Pregnancy, weight loss, and especially regular aging are the main culprits for breast decent and deflation. For most women, these types of changes can have a significant impact on their self esteem. A breast lift, also known as a mastopexy, is the most common way that plastic surgeons combat these inevitable changes that affect most women.
A breast lift helps to restore a more youthful appearance to your breasts and can be a great way to improve confidence. However, before making the decision to get a breast lift, there are certain questions you need to ask yourself:
1. Are you planning any more children?
When considering a breast lift you should think about whether or not you’re planning on having more children. This is important for a couple of reasons. First of all, having a breast lift can potentially affect your ability to breastfeed. It’s not always the case but it’s certainly a possibility.
Secondly, having further children after a breast lift is likely to affect your results and can cause your breasts to sag again. For these reasons, it’s always better to get a breast lift once you’re sure you are not going to have any more children.
2. Are you happy with the size of your breasts?
A breast lift can often be confused with breast augmentation. Unlike augmentation, a breast lift is designed to lift your breasts to get them a more youthful and perky appearance, however it does not alter their size. In fact, most people feel as though their breasts have gotten smaller after a breast lift. Tightening the skin envelope around deflated breast tissue often gives this illusion. It’s important to understand this distinction when considering a breast lift.
3. Are you ready to have breast augmentation if needed?
Depending on your age and breast characteristics, it’s possible that you may need some type of augmentation in addition to having your breasts lifted. This is certainly something that you should consider since implants do need to be changed after a number of years and do come with some risk of side effects.
It is very important that you have this discussion with your surgeon. Most women not only feel as though their breasts have ‘fallen”, but they also feel that they have deflated and no longer fill the bra they are used to wearing. In these cases, you may be a candidate for a breast lift and augmentation simultaneously, known as an augmentation mastopexy. This requires a very detailed discussion with your plastic surgeon and inherently increases the complexity of the operation many fold.
4. Are you OK with scars?
As with any for of cosmetic surgery, a breast lift does leave scars. Depending on the size and shape of your breasts, these scars may be visible although your surgeon will do his/her best to make sure they are as well hidden as possible.
5. Are you healthy enough for the surgery?
In order to be a good candidate for a breast lift, you must be healthy and at an ideal and stable weight. Weight fluctuations can affect the long-term result of the breast lift. You must also be free of any health conditions such as heart disease, kidney disease, or uncontrolled diabetes. As with all plastic surgery procedures, you must not smoke or use any other nicotine products. Finally, all patients of over 35-40 years old should get a screening mammogram prior to having any breast surgery to rule out any potential breast cancer.
