Beyond Aesthetics: Exploring the Medical Benefits of Breast Reduction Surgery
Stretch marks, limited clothing choices, and asymmetrical proportions are all common reasons for wanting smaller breasts. But did you know there are also medical reasons for breast reduction surgery?
If having abnormally large breasts is causing significant health problems like symptomatic macromastia, a reconstructive breast reduction surgery may be a necessary choice.
At Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery, we know that breast reduction can open you up to an easier lifestyle with pain relief, comfortable breathing, and freedom to live confidently.
Let’s discuss the medical reasons for breast reduction surgery and how to determine if the procedure is right for you.
Tired of being weighed down by the health consequences of heavy breasts? Read on.
Medical Conditions Warranting Breast Reduction
A breast reduction (reduction mammoplasty) surgery involves two crucial steps:
- Removing excess breast tissue.
- A breast lift (mastopexy), reshaping the breasts to be more proportional to your height and weight while repositioning the nipples and areola if needed.
One of the myths surrounding large breasts is that they indicate good health. But this isn’t always the case.
In fact, excess breast tissue carries some health risks:
- Headaches or migraines
- Chronic pain in the back, shoulder, neck, and breasts
- Skin rash or irritation, potentially causing infections
- Shoulder grooves from bra strap
- Breathing problems, including sleep apnea and worsened asthma
- Limited mobility, flexibility, and ability to exercise
- Posture issues
- Difficulty sleeping
- Chronic anxiety or stress
- Eating disorders
- Nerve pain
- Numbness in breasts, fingers, hands, or arms
- Joint-related problems like pinched nerves, spinal arthritis, finger numbness, round back posture, or thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS).
Making matters worse, large, dense breasts pose a potential risk for breast cancer and make mammograms harder to read.
So when is a breast reduction surgery ideal? As a general rule of thumb: when the downsides of having macromastia (excess breast tissue up to 5 lbs), gigantomastia (excess over 5 lbs), or gynecomastia (excess male breast tissue) impede your quality of life.
Health Benefits of Breast Reduction
There are several medical benefits of breast reduction surgery. From pain relief to improving posture, let’s walk through each one.
Pain relief
Alleviating physical discomfort with breast reduction works in the short-term and long-term. The key benefit of breast reduction is that it helps you live a happier, more active life by reducing the physical strain on your back, neck, and shoulders.
Improving Posture and Spinal Health
Large breasts alter your body’s natural center of gravity, making you shift to balance things out. Often, that means slouching and hunching, which tenses the neck and back muscles.
Even correcting your posture can wear out the muscles and make your lower back curve inward too much (swayback).
By improving posture through breast reduction, your neck, back, and shoulders can align comfortably without getting off balance.
Poor posture and muscle strain also affect your ability to move freely.
Enhancing Mobility and Physical Activity
Over time, large breasts weighing down your back and compressing your lungs lower your freedom of movement, flexibility, and physical stamina.
By enhancing mobility with breast reduction, you can play your favorite sports, go on walks with friends, and enjoy a more independent active lifestyle with fewer limitations.
Bonus perk: easily finding supportive sports bras that fit perfectly.
Minimizing the Risk of Skin Issues
The constant friction and trapped moisture under large breasts can cause intertrigo, a skin condition that leads to soreness, rashes, and skin damage. The moist, damaged environment also welcomes bacteria and fungus, which can grow into problems like yeast infections.
We can help minimize skin issues with breast reduction by reducing the space under the breasts where excess moisture and friction encourage inflammation and infections.
Psychological and Emotional Wellbeing
Since having large or asymmetrical breasts commonly leads to stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, and even eating disorders, greater emotional well-being after breast reduction is a major benefit.
Case in point: The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPA) used an impressive, thorough survey called the BREAST-Q© questionnaire to measure the psychological impact of breast reduction.
The results? Remarkable improvements on body image, sexual well-being, and breast satisfaction — on top of physical improvements like pain relief.
Enticed by those health benefits? A consultation for breast reduction could be the best next step.
Consultation and Medical Evaluation
You’re ready to reap the medical benefits of breast reduction surgery — now what? First, choose the right surgeon.
You might be tempted to go with the cheapest option, but the wrong surgeon puts you at higher risk of complications, like:
- Blood clots
- Infection
- Visible scars
- Wound healing issues
- Asymmetry
- Discoloration
- Need for revision surgery
- Breast regrowth
- Loss of nipple sensation
- Long-term pain, bruising, and swelling
- Reactions to surgical devices or anesthesia
Mitigate these risks by scheduling a medical consultation with a board-certified, distinguished, and experienced surgeon.
Ideally, they’d have a history of positive, successful patient experiences with medically indicated breast reduction, an exceptional understanding of breast anatomy, and a meticulous, personalized approach.
Consultation
For a breast reduction consultation with Dr. Cat, you’ll meet one-on-one to go over your medical history, anatomy, and expectations. She’ll also answer your questions, describe every step of the process, and determine if you’re eligible.
What makes you a good candidate for breast reduction? Besides the medical conditions caused by your large breasts, other criteria include:
- Being committed to pre-op and post-op instructions
- Having realistic expectations of the risks, limitations, and results
- Having specific goals and a positive outlook on the procedure
- Not having serious medical conditions that could impair recovery
- Not taking any medications that interact with anesthesia or post-op pain meds
- Not smoking or vaping for a specific period before and after surgery
- Not being pregnant, planning to be pregnant soon, or breastfeeding
If surgery isn’t right for you, Dr. Cat will highlight some non-surgical strategies for reducing breast size.
If surgery is right for you, she’ll tailor a breast reduction plan to your needs and go over financing options. Insurance may cover some of the costs for medically indicated breast reduction.
From there, we’ll give you pre-op instructions, schedule your appointment, and help plan your stay to ensure you’re comfortable from start to finish and into recovery.
Process and Recovery
During the procedure, you’ll be under general and local anesthesia. Dr. Cat uses a gentle approach to minimize scarring and create the most flattering end result.
The surgery usually lasts around three to four hours. Most patients can go home the same day to start recovering. Expect some tenderness and tightness the next day, and swelling for about a month.
It’s important to take your time recovering, but many patients resume their daily lives after just one week.
Once everything is healed up, you’re ready to enter your new life with confidence and relief!
Reclaim Your Physique with Breast Reduction by Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery
If large breasts are restricting your quality of life, breast reduction surgery can end the pain, restrictions, and self-consciousness holding you back.
Say goodbye to the burden and hello to freedom to flaunt your new shape with confidence.
Schedule your breast reduction consultation with Dr. Cat today.
