"Scarless" breast reduction

Recently, a number of surgeons have been promoting the concept of "scarless breast reduction". While technically, there is a single small incision, compared to a standard surgical breast reduction, it's nearly scarless.

Here's the secret: liposuction. Liposuction is used to remove fatty tissue from the breasts, which makes them smaller, lighter, and more comfortable for women who suffer from the weight of excessively large and heavy breasts.

There's a catch, though. Liposuction-based breast reduction works for women who have breasts that are mostly fatty, and doesn't work if the breast is mostly composed of dense breast glandular tissue. Sometimes this determination is tricky - as there is no inexpensive, accurate test. There are some patients, usually younger in age, where this technique won't work at all.

If the breast is droopy, liposuction breast reduction doesn't really lift the breast, but it usually doesn't make the droop worse either. This is the key difference between standard breast reduction methods and liposuction breast reduction. Liposuction breast reduction usually gives you a "smaller version of what you have now", but not a breast lift.

Surgical breast reduction offers the advantages of lifting and re-shaping the breast - but with the trade-off of additional incisions.

In summary: liposuction breast reduction is a useful option to know about, particularly for women who are worried about scars, or who tend to make thick, ropey scars - and who would like a breast reduction.