What can you tell me about the Rubin Mastopexy?

The Rubin Mastopexy, or "auto-augmentation breast lift," is a special technique that is used to reshape and lift the breast of weight loss patients. It is used because there is a very predictable array of changes to the breast in a patient that has lost significant weight, and this technique specifically addresses those. It also gets around a challenge of creating an aesthetically optimized breast in someone with a skin envelope that has suffered stretching from weight gain and subsequent weight loss. The Rubin mastopexy, instead of discarding some of the tissue when the breast is lifted, simply rearranges it in a fashion called an internal "dermal suspension." This allows the breast to be fuller in addition to being lift, but without an artificial implant, which is sometimes burdensome for post-weight, all of which likely holds up better over time as well.

     All procedures must be tailored to produce the results you want from your starting anatomy.  It is difficult to know if breast lift and autoaugmentation techniques may be appropriate without an exam or pictures.Kenneth Hughes, MDBeverly Hills, CA

Hello,Peter Rubin is a surgeon in Pittsburgh that specializes in bariatric plastic surgery, and his patients are mostly massive weight loss patients with significant extra skin around the upper and lower torso and extremities. About a year or so ago, he published a nice paper in the PRS about incorporating an 'upper body lift' with his breast and arm lift patients. I believe this is what you are referring to.Go see a plastic surgeon in your area who is expert in bariatric plastic surgical procedures.  I'm sure you will have a nice result. Best of luck!

were designed for women who experienced massive weight loss and had atrophic, badly drooping breasts.  This technique allows you to use your own tissue to provide the volume and upper pole fullness that no other mastopexy can match.  It uses sutures to suspend the breast tissue to improve longevity of the results and the dissection is more extensive, taking 4.5 hours to do compared to the traditional mastopexy that can easily be done in 3 hours or less.  In my very limited experience, it works well for those who do not want an implant.  If an implant is acceptable, a more durable result would be achieved with that along with a reduction/reconstruction. 

Many of us have been doing this type of lift for a very long time but don't attach a doctors name to it as it is just one of many variations of the anchor style lift we use. This one uses the patients deep skin layers (dermis) on flaps of breast tissue to give added internal support without the added use and cost of ADM. It works very nicely.