Breast reductions can be lifechanging surgeries. I just got off the phone with a mother worried about her daughter. Why? Her daughter went from an active, outgoing, athletic girl to withdrawn. Why? Her breasts are too big.
So what can you do about it? And when?
Breast reductions are a great surgery. It truly is lifechanging. When breasts are large, they are heavy, cause posture issues, make it so you can’t work out, make you self conscious to change in locker rooms or be intimate. Clothes don’t fit. You can’t jog. People look at your breasts not your face when they talk. You look fat.
Now imagine you are 16 with all of this.
I do breast reductions on young women, but with the thought points listed below.
Is your breast size changing? The biggest risk in doing a breast reduction when you are young is that you aren’t done growing yet. You don’t want to do a reduction and then have to do ANOTHER reduction in a few years because your breasts were still growing. It isn’t an exact science to know when you are done growing, but there are ways to help figure it out better.
- When did you get your period? If you had your period at 12 and haven’t changed in height for years, you are different than a girl who got their period at age 15.
- Are you still growing taller? Again, looking at if you are done with all those pubertal changes.
- I see patients in my office and do measurements and take a Vectra 3D photo which evaluates breast volume (not exact science, but another data point). I then see patients 6 months later and do the measurements again. Are the measurements stable?
Is your weight stable? Weight is another thing that changes a lot around the time of puberty. Breasts are always made of breast tissue and fat. The breast tissue component doesn’t change with weight changes, but the fat component does. Even if you think your breasts don’t change at all when you gain/lose weight, they always do.
- The issue is when I do the breast reduction I am also LIFTING and TIGHTENING. This lift and tightening is a huge benefit of a reduction. If you lose weight after the reduction (which 25% of women do), you will loosen my lift. You don’t want to go through all of this and end up drooping again.
- The other issue is when I do a reduction we are trying to keep you proportional to your body. If you lose 10 pounds does it all come off your abdomen? your breasts and abdomen? your thighs? Instead of us guessing what body size and shape we are trying to match, lose the weight first.
Timing. The most common time I do breast reduction surgery on teenage and young women is when they are going through a life change. So the most common times I operate is when the summer before they start college or the summer after. This means for most women, I am operating on them at ages 18/19 or 21/22. The benefit of doing it during this timing is when you start your next chapter of your life, people have not known you as looking any differently.
- It takes about 1 week to be off medication after surgery, and about one month til exercising/doing everything normally. People with desk jobs return to work usually a week after surgery. You can drive when you are off medication.
- When flying far away, I like you to be in town if you can for about 2 weeks after the surgery. I can do further follow ups by Skype/ FaceTime.
Do the short scar. I do the lollipop short scar breast reduction. I LOVE it. I think it gives a better shape, is longer lasting, and has a shorter scar. For some reason, though I have been doing it for a decade, other doctors are still doing the anchor scar. I have yet to find someone who is too droopy, too big, too whatever-excuse-someone-says-they-can’t-do-it. There is always a risk of the scar not being ideal. Make the scar as small as you can.
Should my daughter do a reduction? This is a question I get a lot for any surgery. I am not a plastic surgery kind of girl (ironic I know as I am a plastic surgeon). But when something is impairing and changing how your daughter acts, how she feels, or what she does, I would tell my daughter to fix it.
- Is she avoiding changing in locker rooms? not going to pool parties / won’t wear bathing suits?
- Does she layer clothing and wear vests to hide them?
- Does she hunch over and have poor posture?
- Is she withdrawn? Unhappy? Depressed about them?
- Can she be as active as she wants?
- **Exercise is harder. There was a study showing statistically significantly your physical activity goes down the larger your breasts are.
I love breast reductions because I see the amazing changes in people after them. I constantly hear, “I wish I would of done it sooner.” “It changed my life.” “Look! “(And they show me their sundress, tucked in shirt, or other outfit they couldn’t wear before.) “Lifechanging.” “Best thing I’ve ever done.”