Breast Reduction Surgery: Does It Also Fill the Upper Breast?

Hello.

This is Moms Plastic Surgery Clinic.

The main purpose of people who undergo breast reduction surgery is usually to make the breasts smaller.

However, just as standards of beauty differ from person to person, there are also considerable differences in the breast size people prefer depending on age.

If you are a bit older, it is common to want a smaller size,

while people in their 20s and 30s prefer fuller, more voluminous breasts.

In particular, when people want this kind of full breast shape, some say they want the upper breast to be filled out and rounded.

Today, we will talk about whether this wish can be fulfilled, and specifically about filling the upper breast after breast reduction surgery.

To explain this issue, we need to talk about the breast footprint.

What is the breast footprint?

The basic space occupied by the breast

In other words, if you think of the breast as having a rounded shape, it is the base.

From the top, there is a starting line where the breast begins to rise from the torso, and from the bottom, there is the end of the breast, which becomes the lower line.

From the front, there is also a boundary line between the inner and outer sides of the breast.

The breast footprint is formed by connecting these four lines.

The position of the breast footprint cannot be changed through reduction surgery

The reason I explained this concept is that the position of the breast footprint cannot be changed.

Breast reduction surgery is

a procedure that returns enlarged breasts that extend beyond the breast footprint back to their original position.

However, because the position of the breast footprint cannot be moved, when you ask during a consultation for reduction surgery,

'Does it also fill the upper breast?'

we may answer that it does fill it out, but in reality this means that the upper part within the breast footprint is filled to some extent,

not that the area above the original breast footprint is filled.

Various attempts to fill the upper breast

Of course, in order to achieve this, there have been various attempts in the past.

The glandular tissue was fixed to the fascia with threads, Endotine, and other materials, and the pectoralis major muscle was even made into a band to support the glandular tissue.

However, all of these attempts ended in failure.

Even if soft human tissue is fixed upward using threads or hard materials, the threads may remain in place, but the breast tissue will inevitably droop again.

From the patient's perspective, wanting to fill the upper breast means wanting a rounded shape that extends upward beyond the breast footprint.

Unfortunately, this is not something that can be achieved with breast reduction surgery.

Is there a way for the upper breast, even above the breast footprint, to become rounded?

The way to create this kind of shape is with breast augmentation surgery.

If you definitely want to fill out the upper breast

However, especially among younger people, there are many cases where they say that if they are going to have surgery anyway, they definitely want to fill out the upper breast as well.

In such cases, it is impossible with reduction surgery alone, and an additional procedure is needed.

How to fill the upper breast after reduction surgery

1. Insert implants into the upper breast
2. Fat grafting to the upper breast

This means performing surgeries with opposite effects at the same time.

On the one hand, the size of the breast is reduced, while on the other hand, more volume is added, creating a contradictory situation.

Therefore, this method

'is not actively recommended.'

However, for those who truly want to fill the upper breast, reduction-augmentation surgery is sometimes performed.

Today’s question was: 'Does breast reduction surgery also fill the upper part of the breast?'

If we answer based on the actual needs of patients,

the answer is clearly 'NO.'

That is because breast reduction surgery is not a procedure that separately fills the area above the breast footprint.

From the perspective of the surgeon, although the change is only within the breast footprint, compared to the original drooping state, reduction surgery moves volume upward, so

'it also fills the upper breast'

could be an acceptable answer.

However, this does not mean the upper breast becomes rounded in the same way as with breast augmentation surgery.

Please keep this point in mind once again.

Thank you.