The mastopexy or breast lift is a surgery that seeks, mainly, to restore the position of the breast after its fall. However, it also repairs the volumetric distribution of the breast and allows the results to be maintained over time.
In which cases is it indicated?
It is a treatment that serves in those cases in which the breast is sagging, that is, when the areola has descended below the line of the submammary fold.
In addition, there are cases in which, although this limit has not been exceeded, the areola has lowered with respect to its theoretical anatomical position. In these situations, if the skin is weak, a breast lift can be performed. Always, each case must be analyzed individually and more variables must be taken into account.
What are the causes of breast “sagging”?
Like everything else, the breast falls when the structures that should support it are not strong enough to sustain it. There are several factors that generate this imbalance:
- The weight of the breast itself: if the breast weighs a lot it is easier for the supporting tissues to give way and the breast falls.
- The individual fall of the tissues: when these are weaker they facilitate breast detachment.
- Pregnancies: during this process, and later during lactation, the tissues are subjected to a lot of stress and, if the changes in volume are very excessive, it can cause the breast to fall.
- Weight loss: the breast is composed of an important percentage of fat, so if there are important changes in weight the volumetric variation of the fat can also generate the loss of position.
- Rapid breast development: the development of the breast at puberty goes faster than the tissues, which cannot support it and the breast falls.
- Loss of breast volume
- Natural aging: with age, tissue quality is lost.
- Breast implants: only affects if the procedure is poorly planned.
- Medications: certain medications, such as corticosteroids, cause tissue resistance.
Mastopexy: different techniques
The procedure to be used depends on the patient, but in general terms a balance between weight and resistance must be sought. For this, the Plastic Surgery specialist must analyze in each case multiple variables: the quality of the tissue, if it is a fatty or glandular breast and the volume to be achieved.
Mastopexy with implants:
Mastopexy with implants helps to significantly stabilize the breast. It involves removing part of the breast tissue and thus reducing some of the weight that the skin is forced to support. The tissue will be replaced by implants, which are placed under the pectoral muscle.
The advantage of this technique is that the muscle is incorporated in the containment of the weight of the implant, dividing the weight of the breast in two: a part of the residual breast tissue, which will be supported by the skin, and an implant, which will be managed by the muscular structures.
In this procedure, the implant is not a device that is used with the intention of increasing the volume, but it is a factor that is part of the equation that allows stabilizing the deterioration of the breast. For this reason the approach is valid in those cases in which the patient wants more breast, in those who want to maintain the original volume or in those who seek to reduce the size of the breast.
However, there are people who do not want to have implants. In these cases there is another way that consists in moving the volume of the breast to a higher position and to consolidate the position of the gland by means of anchoring techniques that allow slowing down the deterioration of the result.
Advantages of the prosthesis
The use of fat in the breast has a problem if we want to raise a sagging breast and that is that, by increasing the weight of the breast itself, we will only increase the imbalance between weight and resistance. Therefore, this technique is indicated only in those cases in which the aim is to outline or improve a specific aspect of the breast.
The same happens in cases in which the prosthesis is placed in a subglandular plane, that is, above the muscle, or in a dual plane, when the lower pole of the implant is not covered by the pectoralis. These methods only increase the stress on “the skin”.
The results of mastopexy
The goal of a breast lift or mastopexy is to achieve natural and long-lasting results.
However, a long-term result does not mean inert, since the breast is a living structure and, as such, ages at a certain rate. In view of this, what can be sought is that the aging process has a coherent rhythm and as slow as possible.
In conclusion, a good result is one that shows a breast with a proportionate and harmonious volume, well positioned, anatomically natural and that is alive, moving and, of course, aging.