Yes, implants can be combined with a lollipop lift.
Sometimes looking at the mirror, we can see the same dilemma in many women. One can pull the skin on the breast to get a lifted effect, thus experiencing the firmness while missing the volume. Then to get fuller breasts, one can push the breasts together, thus getting the cleavage but not liking the droopiness. These are the typical doubts: whether you are in need of implants or a lift. Nevertheless, the number of patients opting for the answer: ‘Why not both?‘ keeps growing.
Combination of vertical mastopexy (better known as lollipop lift) and breast augmentation is one of the most effective resurfacing procedures at Lin Europe Clinic. It beautifully fixes a problem of the so-called ‘deflated balloon’ after pregnancy, which is actually the loss of volume and skin excess due to weight loss, both of which being addressed at the same time. If you wonder, ‘Can one get breast implants together with a lollipop lift?’
Then the answer is ‘definitely yes‘. Yet such procedure needs a very careful planning for checking the contour and ensuring the patient’s safety.
What is a Lollipop Lift?
If you want to know how to combine a lollipop lift with implants, you have to be first familiar with what a lollipop lift is. The lollipop lift (vertical mastopexy) is the latest surgical procedure that can help you with a moderate ptosis (sagging). It avoids a long scar on the breast fold that is a must for the so-called “anchor” technique, where an incision in the fold underneath the breast is made. Two incisions are by the lollipop lift: one around the nipple and the other one from the nipple down to the fold.
This technique can do a lot since it tightens the breast and repositions the nipple to a younger aesthetic appearance without a horizontal scar. Still, a lift doesn’t make your breasts bigger. So, if you want that a lift will compensate for a volume loss, you should choose a breast implant.
Mixing Breast Implant and Mastopexy
Adding implants to a mastopexy is called an augmentation-mastopexy technically and it restores the breasts to their original beauty before pregnancy or weight loss.
You can compare your breast structure with a tent metaphorically. The tent fabric has been stretched, but the tent pole has shrunk.
- The Lift: It makes the fabric tighter that is it gets rid of the excess loose skin.
- The Implant: Rebuilds the tent pole, which is the internal structure and fullness, so the newly-formed skin gets pushed, thus giving a rounded and young shape.
With both procedures being performed simultaneously, patients get a solution to the structural and volume problems in only one operation. The result is a breast sitting high up on the chest wall and full upper-pole cleavage – an effect that neither of the procedures can achieve individually.
The “Safety Zone” and Implant Size
Addition of implants with a mastopexy is a great combination but still it complicates the matter. The surgeon is actually changing the skin tension. The lollipop lift has been done to tighten the skin, and the implant enlarges it. Uneven balancing of such opposite forces may lead to problems.
For implant choice to be rather wise is the reasoning here. Especially when a lollipop lift is accompanied by implants, huge ones should generally be avoided. If, after a skin envelope has just been tightened, someone tries to fit a very large object in there, the tension on the suture lines will be too much. Lin Europe Clinic helps patients to make the best out of their breast contour by advising moderate implant size, which is the most compatible way of harmonizing the incision healing and the natural look. Now the purpose is to keep the concert going instead of breaking it up.
Why the Lollipop Technique is Ideal for Implants
The vertical incisions lollipop mastopexy performed undergo, allowing for a breast base narrowing, leads to more conical, projected breast shapes. Thus, with an implanted breast, the cone’s pointed tip gets even more highlighted.
In addition, if the implant is placed underneath the muscle during a lift, it is actually put on a “shelf” created by the muscle, so that it supports the silicone weight and, therefore, it also safeguards the new lift from premature sagging. The muscle here is basically internal bra, holding the volume high while the skin is healing around it.
The Recovery Reality
You should also be aware of how demanding is the recovery from an augmentation-mastopexy as compared to an augmentation. To the muscle soreness from the implant (‘elephant on the chest’) you add the skin healing of the lift.
The positive side of combining the procedures is one anesthetic and one recovery period. Most patients are well enough to return to light desk work within one to one and a half weeks. The disadvantage of the immediate return to back to the normal speed of the life is that you may still have to go through the second operation later on.
Breast Implants in Turkey
To carry out a safe and beautiful augmentation-mastopexy, the surgeon has to be very well versed in tissue engineering so that the focus is not only on putting the implant in the right spot but also in matching the skin perfectly to the implant size.
That is what we do at Lin Europe Clinic in Istanbul, Turkey. One of the most common aesthetical issues among the women we meet is how the breasts look from a “melting” effect after breastfeeding or weight loss. Our surgeons can master the lollipop technique that means that we can minimize the scarring while maximizing the lift at the same time. Choosing Istanbul for your breast transformation is the decision you make not only to meet the best surgical skills of the world but also the ones that put the result at the top of the long-age priority list. We not only lift but also sculpt, so your perky and beautifully filled new shape will be the long-lasting one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Definitely. The combination (augmentation-mastopexy) is a perfect match for women whose breasts have lost volume and are sagging. It lifts the nipple and adds volume that was lost all in one surgical procedure.
Yes. This is a very popular “augmentation-mastopexy” combo and that lone operation is quite sufficient for restoring not only the size but also the shape. Besides, it is more time-saving if you do them together because it would only be necessary one anesthesia and recovery round.
Insurance companies almost always classify breast lifts as cosmetic procedures, meaning they are rarely covered unless such procedures are part of post-mastectomy reconstruction. The situation is totally different in the case of pregnancy, age, or weight loss when the breasts become saggy, the coverage for that is virtually non-existent in standard health plans.
Despite the fact that a lift reverses the effects of time, it won’t be able to stop time; mainly for 10 to 15 years, most patients are still enjoying their perky results before gravity once again gets its way. One of the best ways to extend the lifetime of your surgical results is to maintain your weight.
Of course; breast lifts are often accompanied by tummy tucks or liposuction as part of a “Mommy Makeover” package. At Lin Europe Clinic, this will enable you to change your entire silhouette in one safe surgical session.
Spear, S. L., et al. (2006). Augmentation/mastopexy: “Surgeon, beware”. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Stevens, W. G., et al. (2007). One-stage mastopexy with breast augmentation: A review. Aesthetic Surgery Journal.
Swanson, E. (2014). Vertical mastopexy and augmentation. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
