefore it is not possible to answer your question with a lot of certainty but generally, in my experience, a loss of a few kg is unlikely to make a noticeable difference. With loss of 10kg though it might be more likely. It all comes down to your unique makeup.Best wishes.

Ross Farhadieh MD, FRCS, FRACS · Answer

HiThe short answer is yes. Breast reduction surgery reduces and reshapes the breasts. In doing so we had to recognize that if you put weight on proportionately will put some of that on your breasts and if lose weight similarly. Of course a few kilos aren’t not what would Be concerning but rather large fluctuations in weight. Good luck

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