Women with overly large breasts experience neck, back, and shoulder pain, and often are limited in leading an active life. Breast size is an issue with just as many practical considerations as aesthetic ones.
In fact, the condition has a medical definition. Suffering from macromastia or gigantomastia is more common and more troublesome than those who don’t know it firsthand can imagine. In some cases, insurance coverage may include benefits for breast reduction because of the practical, physical difficulties that are often involved.
Aesthetic considerations are just as real because body image and self-esteem are so closely linked. The effects of living with breasts that are uncomfortably large can limit a person’s whole outlook.
Compassionate Solutions
An experienced, board-certified plastic surgeon has mastered several approaches to breast reduction, so the technique that best suits the unique concerns, objectives, and characteristics of the patient can be selected. Skin, fat, and breast tissues are reduced and reshaped, using one of at least three incision patterns, depending on the size and shape of the breasts and the unique patient goals to be achieved. In some cases, the ligaments that suspend the breasts are shortened if they have been overstretched.
In addition to reducing and reshaping breast tissue, the nipple and areola, with their underlying blood supply and glandular connections, are repositioned so that their location makes sense with the new contour of the breasts.
When to Consider a Breast Reduction
When breast size causes persistent discomfort, interferes with active enjoyment of life or work, or brings down one’s outlook or expectations from life, then conferring with a qualified, board-certified plastic surgeon makes sense.
Weight gain or reduction, childbearing and breastfeeding, and other changes we encounter during life all influence breast size and profile. It is not unusual for a woman to have breast reduction surgery in her 20s and then revisit the procedure again many years later, after these life events have unfolded. It may be a wonderful idea to consider these possibilities when scheduling a breast reduction procedure. Suffering longer than necessary is not a good idea, and it is never too soon to consult a plastic surgeon and find out more about the solutions that are available to you.
We have helped many women find freedom and comfort that they once thought was out of reach, through careful, considerate, and individual attention to their unique situations, concerns, and goals.
Dr. Marc Wetherington would consider it a privilege to have a conversation like that with you. Just call us at 706.235.5119, and we’ll make an appointment to get together.
