What Are the Top 1–2 Complications of Breast Reduction Surgery, Based on Statistics?

If you are planning to have surgery,

of course you hope for a good result

with no problems,

but you should be aware that

all surgeries inevitably come with

side effects.

Therefore, after breast reduction surgery,

it is especially important to understand

what complications may arise

and how often they occur

before deciding on surgery.

However, the issue with breast reduction complications

is that it is difficult to obtain objective

and clear data.

This is because not only patients,

but also medical professionals,

have very limited data that can be used

as scientific evidence.

I think the reason for this is that no one

wants to reveal their flaws as they are.

There are probably many places

that advertise as if there are no side effects.

Then is it really possible

to perform surgery without side effects?

The answer can be replaced by an old

saying in the medical field:

'The only doctor with no side effects

is the doctor who does not perform surgery.'

So today, we will take a look at

the side effects of breast reduction surgery

through the BRAVO study.

The BRAVO study was designed so that

only good cases would not be included

in the statistics;

instead, all cases during a certain period

were included in the statistics.

In other words, it is unbiased data,

and because it was conducted simultaneously

at multiple institutions, it can be said

to show results that are closer to real life.

Based on this, today I will show you

the top 1 through 7 complications

after breast reduction surgery.

Please note that even mild complications

were included, so the incidence rate

is shown to be quite high compared

with what you might expect.

The No. 1 complication is delayed wound healing.

Normally, a wound heals in 1 to 2 weeks,

but if it takes longer than that,

it is called delayed healing.

The frequency was quite high,

at about 21.6% of all surgeries.

About 1 in 5 people experienced

some issue during wound healing.

Breast reduction surgery involves a fairly

long suture line, so compared with

other surgeries, wound healing problems

seem to occur more often.

Therefore, the medical team performing

the surgery should pay even more careful

attention to wound closure and treatment.

However, in many cases, the area of delayed healing

is limited to only part of the wound,

and because the overall healing period

is extended to about 3 to 4 weeks,

it can be considered a complication

that is relatively manageable.

The No. 2 complication is suture exposure.

This refers to a situation where a subcutaneous

suture comes out through the skin.

It accounted for about 9.2% of all surgeries.

To explain a bit further,

after reduction surgery, when the incision

is closed, it is sutured in two layers:

the inner layer and the outer layer.

For the outer skin closure, non-absorbable

nylon thread is used and removed after

1 to 2 weeks, while the inner skin layer

uses absorbable sutures that dissolve

and are absorbed by the body.

Among these, absorbable sutures dissolve

and disappear inside the body after

several months, but during the wound-healing

process, they may become exposed outside

the skin before they dissolve.

Still, in such cases, removal is relatively simple.

So it is hard to call this a major problem,

but it is still a fairly common occurrence,

appearing in about 1 out of 10 people.

The No. 1 and No. 2 complications of breast

reduction surgery discussed today—delayed

wound healing and suture exposure—are both

complications related to the wound.

Because reduction surgery inevitably leaves

a long incision, wound-related complications

like these seem to occur relatively often.

Next time, we will take a look at what

complications remain from No. 3 to No. 7.