Can A Breast Lift Be Done Without Scars?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I have 38 DD breasts which sit on my stomach with the nipples pointing downward. I want them lifted back up but am afraid of the scars of a breast lift. I have seen some pictures and videos of the surgery and, quite frankly, it scares the hell out of me. I don’t want ugly scars on my breasts. What type of breast lift is available that does not leave any scars?

 A: Breast lift surgery is about moving the nipples up to a more central position on the breast mound and reshaping the breast mound so that it sits back upon the chest wall. This is done by a geometric rearrangement of the breast skin that involves a fair amount of breast skin removal. This where the typical inverted-T or anchor scar pattern comes from in a full breast lift procedure. While there are several more limited breast lift operations that involve less scarring, the amount of lifting and breast shape and position change is also a lot less. In short, there is no type of breast lift that does not involve scars. With the amount of breast sagging that you have, only a full breast lift will do any good. If the scars you have seen from breast lift surgery look worse than the sagging that you now have, then such surgery is not a good choice for you. Satisfaction after breast lift surgery is about feeling that the scars, undesireable that they may be, are a better problem than sagging unscarred breasts.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana