Breast Lift
Conveniently located to serve the areas of Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Los Angeles and Pasadena, CA
Gain fuller, firmer, and beautifully shaped breasts: A woman’s breasts often change over time, losing their youthful shape and firmness. The changes most often seen range from minimal skin loosening to a significant sagging with the nipple pointing downward on the abdomen. These changes result from pregnancy, breastfeeding, weight fluctuations, aging, and gravity or can simply be inherited.
A breast lift tightens the skin around the breast tissue and repositions the nipples higher on the breasts resulting in a fuller, firmer, better shaped and contoured breast. Some women opt to have a breast lift with the use of an implant to also increase the size and firmness and/or give more projection to the breasts. The final shape of the uplifted breasts will maintain their youthful appearance for a longer period of time with minimal sagging unless there are drastic weight changes.
When someone is contemplating having a breast lift, I usually recommend having the procedure after childbearing is completed and/or weight loss is stable because the improvements in having a breast lift may be reversed or minimized after a pregnancy or with significant dieting and weight loss.
On the other hand, I have also performed breast lift for younger women prior to childbearing who have breast asymmetry or when the position and shape of one breast is much lower than the other.
There are several surgical approaches to performing a breast lift. The best approach for each patient is determined at the time of the initial office consultation.
Limited Nipple Incision or the Benelli Technique
A breast lift can be done with a limited nipple incision only. The final incision is placed at the junction of the areola and the skin of the breast. This fades with time usually with minimal scarring.
“Lollipop” Incision
In patients with downward migration of the glandular tissues with loosening of the skin envelope, but still retaining adequate skin elasticity, a vertical extension or a “lollipop” incision is used to tighten and lift the breasts.
“Anchor” Incision
For those with significant skin laxity as well as a downward migration of the nipples and glandular tissues, then a formal mastopexy will be needed. This procedure uses the traditional anchor-shaped incisions. I always strive to limit the horizontal length of the incision in the breast fold when using the classic anchor technique.
Lifts with Breast Implants
It is my experience that patients who have sagging breasts after weight loss or pregnancy will usually need an implant in addition to their lift. Depending on the specific needs of an individual patient as far as the desired size, shape, firmness, and projection of the breasts, implants are often used, in conjunction with a breast lift.