The breasts after excessive weight loss

Boobs. There, I’ve said it! It’s out there. They are a potential source of anxiety for at least 50% of the population, and more than that in the big weight loss brotherhood. The thing is that breasts are made of two types of tissue; gland and fat. The older you get, the more fat they contain, so consequently if you loose weight, they deflate pretty smartly, leaving you with what is frequently described as a couple of spaniel’s ears. Some people may argue they have elephant’s ears, whilst others just go flat. Either way, you’re not a happy camper.

Think of a breast as an orange in a sock. Your weight gain stretched the sock, so when you loose it and the orange gets smaller, the sock is all out of shape. We need to reduce the sock and possible stick in a new orange – in other words an implant of some sort. The idea is your nipple comes to sit at the same height at the crease under your breast, although with the best will in the world, they do tend to re-droop a bit. I looked at this once in my big weight loss patients, and almost 28% have a measurable sag by 6 weeks after surgery. Annoying!! That’s also why it’s not a bod idea to operate on breasts early on in your journey as there is a pretty high chance you’ll need a second operation which can be combined with another surgery.

The good new is that the down time is only about that of having an abdomen, usually about 3 weeks – providing you follow our instructions and rest adequately.

On occasions there is so much droop in a breast that I need to do the surgery in two stages; firstly to make the sock small, then secondly to increase the volume with an implant. It isn’t uncommon for people to have the first stage and to decide that life is better with smaller breasts, so it can be a big positive, doing things in two stages.

If anything, breasts are the most variable of all areas I operate upon, and we take about 60 measurements on your boobs before deciding what might be helpful for you. As always, come on in for a chat with our nurse educators or a consultation with me.

As always, the best way of finding out specifics is to come in and see me or one of my nurse educators, who will be happy to let you know what we do.

Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding, you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner.