Breast Lift (Mastopexy)

Sagging breast is a disturbing condition for women that can be caused by aging, weight loss, the effect of gravity on heavy breasts, post pregnancy, or lactation changes.

Candidates for breast lift suffer from breasts that appear droopy and less full with flatness in the upper portion. Women with saggy breasts often have reduced elasticity in their skin and may also have stretch marks.

View Breast Lift before and after photos.

The degree of sagginess in the breast is measured by the relationship of the nipple and areola to the crease beneath the breast (the inframammary fold). The surgical treatment for sagging breasts may vary based on the nipple-areola position, breast volume and excess skin.

For minimal laxity the correction may be a simple breast augmentation to restore the volume and fullness to the breast and also raise the nipple-areola complex. For more significant laxity a breast lift procedure with removal of skin is necessary and some times may be combined with breast augmentation.

The breast lift is a procedure where we tailor the skin of the breast to elevate it. The saggier the breast, the more skin needs to be removed for correction.

There are four main types of lifts that are usually named based on the resulting scar:

1. Donut lift. The skin around the areola is removed, and therefore results in elevation of the nipple. Scarring is usually minimal, and this technique allows downsizing of the areola, which has usually stretched with the rest of the breast skin. If a large amount of skin is removed around the areola, a special "purse string" suture is placed around the incision to allow proper healing with minimal scarring. This special suture may result in some bunching of skin that usually resolves spontaneously over time.
2. Lollipop lift. Also called the vertical mastopexy, a Lollipop lift involves removal of skin around the areola and the lower portion of the breast. This results in a scar around the areola combined with a vertical scar at the lower portion of the breast. In women with large breasts a small portion of the breast tissue may be removed and internal sutures placed to achieve more fullness.
3. J type lift. Involves removal of skin around the areola and at the inferior portion of the breast. A J-Lift is essentially like the lollipop lift with an additional ellipse of skin removed to one side of the fold under the breast. We often use this lift technique, since it gives the patient more fullness at the cleavage area with less scarring than the inverted T lift.
4. Inverted T lift. This breast lift technique involves removal of skin around the areola and the inferior portion of the breast. It is also called the "anchor lift" since skin is removed from both sides of the fold underneath the breast.

Dr. Haiavy often combines breast lift with a breast implants to achieve more fullness in the upper portion of the breast.

Since breast lift and breast augmentation are two negating forces (the lift is pulling the breast up and the implant is pushing the breast back down), we encourage our patients to be very conservative with the implant size. Since the cause of saggy breasts is poor skin elasticity, adding more weight to the breast may cause them to sag again at a faster rate.

Postoperative support with a bra is essential to maintaining a breast lift result. In addition, some women that are large breasted may benefit more from a breast reduction rather than a lift.