The industrial strengh bra, not a great look for a teenager
Seattle Plastic Surgeon Discusses Teenage Breast Reduction
I received an email last week from a mother who was wondering if her 14 year old daughter could possibly be considered for a breast reduction. Her daughter is a dancer and has a really tough time with her large breasts. They cause her discomfort – both physical and mental.
My age spread for breast reduction is 14 – 68 years of age. That’s the biggest age spread for any of the many procedures I perform.
Almost all the teenagers who have had breast reduction were athletes or dancers. They all felt that they had stopped growing and had reached their full breast size. They all were embarrassed about the attention they received from guys because of their breasts.
I’ve been in practice almost 20 years so I’ve had the pleasure of seeing some of my young patients years and years after their surgery and none of them have regretted it for one minute.
There are a couple of downsides to having a reduction at a young age. Women who have had a reduction will not likely be able to breast feed a baby and younger women tend to have more obvious scars than older women. Also, with time and pregnancy, the reduced breast may have a change in size and/or shape over the years. I have done a handful of “re-dos” on women who had reductions decades ago.
The ideal time for a reduction is after a woman is done with childbearing. That being said, I think that certain really, really over endowed young ladies are very well served by this surgery. As with all procedures, it comes down to patient motivation and expectation and a good understanding of the risks and benefits involved. And many young women are emotionally mature enough to make the decision, especially if they have a good and open relationship with their mothers.
Seattle Plastic Surgeon Discusses the Wide Variety of Breast Size and Shape.
I saw a patient recently that brought this cartoon to mind. She was requesting breast surgery and knew just what she wanted to look like; like a playboy centerfold. The problem was that she was over 50, a little overweight, and a lot saggy. I had to tell her in the nicest possible way that there was no way I could make her look 20 something, nulliparous (meaning not having given birth), naturally gorgeous and, to top it off, airbrushed! We plastic surgeons call this “deflation of expectations”. I have a jillion before and after photos of patients I have operated on and I arrange them by age and by body mass index. When I see a patient for surgery, I show them examples of patients who resemble them, not some idealized nymph. If I don’t do this little reality check, I can be assured that the patient will be unhappy with their outcome and unhappy with me and behind every unhappy plastic surgery patient is an unhappy plastic surgeon.
Seattle Plastic Surgeon discusses her very favorite operation.
“Dr. Sowder, what is you favorite procedure?” That is a question patients frequently asked. The answer, hands down, is breast lift a.k.a. mastopexy. I really love doing breast lifts because the patients get a lot of benefit for little risk and very minimal pain and suffering and for most patients, it’s affordable.
I often see ladies who think they need implants but really they just a little boost to improve the position of the nipple, decrease the diameter of the areola (it makes the breast look bigger) and tighten the skin and raise the breast mound.
After all the healing is done, the breasts look a little bigger and oh so perky. And there is no implant to maintain.
Implants are great for ladies who are really small busty but lots of ladies are plenty big but they just don’t realize it.
I also love the breast lift patients. They are usually middle aged moms who are so happy to get a few days off from family demands in addition to their new look. It’s a win, win, win.
Seattle Plastic Surgeon discusses cultural differences when it come to breast aesthetics.
Recently I was reminded of the cultural variation of human attractiveness as it relates to the “ideal” female breast. A formerly happy breast augmentation patient presented with complaints that her breasts were way too big.
This is an unusual complaint in my office because I lean towards the smaller, “it could have possibly, on a good day, occurred in nature” look.
My patient had recently spent a couple of months in France where her chest was considered large. A 60 something male apparel vendor at a town market told her “you have big tits” when she was looking for a blouse that would fit her. In the States she’s a size 6!
The ideal “French breast” is smallish and has some scooping out of the upper part of the breast. In the United States, we refer to this as pseudoptosis, or in real English, false sagging. The treatment for pseudoptosis is an implant!
In the United States, fullness of the upper part of the breast is desired, regardless of the breast procedure be it augmentation, lift or even reduction. We strive to achieve lasting upper pole fullness in all our breast procedures.
@lisalynnsowder
