Breast Reduction in Orange County

Before and After

Breast Reduction is a surgical procedure that removes excess breast fat, glandular tissue and skin to achieve a breast size in proportion with your body and to alleviate the discomfort associated with overly large breasts. Large breasts can cause some women to have both health and emotional problems. The weight of excess breast tissue can impair your ability to lead an active life.

The technique used to reduce the size of the breasts will be determined by your individual condition, breast composition, amount of reduction desired, your personal preferences and the surgeon's advice.

When your procedure is complete, dressings or bandages will be applied to the incisions. A support bra may be worn to minimize swelling and support the breasts as they heal.

The results of your breast reduction surgery are immediately visible. Over time, post-surgical swelling will resolve and incision lines will fade. This process usually takes four to six months for reshaping of the breasts and up to a year for the scars to soften and lose their redness. Full activities usually can be resumed in one month, while return to employment (depending on the job) is usually in one week.

It must be noted, most patients with large breasts have moderate asymmetry (both sides aren't the same). This can be manifest as one breast is larger, higher, displaced more outward on chest wall, different shape, or nipple position is higher or lower; the chest wall ribs project outward or inward; the creases under the breast are at different positions. Obviously more than one of these conditions often exists and, as such, your expectations of having them match perfectly needs to be modified accordingly. This will not detract from the benefits of having them made smaller and lifted. They will look and feel a lot better than before, and this is a very gratifying procedure.

In some cases we do breast augmentation (under the pectoralis muscle) at the time of the breast reduction. This may seem paradoxical in that we are simultaneously making you smaller and also making you larger. The reason for this is that, although some women have large, heavy pendulous breasts, most of the breast tissue is below the level of the nipple and, even with the reduction and lifting, this persists. Therefore, despite the elevated position on the chest after the breast reduction, there is little upper breast volume which gives women the fullness they want with a smaller breast. This procedure is not done by many plastic surgeons, but at Ocean Plastic Surgery Center we have been doing this breast reduction/augmentation mammoplasty for years with great success.

Although complications are rare with these procedures, there are a few that are of concern, and smoking can seriously contribute to them. There is a risk of nipple necrosis (part or all of nipple does not survive) due to blood circulation problems, and smoking can seriously compromise the healing process.

Infections and bleeding are risks with any surgery and no more increased with this procedure, but resumption of heavy, early activity (exercise, etc) can put you at a higher risk. This is why we advocate one month convalescence prior to resuming these activities.

Hypertrophic and keloid scars are rare, but in some individuals genetically exposed these can occur on occasion. To minimize this, we watch you closely and can prophylactically put you on medications. We also close all wounds with sutures that are buried and dissolve below the skin so none need to be removed.

These are some of the risks, but please discuss these and others at your consultation. Although complications are few and rare, we want you to know, at Ocean Plastic Surgery Center, we will be there to get you throughout the surgery and postoperative period with respect, dignity and quality care despite any problems.

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