Which women are candidates for this surgery?
For the surgery called mastopexy with prosthesis, the candidates are women between 35 and 45 years old, women who have already had children, who have breastfed and as a result of this step have had a sagging and emptying of the breast. What we do is an elevation of the breast placing it in place and relying on prostheses to achieve the desired volume.
How is this surgery performed?
This is perhaps the most interesting question of mastopexy with prostheses because there are many alternatives within the surgery. Perhaps the factor that determines whether it will be performed or not is the type of scar that we are going to leave. If we need a small lift we can hide the scar around the areola but if the lift is larger we must leave a scar around the areola, a scar that goes down from the lower edge of the areola to the submammary fold and a scar that runs along the submammary fold. What at first seems a problem, especially to women who come thinking that they will recover the breast they had before, when considering a surgery with so much scarring, the truth is that it pushes them back a little.
We are working hard nowadays to achieve very good elevations supported with prosthesis only leaving the scar around the areola, what happens is that this has some limitations that once we skip them then the result is no longer the expected or desired, so the strategy in surgery before is essential to indicate to the patient if only with a surgery with a scar around the areola we will be able to achieve the desired result. On the other hand, in cases where the sagging is larger, it is absolutely necessary to make the scar that we have talked about around the areola, the vertical scar from the edge of this to the submammary fold and a small one along the submammary fold.
How should the scars be cared for and do they ever disappear?
As we have mentioned the scars, when patients come to us they are a little surprised by what we are proposing, well, the result of these scars over time is really good. When I say really good, I mean that it is not after 1 month or 3 months, we must have a vision that these scars are going to be evaluated at least between one year and the following year. The care of these scars is fundamental for at least the first 6 months, we are going to give massages, we are going to apply a type of creams, ointments, sometimes you will have to wear silicone patches and with that we are going to greatly reduce the visibility of these scars, in some cases they become almost imperceptible.
How do aspects such as pregnancy, age or weight influence the long-term results?
If after surgery we have pregnancies, or with age, or sudden weight changes, these are factors that negatively influence the long-term results. Logically what most influences is the quality of the tissues with which we are working. There are women who at 18 years of age have an enormous laxity and sagging and there are women who at 65 years of age have their breasts in place, in other words, genetics greatly determines the long-term results.