Breast Asymmetry, Cleavage, Droop and Shape

from plastic surgery

Breast Asymmetry

All women have breast asymmetry. One breast may be higher, larger, or shaped differently than the other. The nipples may be uneven in size, shape, position, or height. The breast crease is often asymmetric in position or shape. Your surgeon will probably point these asymmetries out to you prior to surgery. It is important that you recognize them and understand that, with the exception of breast size discrepancy, most asymmetries will not be improved or corrected by breast augmentation. In fact, some asymmetries may become more obvious simply because you will spend more time looking at your breasts after surgery./p>

Marked Asymmetry

Some women have such significant asymmetry that their breasts vary in size by several cups. Many options exist for attaining symmetry in these instances. First, you must decide your desired breast size. Do you want both breasts smaller than the small breast or larger than the large breast? Would you rather have both breasts match the size of one of your existing breasts? Or would you want them somewhere in between? Regardless of what you choose, a combination of augmentation, lift, and reduction can be applied to improve your symmetry—often with amazing results.

Cleavage

Cleavage refers to the distance between the breasts, not to breast size. By way of cultural values, when the breasts are close together, they are considered to have attractive cleavage. For this reason, many women hope to gain cleavage as a result of breast augmentation. Unfortunatelv, this is not always possible. The likelihood of attaining tighter cleavage depends somewhat upon preoperative cleavage and whether the implants are placed under or over the pectoralis muscle. Women who start with widely spaced breasts before surgery and who choose subpectoral placement of implants should expect little or no improvement in cleavage, as the attachments of the pectoralis muscle to the ribs and sternum typically prevent tight cleavage. Implant placement over the muscle is more likely to yield tight cleavage. Note that one potential consequence of trying to attain tight cleavage is symmastia.

Breast Droop

Breast droop is defined and explained in detail in the next chapter. In short, breast droop refers to the condition whereby the nipple has sagged down to or below the breast crease. Breast implants do not affect nipple height. As such, they will not raise droopy nipples. However, because implants can lower the breast crease, they can affect the relative position of the nipple to the crease, thereby making breast droop less obvious or less severe in cases of mild droop. Yet the most definitive treatment for breast droop remains breast lift.

Stretch Marks

Breast augmentation will not improve stretch marks on the breasts. It might cause new stretch marks to form, but this is uncommon.

Breast Shape

Breast augmentation mainly affects breast volume, not shape. Some breast shapes require more than simple augmentation. One example of this is a tuberous breast, which is narrow and long. If your plastic surgeon tells you your breast is tuberous, its shape can be improved through implant placement, but surgical division of the fibrous bands within your breast that cause this shape is also required.