Breast Reduction: Info, Prices, Photos, Reviews, Q&A

If you are overweight, but have been unable to lose weight, or your breasts make excercising miserable, then you probably should proceed with your breast reduction.

I often find that breast reduction patients are both motivated to lose weight after the surgery, and that they find exercising is facilitated by improvement in their symptoms.

If you are commited to losing weight or you are in the process of losing weight, that would be ideal and would ultimately make it easier to achieve a good result. (Marc Klein, MD, Atlanta Plastic Surgeon)

Ideally surgery is done when you are at a healthy, stable weight. Your breast size fluctutates with weight changes. It is harder to deliver an “ideal” or “preferred” breast size when you are not at your ideal weight.

However, many women find that having extremely large breasts prevents them from exercising.

Some of my happiest patients are those who have undergone breast reduction surgery – comments have included delight that they no longer have to carry their breasts with them when they roll over in bed, and that they can now reach their arms around their husband when they give him a hug.

Perhaps consider scheduling a surgery date a few months from today and make a concerted effort to lose weight in the meantime – eat a healthy diet and commit to regular exercise. Enlist a friend or a personal trainer to help you achieve your weight loss goals.

Understand that risks of surgery are increased for individuals who are substantially above their ideal weight. If you lose weight after surgery your breasts will reduce in size and may look deflated (rather than the full and perky they may look after surgery).

If you gain weight your breasts will increase in size – but they won’t go back to their pre-reduction size unless you put on much more excess weight than you currently carry. (Jill Tomlinson, MBBS, FRACS, Melbourne Plastic Surgeon)

Losing Weight After Breast Reduction Surgery

If you are planning on losing weight you should do so prior to the procedure. If you have your breasts reduced and then lose weight, you may find that they are significantly smaller than you had previously intended them on being.

So deciding on whether it is worth doing or not is a personal preference on your end. (Siamak Agha, MD, PhD, FACS, Orange County Plastic Surgeon)

Do your best at losing weight but you can always do the reduction

The general advice is to lose weight first. However the problem with large breasts is the symptoms they cause e.g neck, shoulder pain, skin infection etc….

I advise my patients to set a surgery day in the near future (within 3-6 months), during that time the goal is to lose as much weight as possible.

This create a goal and a time line. It usually work well and the patient ends by losing weight and performing the surgery. (Hisham Seify, MD, PhD, FACS, Orange County Plastic Surgeon)

A reduction is generally a good jump start for weight loss. In my practice, the average weight loss after a reduction is an additional 14 pounds. The women say that with the breasts out of the way, they become more active.

Rarely, enough weight will be lost in the breast that an augmentation might later be done. This is rare however. (Vincent N. Zubowicz, MD, Atlanta Plastic Surgeon)

Breast reduction is beneficial to an overweight woman

Regardless of weight, I find women experience significant relief of their symptoms after breast reduction such as back pain, etc. If you are overweight there are several issues however:

1. your insurance company may not cover the procedure; sometimes they will after demonstrating attempts to lose weight are unsuccessful;
2. your risks during the surgery are increased;
3. if you lose weight after surgery, the aesthetic result may deteriorate if you lose weight from your breasts.

For most of my patients I will usually proceed with the surgery unless they are morbidly obese. The patient experiences many benefits-their symptoms are reduced or eliminated, the aesthetic appearance of the breast is improved, many lose weight, and enhanced sense of well being. (Tracy Pfeifer, MD, Manhattan Plastic Surgeon)

For any procedure, it’s best to be at (or at least close to) your ideal body weight for many reasons – like decreasing your anesthesia risks, getting a better result, decreasing wound healing complications, etc.

Having said that, many women who suffer from symptoms due to large breasts find they have difficulty actually exercising and losing weight. While it’s possible a large weight change after surgery may cause a slight change in your breasts, it’s unlikely to have a significant impact.

I would say if you have made a sincere sustained effort to lose weight, and have not had much success, proceed with your surgery. (Vishal Kapoor, MD, Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon)

Having large, heavy, breasts that give you symptoms and being overweight are two completely separate problems. Since your large breasts are troubling to you, you will probably benefit by breast reduction surgery. Your weight will not cause your breasts to get large again.

If you do lose weight, your breasts will get a little smaller, but usually not much. (George J. Beraka, MD (retired), Manhattan Plastic Surgeon)

Healthy, stable lifestyle changes before body contouring

Breast reduction is categorized as body-contouring. Obviously, there is some relationship between breast size/weight and body weight. However, small women can have large breasts and big womencan have relatively small breasts. First look at your lifestyle.

Be as healthy and stable as you can. Determine why you think you are 40lbs. overweight. Is it because you gained the weight or you looked at a chart? Some people will always be overweight.

If you are as fit as you can be, your weight and total body fat are less important. Therefore, even if you are “overweight”, if your breasts are too big for you, talk to a plastic surgeon about the surgery.

If you are truly overweight and you cannot exercise because of your breasts, you might consider a staged reduction, perhaps just liposuction to reduce the weight to allow you to exercise and then a more contouring procedure when you reach your goal.

Be aware that some insurance companies will refuse to cover your surgery if you are not within a certain percentage of what they think your ideal weight should be. In general, think about fitness first, then determine how your breasts affect your life. (Robin T.W. Yuan, MD, Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon)

A potentially good choice

If you are actively losing weight, then I would suggest holding off on the breast reduction until your wight loss is complete. The breasts will also deflate some with weight loss. However, many women find that their breasts are too large for them to be active, and sometimes breast reductions can help them get motivated and feel at ease to exercise and get into shape.

It really is patient dependent. (Steven Wallach, MD, New York Plastic Surgeon)

It’s always best to be within 20 pounds of your ideal weight

Before considering having body contouring surgery, including a breast reduction, ideally you should be within 20 pounds of your goal weight. That way you won’t develop loose skin if you were to lose weight after surgery.

In addition, in reviewing patients who have breast reductions and weigh over 200 pounds preop, there is a higher incidence of wound complications and delayed healing. Consequently, I personally won’t operate on a patient wanting a breast reduction until their weight is less than 200 and closer to their ideal weight.

This improves the safety of the surgery and the cosmetic result is also much better. Many patients believe that their breast size is stopping them from exercising and losing weight and want to do surgery first and then lose weight.

The reality of that plan unfortunately is that they usually don’t lose weight afterward because there were other reasons that their weight was up that haven’t changed from surgery. Regardless of exercise, if your daily caloric intake is less than the number of calories you burn, you will lose weight. (Richard P. Rand, MD, FACS, Seattle Plastic Surgeon)

You would be much better off health wise if you would lose weight and get closer to your ideal body weight prior to surgery. This would help in you recovery and healing phase after surgery.

Otherwise you may end up needing a revision on your breast because you have lost a lot of fat in the breast area making you deflated in breast volume and leaving you with a redundant skin envelope. (Paul Vitenas, Jr., MD, Houston Plastic Surgeon)

Ideally, a patient should be within 20 – 25 pounds of their target weight. If you have done everything possible, then consult with 2 – 3 board certified plastic surgeons to explore your options. (Kris M. Reddy, MD, FACS, West Palm Beach Plastic Surgeon)

Breast Reduction in patients who are overweight has some potential hazards

Insurance companies typically insist that patients be within their ideal body weight, usually defined by BMI (Body Mass Index).

The argument is that if a woman reduces her weight then her breasts will shrink and she probably wont ask for a reduction.

However there are several caveats for the woman whose breast is predominantly fatty. Fatty breasts don’t “hold” the shape as long as fibrous breasts, so ptosis or droopiness frequently recurs. Fatty breasts may yield more frequent “knots” or fat necrosis and infection because of its poor blood supply.

This is turn may be appreciated as microcalcifications, which should be distinguishable on mammography from malignant microcalicifications. So while breast reduction in the overweight is not problem free, I agree with the other consultants that it can be extremely beneficial in providing quality in a woman’s life.

Moreover, in approaching a surgery, I counsel women not to be in a state of malnutrition, as this will predispose them to delayed wound healing. (Lavinia K. Chong, MD, Orange County Plastic Surgeon)

I advise my patients to have surgery when they are at the weight that they feel they can maintain realizing that losses or gains can change the result. The real question here is if you lose the weight will you keep it off? I am not a big fan of encouraging patients to lose weight just to have them gain it after surgery.

Losing and gaining weight is that which makes most women’s breasts change is size. (John P. Di Saia, MD, Orange Plastic Surgeon)