Different women are born with different breast sizes, shapes, and proportion. There are those with small breasts, medium while others have big.
Sometimes your breasts may grow big to the levels that they start causing discomfort. This may be due to hormonal imbalance, overweight, heredity, pregnancy or drugs.
Once this happens a Breast reduction surgery which is also known as mammaplasty may be conducted to correct the problem.
What is breast reduction surgery?
Breast reduction is a surgery conducted to remove excess breast fat, skin and glandular tissue to make them proportional to your body.
When your breast becomes too big a condition known as breast hypertrophy or gynecomastia in men, it is recommended that you go for a breast reduction surgery.
Or yet, if you have large breasts that are making you feel embarrassed and uncomfortable, you can go for a breast reduction.
Even though some women prefer having big breasts, the excessively big breast may cause emotional distress, physical as well as psychological problems. Because of their weight, size, and posture, Larger breasts may lead to issues such as:
- Neck pain.
- Chronic pain in your back
- A headache.
- improper posture
- pain in the shoulders
- numbness or pain in the breasts themselves.
- Skin rashes below the breast area.
Breast Reduction Surgery Cost
The cost for a breast reduction surgery varies widely from one practice to another. This depends on a number of factors like:
- The experience of the surgeon.
- Your location
- The medical condition being treated.
However, the average cost of breast reduction for patients who are doing it for beauty purposes is $5,475.
Depending on your surgeon, the price above may include:
- Surgeon’s fee
- Anesthesia fees
- Medical tests
- Post-surgery garments
- Hospital or surgical facility costs and
Prescriptions for medication.
You may be entitled to get an insurance cover if you’re going for a reconstructive surgery.
How Breast Reduction Surgery Is Done
There are different types of breast reduction procedures.
- Short scar breast reduction: Your surgeon performs a surgery around the nipples.
- Central pedicle breast reduction: Your surgeon takes away breast tissue from the sides and the top of your breasts.
The most common breast reduction done in the united states is the inferior pedicle technique with a wide pattern. This means your surgeon saves most breast tissue from the bottom of your breast and takes tissues from the top of your breasts.
There is also superior pedicle breast reduction technique where the surgeon keeps breast tissue on the top. Different techniques have different procedures of doing them. You may decide to either go for a surgery or liposuction.
Your surgeon may administer anesthesia to numb the areas the surgery is to take place. He will then make an incision around the areola, removes excess breast tissue, fat and skin to reduce the size of the breast.
Your surgeon will then reshape the breast and repositions the nipple and areola.
Breast Reduction Surgery Recovery
After the procedure, you will now start your recovery journey. The period to recover varies from one patient to another. Some patients will recover in the first few weeks of the surgery while others may take longer.
Doctors recommend you to avoid heavy physical activities as they may delay the healing process. At week one the swelling will start to go down while at two weeks the breast will start appearing normal.
It will take three to 4 months for 90% of the swelling to go away and one year or more for the scars to get better or even best.
Breast reduction Risks and complications
The following are complications that may arise from a breast reduction surgery.
- Necrosis.
- Nipple sensation.
- Inability to breastfeed.
- Develop an hematoma.
- Abscess
- Infection
The nerves and blood vessels in your breast go through the breast tissues. If your surgeon cuts too many blood vessels, the nipple will die causing necrosis.
That is why it is not wise or safe to go to unexperienced breast reduction surgeon because he or she may over reduce. Same way to the nipple.
Breast reduction surgery Scars
It will take one year or even more for the surgical scars to fade. The period is determined by the type of breast technique used to perform the surgery.
Conclusion.
Successful breast reduction has great benefits that are associated with it. Your self-esteem improves greatly it also relieves you from the back pain, shoulder pain and headache caused by the weight of the big breasts.
It is wise to perform a background check on your surgeon before booking for a surgery. As it may pose more risks than benefits if you go to a surgeon with no experience in breast reduction surgery.