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  • Breast Lift: When Is the Right Time?
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Dr. Rick here for another question of the day. Patients will ask sometimes "Do I need a breast lift?" or "How do I know I need a breast lift?" Well, first, just come see me and I'll tell you. But if you want sort of a loose thing or a test that you could perform to know whether you probably need a lift or not is there's something called the pencil test, It's not extremely accurate, but it does you an idea of whether you have too much sagginess in the breast or not. So if you take the pencil or a pen and you lift up the breast and you place the pen or pencil in the breast crease and let the breast go, usually, in patients who need a lift, the breast will hang well below the fold indicating that the nipple is below their breast crease and the pencil will stay in place. If the nipple is generally above the breast crease, the pencil will fall to the ground. Now that's a very loose indication that you need a lift or don't need a lift, but really, it's based on physical exam. And so when you come to see me, I'll tell you if you whether you need a lift or not and hopefully that helps you understand what the pencil test is and whether or not you need a breast lift or mastopexy. See you next time.

Breast Lift: When Is the Right Time?

Dr. Richard Brown discusses using the pencil test to determine if a breast lift is needed in conjunction with a breast augmentation surgery.