Implants & lifts - part one

One area of confusion I see frequently in our practice is the difference between when we should use a breast augmentation, and when we should use a breast lift, otherwise known as a "mastopexy". Many people think that a breast implant will lift a significantly droopy (ptotic) breast - sadly, this is not the case.

Adding an implant to a droopy breast most commonly converts it to a bigger, but still droopy breast. Some surgeons will try to "fill up" a droopy breast with a big implant. While sometimes this works, for most people, the effect is temporary - and the additional implant weight on the stretchy breast skin tends to make the droop worse as time goes by. And now, it's a much more complicated thing to fix...

For some women, who just have just a relatively minor degree of breast ptosis (droop) - an implant may work, especially if it is combined with one of our smaller breast lifts, like the "donut lift" - which involves an incision around just the areolar area. But only use an implant if you've decided you want to have a larger breast size. You can't count on them to act as an "internal bra".