Breast Reduction for Young Patients
Choosing to have plastic surgery is a big step for many patients. When a tradeoff is involved, making the decision can be even more challenging. For younger women with oversized breasts, there are several factors to think about.
If you’re thinking about breast reduction but you’re relatively young, this post is for you.
Reasons to Wait for Breast Reduction
In our New York plastic surgery practice, we have counseled many women seeking breast reduction over the years. The number one reason patients decide to wait to have surgery is to complete their family first. There are a couple of aspects of childbearing that come into play:
• Breast growth during pregnancy stretches skin, meaning already large breasts become even larger. This often leads to additional sagginess later on. It’s possible that someone who has had the operation would find herself thinking about a second one after pregnancy.
• Breastfeeding after surgery can be more difficult. Many health authorities suggest the chances are about 50/50 a post-surgery mom will struggle with it (but there are surgical techniques that help boost the odds).
There are other considerations for some patients. People occasionally put off breast reduction surgery until they go all out to try to secure insurance coverage—this can take a while! Some patients who are overweight or obese decide to work toward reaching their ideal weight first.
Reasons for Breast Reduction Now
Just as there’s a leading consideration in waiting for surgery, there’s a big reason young women decide to move ahead as well: quality of life. Both physical and psychological aspects of life can improve greatly after breast reduction. For New York patients we work with, words like “elation” and “joy” are not too strong to describe their feelings about the results!
• Physical factors
Many breast reduction patients have physical complaints that should ease after surgery—neck, shoulder and back aches, deep bra strap grooves and skin rashes. Posture may improve, and patients may have an easier time avoiding an “old folks” stoop in the future.
Young women see breast reduction as an investment impacting fitness as well. Those who enjoy sports like basketball, volleyball, running and others often find it difficult to take part with large breasts in the way. Going to the gym and the pool may be uncomfortable for more than one reason. We’ve seen surgery pave the way for improved fitness for many of our New York breast reduction patients.
• Psychological gains
Breast reduction patients almost universally report improved confidence after surgery. This results from changes both large and small—the satisfaction of not being stared at everywhere and having more clothing choices are examples.
Interestingly, scientists have found that some psychosocial benefits for young women are even greater than expected and persist for years beyond breast reduction surgery. In a study published not too long ago in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, a research team found that younger women who underwent breast reduction reported a significantly higher score in breast satisfaction than did women who had not had surgery. The same was true for sexual well-being: those who had surgery scored much higher than those who had not.
Furthermore, the positive results were measured years after the women had their procedure. The study included patients whose operations had been between 10-32 years earlier.
Our Thoughts, Our Role
When it comes down to decisions like these, our thoughts often center around quality of life. With so many physical and psychological gains to be had for our young New York breast reduction patients, we would often like to see them choose surgery sooner rather than later. After all, benefits would be nearly immediate and would very likely have a lasting impact.
But it’s not our role to decide! Waiting is a valid option for many women, and for a few different reasons. If you’d like to come in and consult us, we pledge to have an open, objective discussion with you. Then, it’s your choice! Call us at 212-570-6080 today.
