Struggling with the physical and emotional burden of heavy breasts? Dr. Panossian, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Pasadena, California, offers transformative breast surgery tailored to your needs. Experience enhanced comfort, improved posture, and a more proportionate body shape as the final rewarding outcome.
Alleviating Discomfort: The Transformative Impact of Breast Reduction
Enhance your quality of life with reduction mammaplasty by Dr. Andre Panossian, a skilled Pasadena Plastic surgeon specializing in breast procedures. This transformative surgery offers multiple benefits, including alleviating pain, improving body image, and achieving breast symmetry for a more balanced appearance. Additionally, it addresses issues such as skin irritation and excess skin under the breasts.
01
Alleviate Pain
Say goodbye to chronic shoulder and neck pain and discomfort! This reduction procedure alleviates physical stress, letting you live freely.
02
Boost Body Image
Unburden yourself from the emotional weight, too. Improve your body image and gain the confidence you deserve.
03
Perfect Symmetry
Achieve aesthetically pleasing breast symmetry and proportionality. Complement your natural beauty with a more balanced profile.
Understanding Breast Reduction
One of the happiest and most grateful patients in plastic surgery is the patient who has undergone breast reduction (or reduction mammaplasty). Reduction mammaplasty reduces the size of excessively large breasts causing numerous symptoms, including back or neck pain, skin irritation, physical discomfort, infection in the breast fold, and shoulder grooving from bra straps.
Identifying Ideal Candidates for Breast Reduction Surgery
Ideal candidates for breast reduction surgery are adult women who have large, heavy, or pendulous breasts that cause physical discomfort or embarrassment. Candidates should be in good health and have realistic expectations about the results of the procedure.
It is important to note that Reduction Mammaplasty surgery does not correct drooping breasts; a breast lift may be recommended in addition to the mammaplasty procedure. Patients should also be non-smokers, as smoking can interfere with proper healing after surgery.
Preparing for Your Breast Reduction Journey: Essential Steps
To prepare for a breast reduction surgery, there are important steps to take. First, consult with a board-certified plastic surgeon who specializes in breast surgeries. In this consultation, discuss your goals, medical history, and concerns. The surgeon will perform an examination and take photographs. They will explain the surgery, risks, and outcomes.
Before surgery, follow your surgeon’s instructions. This may include adjusting medications, quitting smoking, and not eating or drinking for a specific period before the procedure. Have someone you trust accompany you on the day of surgery, as you may not be able to drive afterward.
For surgery, wear comfortable clothes and no makeup, lotions, or jewelry. The procedure takes a few hours, during which you’ll be under general anesthesia. Closely follow your surgeon’s instructions for recovery.
Breast reduction surgery can improve physical discomfort and boost self-confidence. Choose a qualified plastic surgeon such as Dr. Panossian for the best results and smoother breast reduction recovery.
Breast Reduction Techniques: Tailoring the Procedure to You
Reduction Mammaplasty is an ancient technique that has gone through incalculable cycles of refinement over the years. Dr. Panossian utilizes advanced surgical techniques to ensure the best possible results and aesthetic outcomes for his patients.
Anchor incision
Most reductions performed in the US implement a Wise pattern technique (or anchor incision). Through this procedure, cuts are made around the areola and nipple with a vertical section down the middle of the inferior breast, connecting perpendicularly to a cut in the inframammary crease. The majority of excess breast tissue (glandular tissue) is removed with this series of cuts to meet approximately the patient’s desired breast size.
Vertical mammaplasty
In a vertical mammaplasty, the incisions are limited to the border of the areola and a vertical midline incision along the lower breast, down to the inframammary fold. The benefit of this approach is to limit the amount of scarring on the breast while achieving similar reductions in size as with the Wise pattern technique. To refine the final appearance of the breast, the surgeon performs liposuction.
Circumareolar incision
Another commonly used incision style is the circumareolar incision (around the areola). This incision may be used for a limited reduction, although it is more commonly employed for breast lift surgery. This incision can reposition a slightly downward-pointing nipple to a more normal, appealing position. It often works in conjunction with breast implant placement (augmentation mastopexy).
Other techniques
Other less common methods of reduction mammaplasty include a hockey stick-shaped incision (Lejour technique) and straightforward liposuction in select cases.
Dr. Panossian has extensive experience in these techniques and will review the approach most likely to give you the best possible result. During your mammaplasty consultation, the feasibility of this particular reduction technique will be assessed. On the day of surgery, Dr. Panossian will spend a long time precisely measuring and marking the breasts in the standing position before entering the operating room.
Are You Ready For A Consultation?
If you are considering this procedure, booking a consultation with an experienced board-certified plastic surgeon like Dr. Panossian is a great way to learn about the procedure and determine if it’s right for you.
Recovery
Navigating the Recovery Process After Breast Reduction
Breast reduction is an outpatient procedure. A family member or friend should be present to care for the patient on the day of surgery and for at least 24 hours following surgery.
The surgeon will cover the area with a thin gauze and an elastic bandage, which can cause some discomfort for a couple of days. However, taking medications can suppress pain. After a few days, the firm dressing will be substituted by a delicate bra. This must be worn constantly over a thin layer of gauze for up to four weeks. After one week after the operation, your surgeon will take off the sutures.
During the recovery process, reducing physical activities substantially during the first week after surgery is critical. Having a family member or friend to help during this time with daily activities is essential. This first week is critical for the healing process and in the avoidance of postoperative complications. Approximately two weeks after surgery, light walking and similar activities are not risky, but strenuous activities such as upper body workouts, heavy lifting, running, and aggressive exercise are strictly avoided.
There is usually some loss of sensation in the nipples and breast skin after surgery. This numbness will improve over the next six weeks. Sometimes, the nipples will undergo a period of increased sensitivity as well. In some patients, these sensory changes may last a year or more and can be permanent.
Investing in Yourself
Understanding the Costs of Breast Reduction
The cost of mammaplasty surgery is influenced by several factors, including the complexity of the procedure and individual patient needs. To determine the precise cost, it’s essential to consult with your doctor. They will assess your specific requirements and provide you with a personalized estimate tailored to your breast reduction surgery. This approach ensures that you have a clear understanding of the financial aspects involved and can plan accordingly for this transformative procedure.
Risks and Complications
What are the Risks and Complications of Breast Reduction?
Reduction Mammaplasty is a complicated procedure but is typically safe when done by a board-certified and knowledgeable plastic surgeon. Dangers associated with virtually every surgical operation, including bleeding, infection, and complications with anesthesia, can be considerably lessened with full observance of Dr. Panossian’s pre- and postoperative regulations.
A bra line usually covers breast reduction scars. An individual’s tendency for keloid or thick scarring is sometimes unpredictable and genetically predetermined. Steroid injections or surgical revision can treat these scars if they occur.
Slight breast asymmetry between the breasts can also occur in breast shape, nipple position, or differences in sensation. In the worst-case scenario, the vascularity of the nipple and areola may be compromised, and a portion of the nipple-areola complex may die. This is a treatable problem, but surgical correction may be necessary. Finally, the ability to breastfeed is affected in most patients since the removal of the milk-producing portions of the breasts.
Dr. Panossian’s staff is available 24 hours a day to answer your questions and concerns to avoid complications. Pasadena breast reduction patients must call immediately in case of a suspected problem.
Why choose Dr. Panossian?
- He received his medical education at Tufts University School of Medicine.
- Graduated at the top of his class at UCLA, receiving Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude honors.
- Was accepted into an elite combined general surgery and plastic surgery residency at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
- Completed subspecialty training in craniofacial surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and Harvard Medical School.
- Was mentored by Dr. Ron Zuker in the practice of facial paralysis reconstruction. This prestigious fellowship position was available to only one surgeon in the United States.
- Is affiliated with various charitable and educational organizations, including Operation Smile and Mending Kids.
- Is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the highly selective American Association of Plastic Surgeons, reserved for only a select group of individuals nationally who have demonstrated excellence in academic plastic surgery.
- Holds memberships in several other professional societies including the American College of Surgeons and the American Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery.
- He serves on the Board of Directors for Mending Kids and the Gondobay Manga Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the improvement of lives in Sierra Leone.
- Has been nominated by his peers annually since 2012 as a “Super Doctor.”
- Served as an expert medical consultant and appeared on The Doctors, Grey’s Anatomy, and Nip/Tuck.
- Has been featured as “Top Doctor” in US News and World Report, Pasadena Magazine, and Los Angeles Magazine.
Frequently Asked Questions About Breast Reduction
Last modified by Dr. Andre Panossian
