Liposuction: Info, Prices, Photos, Reviews, Q&A

Liposuction is a nice option for some patients looking for breast reduction

Liposuction can be used to reduce the size of the breasts. It will not lift the breasts as no skin is being removed. However, the skin will usually shrink some due to it’s natural elasticity.

As a result, your nipples are usually no lower after liposuction than they were before liposuction. The breasts will be flatter but usually not lower. The other variable is how much can the breast be reduced with liposuction.

Since the amount of fatty tissue in each person’s breast is different, the result will depend on your breasts’ fat content. Generally younger patients have less fat so less can be removed for a smaller reduction.

Older patients have more fat in the breasts so more can be removed for a larger reduction. The main advantage of liposuction is practically no scars, less time under anesthesia and quicker healing. The disadvantages are less reduction and no lift. (Parham Ganchi, PhD, MD, Wayne Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction of the breasts will not tighten the skin envelope. If it is just a small amount it may be OK. If you remove a few hundred grams from each breast, more than likely the breasts will sag. (Steven Wallach, MD, New York Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction removes fat but not glandular breast tissue. Liposuction alone is therefore rarely used for breast reduction purposes. In a theoretical situation where your breast is mostly fat, liposuction can remove this fat leaving behind just the skin envelope, an empty bag that would then look like it’s sagging.

Make sure your surgeon is a board certified Plastic Surgeon and that he can show you pictures of before and after shots of cases where he used liposuction alone to do a breast reduction. (Martin Jugenburg, MD, Toronto Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction is a substandard way to Reduce Breasts

Simplistically, a breast is made up of a skin envelope and a breast volume made up of breast gland and breast fat. Liposuction can ONLY remove breast fat but cannot remove breast tissue. As a result, the amount of fat in the breast would determine the potential of liposuction to reduce it.

Since most young women have much more glandular tissue and less fat tissue in their breasts most of them would not do well with liposuction breast reduction. But even in women with a lot of fat in the breast liposuction is not a great idea.

As fat is removed from the breast, the breasts increasingly deflate and sag because the skin is not addressed. Without skin removal, in a less breast volume with same breast envelope setting, the breasts will sag.

You really should think this over before this way. (Peter A. Aldea, MD, Memphis Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction alone can produce modest breast reduction for some

Liposuction of the breast has been around for a long time now and is used only infrequently alone for breast reduction. It is true that the risk to breast feeding may be reduced, and the risk of scar avoided, however the amount of fat in the breast is variable.

In young individuals the skin can be elastic though the breast is often dense and firm and liposuction simply does not work. Later in life there is more fatty infiltration of the breast making liposuction more effective.

Still, a very popular approach to reduction involves a short scar or vertical reduction of the breast with liposuction. (Peter E. Johnson, MD, Chicago Plastic Surgeon)

Liposuction of the breasts can lower one cup size.

Liposuction of the breasts is useful for about 10% of women. Depends on your anatomy and expectations. A recent large scientific study showed that conventional breast reduction does not reduce the chances that you will be able to breast feed. (George J. Beraka, MD (retired), Manhattan Plastic Surgeon)

Generally breast liposuction will reduce the volume of the fat in the breast but not the skin envelope. This can translate into a flatter and saggier breast.

Generally this is not the most satisfactory solution. An experienced breast surgeon will likely recommend that both the breast soft tissue and the skin envelope be reduced in a structured way to create a more satisfactory breast shape. (Kenneth D. Steinsapir, MD, Beverly Hills Oculoplastic Surgeon)

Lipo breast reduction may leave sagging skin

A breast reduction using current techniques has a good chance of preserving the ability to breast feed. Overly large breasts sometimes impair the ability to breast feed so there is no guarantee that would would be successful anyway, though you should certainly be encouraged to try.

A small amount of lipo on the breasts in a young person with good skin elasticity would work, but for most women considering a breast reduction there is too much tissue to remove in order for it to acheive a good result. (Richard Baxter, MD, Seattle Plastic Surgeon)

Breast reduction via liposuction.

When you go into your surgeon’s office for a consultation, you will be advised if breast reduction via liposuction is right for you. It depends on your breasts and while it may be great for some women, it may leave breasts saggy on others. (Otto Joseph Placik, MD, Chicago Plastic Surgeon)