Do You Need a Breast Lift After Weight Loss?
Losing a significant amount of weight is a huge achievement. Whether you’ve done it with diet and exercise or through plastic surgery, the journey is never easy.
Of course, as with many things, the journey doesn’t end as soon as you hit that goal weight. Many individuals who have lost a large amount of weight are left with several physical features that they like to tweak further. One such feature is the breasts.
Fortunately, a breast lift may be able to help you if you are in this situation. The following article will go over why weight loss often causes sagging, drooping breasts and what a breast lift can do to ameliorate this issue.
Dealing With Sagging Breasts After Weight Loss
For many women, sagging, drooping breasts are a common symptom of weight loss. When more fat was on the body prior to their weight loss, they may have had breasts they were happy with. Essentially, the added fat “filled up” the skin on the breasts, so to speak, and that made them appear fuller and rounder.
Unfortunately, when the body drops fat because of weight loss, it has a tendency to take weight from all parts of the body (not just those “trouble spots” that annoy you). This leaves the breast tissue devoid of the fat it used to have, which is just one of the reasons why your breasts may appear sagging and flat after weight loss.
The other reason is that the excess fat that was on the body prior to weight loss (in particular, that fat on the breasts) may have stretched the breast skin beyond its normal size. Later, when fat was reduced through weight loss, the skin may have retained the larger size, and again, this could make the breasts appear flat and lack volume.
Drooping Breasts After Weight Loss
Many women find that throughout weight loss, they are simply focused on living a healthy lifestyle, dropping fat, and ideally, toning up with exercise. Once they achieve their goal weight or clothing size, however, they may be looking for ways to refine their results and perhaps even give themselves a little confidence boost and gift for losing all that weight. Excess skin is often the result after working hard to lose weight. The excess skin on the breasts can be frustrating after working so hard to achieve significant weight loss results. A lift targets this excess skin.
A range of cosmetic procedures can help fix or improve some of the issues that arise after massive weight loss. For example, body contouring is a common procedure. Body contouring can refer to a host of procedures aimed at targeting problem areas resulting in a more pleasing physique. With body contouring, you are addressing problems of extra fat and excess skin. Alternatively, liposuction of those last, hard-to-lose 5 or 10 “vanity” pounds is popular. Tummy tucks are also frequent after massive weight loss as they can take care of excess skin on the abdomen.
As for the breasts, patients have several different options.
For starters, if the patient has always wanted bigger breasts and never felt that they had the breast size that fit their body shape, breast augmentation may be an option. Breast augmentation can be achieved through breast implants or through the fat transfer process. Many patients wonder about a breast lift vs breast reduction and what is right for them. Whether breast reduction is right or not all depends on the patient. Often, it tends to be patients with very full breasts who opt for a breast reduction.
However, breast augmentation is usually performed when the patient wants to go up one or several cup sizes and is not as concerned with how perky the breasts are or where they hang on the chest. In other words, breast augmentation is not generally the best option for sagging, drooping breasts. After weight loss breast lift surgery is an often ideal option.
Instead, most patients with these symptoms go for a lift to target and remove excess skin. When there has been massive weight loss and the breasts seem to be “deflated” with loose skin as a result, a lift is the best procedure to fix the problem. Of course, many women opt for a lift even when they haven’t lost a significant amount of weight as well. Sometimes, time, aging, and gravity simply make the breasts appear to lack volume and perkiness.
Likewise, after pregnancy and breast-feeding, many women feel the same about their breasts and want to raise their nipples and give their bosom more youth and vivacity without necessarily going up several bra cup sizes.
Breast Lift Procedure
A lift is a common cosmetic procedure that involves lifting the breast tissue and nipples in order to give the breasts a more youthful, perky appearance. The exact features that will be altered in a given plastic surgery will depend on the individual. In general, however, excess tissue will be removed, and the nipple line will be raised above the breast crease.
In some cases, breast lifts are also combined with breast augmentation surgery.
The Ideal Candidate
One way to know if you could benefit from a lift is to look in the mirror without a shirt or bra and specifically look at your nipple line (where your nipples are an association to your torso). If your nipple line is below your breast crease, a lift might be for you.
Secondly, look at the overall direction that your nipples are pointing in. If they tend to point downward, again, a lift may benefit you. Many patients also have questions about breast lift risks and safety.
Future Weight Fluctuations
One important final note to make when it comes to post-operative care is that future weight gain and/or weight loss (after breast lift surgery) may affect your breasts’ appearance. That is, achieving a certain healthy weight is critical before plastic surgery, and equally important is maintaining that weight after surgery.
Unfortunately, any future weight gain could alter the appearance of your breasts, or if you gain and then lose the weight a second time, this could further impact your breasts’ appearance in a negative way. Keeping a healthy diet and doing light to moderate, consistent exercise are the way to go to stay in a healthy BMI (body mass index) range.
Questions and Answers
What other surgeries are common after major weight loss?
Other common surgeries after major weight loss include tummy tuck and a body lift. A body lift is similar to any other lift in that it targets loose skin. With a body lift, the entire body is the subject. With a body lift (sometimes referred to as a lower body lift) the trunk and legs are the focus of surgery. There is also an upper body lift, but the general body lift is most common after major weight loss.
Will insurance cover a breast lift after weight loss surgery?
Typically, breast lift surgery is deemed cosmetic, making it unlikely for insurance coverage. Approval as a covered procedure requires demonstrating its medical necessity.
Is breast lift recovery painful?
During your breast lift recovery time you can expect discomfort and redness around incisions post-breast lift. Numbness in nipples, areolae, and breast skin may persist for about six weeks. Follow your healthcare provider’s pain medication advice in the initial days.
How long does a breast lift last?
Expect your mastopexy results to endure for about a decade, possibly 15 to 20 years if done at a younger age. Factors can impact longevity, though.
Schedule a Consultation Appointment
Dr. Sieber is a double board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon who treats patients in the San Francisco Bay Area. His extensive experience and unique expertise with breast lift surgery has helped a range of patients improve their appearance and confidence.
If you have recently lost a significant amount of weight and are looking for ways to prove the perkiness and overall appearance of your breasts, contact us today to schedule a consultation appointment.
