A breast lift improves shape but not volume.
It is common for women seeking a Breast Lift (Mastopexy) to bring us pictures of models with their goal being to have high, round, voluminous breasts. They think that the skin lift surgery will restore the breasts to the perky and full state of their early twenties. A breast lift is a potent surgery that can totally change the look of your silhouette and is probably the most misunderstood plastic surgery procedure because people have great expectations about what it can’t do.
The answer to the question: “Won’t a breast lift be able to fix everything?” is no. It is only a reshaping procedure, strictly a breast lift, not a volumizing one. It also raises the nipple along with the skin envelope that it tightens but it does not add volume. If breasts are deflated or “empty”, their lifting will merely lead to smaller, higher breasts rather than necessarily fuller ones. At Lin Europe Clinic, we believe in giving our clients the truth during consultation sessions. Only if you comprehend these limits can you be sure that you will be delighted with your outcome instead of being let down because of the absence of upper fullness.
Limitation 1: It Does Not Add Volume (Pancake Effect)
The greatest misunderstanding is that a breast lift will make your breast look bigger. On the other hand, a breast lift can actually be a procedure that makes a breast look smaller. Pretend that your breast is just like a bag of marbles. If the bag is held stretched, the marbles are laying flat. If you tighten the bag (the lift), the marbles are now at a higher level but the number of marbles remains the same.
In case you have lost a lot of volume as a result of either a diet or breastfeeding, lifting a skin that is empty will give you a firmer and more attractive breast that, however, might seem rather flat or “pancake-like” when compared to the chest wall. The surgery gets rid of excess skin, which means a reduction in the overall surface area. If it’s that round, bursting-with-volume kind of shape you want, a lift alone won’t do it for you; you’ll have to add an implant (Augmentation-Mastopexy) or fat grafting to restore the volume lost.
Limitation 2: The Upper Pole Fullness is Temporary
Every patient wants “upper pole fullness” – that resulting convex and rounded slope above the nipple that you get in a push-up bra. A mastopexy can provide such an appearance temporarily through the redistribution of the breast tissue (using “auto-augmentation,” for example). However, without an implant, eventually, gravity will get the upper hand.
The tissue of natural breasts is soft and easily moldable. Gradually (usually 6 to 12 months), the tissue comes down to the lower part of the breast as a result of gravity. Even though the nipple will remain at the top, most probably the upper slope will be long and flat and thus naturally straight. In case the objective is a permanent, round curve at the top of the breast, it is hardly ever sufficient to rely only on your own soft tissue to defy gravity for a long time.
Limitation 3: The Scar Trade-Off
No breast lift can be done without leaving scars. In order to eliminate a big part of the sagging, the surgeon needs to make incisions. Most of the time, moderate-to-severe cases require an “Anchor” (Inverted-T) incision: a circle around the areola, a vertical line down to the crease, and a horizontal line along the fold.
This is the “admission ticket” to the perky-chest club. Although these scars fade into thin white lines over 12-18 months, they still do not disappear entirely. In case you are a person who develops keloids or has very poor scarring genetics, you will have to make an informed decision about whether the benefits of the lift outweigh the costs in terms of scar visibility. Physically, it just makes no sense to be able to lift a heavy, saggy breast through an incision as small as a keyhole.
Limitation 4: It Does Not Change the “Footprint”
The location where the breast is attached to the chest wall (the footprint) cannot be changed by a breast lift. If your breasts are naturally set wide apart, the lift will not bring your breasts closer to each other to create cleavage.
For those with a wide sternum, lifting the breasts is only going to make them higher, hence the gap will still be there. If surgical pulling the breasts together is attempted, serious complications such as symmastia or tension bands may result. Cleavage is mainly determined by volume and bra support rather than skin tightening.
Breast Surgery in Turkey
Lin Europe Clinic is the place where you can get your breast surgery in Turkey and where the priority is given to the correct diagnosis rather than the easiest sale. We have patients coming to us who ask for “just a lift” when they are afraid of implants because after a while they realize that what they really wanted was volume.
To give you an idea of what a lift alone can do as opposed to a lift with an implant, we employ 3D simulation along with physical examination at your consultation. In case your breasts are “empty”, we could recommend a small, low-profile implant that would serve as a scaffold, thus maintaining the upper fullness, and the scars would be justified. We tailor-make the plan so you get the result not only fitting the technical definition of a lift but also the picture in your head.
Frequently Asked Questions About Breast Lift Limitations
In fact, the breast tissue mass remains unchanged or almost unchanged; however, visually the breasts often seem smaller as the surgeon removes the surplus skin and pushes the tissue together to make it more solid.
The only stretch marks which will be eliminated are the ones on that part of the skin which is removed (mostly the lower part of the breast); stretch marks on the upper breast or skin that remains cannot be removed.
Most of the time, the answer is yes, because the milk ducts remain intact. However, depending on the technique used for the surgery, there is always a tiny risk of lowered milk supply or sensation.
The breast lift result lasts permanently since your breast position is higher compared to the situation when you hadn’t done it; however, the effects of aging and gravity are still there, so some degree of sagging is expected to reoccur naturally during the next 10-15 years.
Of course, a breast lift is the ideal solution for correcting asymmetry because the surgeon can operate the tool so that different amounts of skin are removed from each side and the nipples can be positioned in a way to match each other, thus resulting in a less asymmetrical appearance.
Rubin, J. P. (2006). Mastopexy and mastopexy-augmentation. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Qiao, Q., et al. (2009). Management of the tuberous breast. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.
