CASE #1

This is a 32 year old woman with macromastia and breast asymmetry before and nine months after bilateral reduction mammaplasty.

CASE #3

This is a 28 year old woman with extremely large breasts before and four months after reduction mammaplasty.

CASE #5

This is a 54 year old woman with large, pendulous breasts before and six months after bilateral reduction mammaplasty.

CASE #7

This is a 23 year old woman with massive hypertrophy of the breasts and breast asymmetry shown before and three months after bilateral reduction mammaplasty.

Breast Reduction / Mammaplasty Surgery – Many patients have excessively large breasts, which may cause discomfort and even interfere with many normal daily activities. Patients with large breasts (a condition described by plastic surgeons as “macromastia” or “gigantomastia”) will complain oftentimes of chronic neck and back pain, discomfort in the shoulders, creases or grooves in the soft tissues of the shoulders where the brassiere straps cut into the skin, recurring rashes and skin breakdown in the crease beneath the breast. Many patients also complain that it is difficult to engage in many normal physical activities such as aerobic exercise, jogging, horseback riding and tennis. For these reasons, breast reduction plastic surgery is very popular and has an extremely high patient satisfaction rate.

There are a number of different techniques that can be utilized to perform successful breast reduction. All of the operations leave scars on the breasts, including a scar around the nipple and a scar extending from the nipple toward the crease beneath the breast. Sometimes there is also a short scar in the crease under the breast (the inframammary fold). In some cases, liposuction is used as an adjunct to breast reduction surgery. In any event, patients who undergo breast reduction surgery are almost universally happy they had the operation. The vast majority of patients find the scars (which usually are not very noticeable) to be a worthwhile “tradeoff” to have smaller, more uplifted and youthful breasts that better fit their overall body habitus.

Dr. Neal Handel performs Breast Reduction Surgery in Beverly Hills, California.

Breast reduction surgery typically can be done on an outpatient basis in a surgery center and does not require hospitalization. Patients need to restrict their activities for about six weeks after the breast reduction surgery to ensure proper healing.

As with all surgical procedures, breast reduction surgery carries the risks of certain complications including reduced sensation in the nipple, undesirable scarring, breast asymmetry and the need for future revisions. In many cases, breast reduction surgery is covered by health insurance but even in cases where insurance coverage applies, patients may have out-of-pocket expenses because insurance policies typically do not cover the entire cost of the procedure. Dr. Handel and his Beverly Hills cosmetic surgery clinic’s staff will do everything possible to ascertain pre-operatively whether or not your insurance company will help to cover the cost of breast reduction and how much reimbursement you might anticipate.