Restore Feminine Vitality to Your Figure
When you consider the telltale signs of aging that occur to the body, much of the focus is often placed on the face. However, time takes its toll on other areas of the body as well, including the breasts. If your girls are lacking some of their youthful vitality, perhaps it is time to give them the boost they need to restore their perkiness. A breast lift may be the procedure necessary to restore your breasts to a youthful position and give your entire body contour a little extra help.
Breast Changes
There is no getting around the fact that your breasts will experience significant changes over time. One of the most concerning is their propensity to sag, leading to a body profile that makes you look much more tired and aged than you feel. Breast sagging is actually caused by some of the same factors that lead to skin laxity and the formation of facial wrinkles.
Collagen and elastin, two important substances that support the underlying skin structure, are also responsible for giving breasts their youthful lift. Over time, our bodies produce less collagen and elastin, which leads to the signs of aging we all learn to dread. That lack of collagen and elastin takes its toll on the breasts as well as the skin, leading to sagging, drooping breasts that can begin to look deflated as well.
Myths of Breast Sagging
Because breast sagging is such a common issue, there are also many myths surrounding why this problem occurs with such regularity. Some of those myths include:
Breastfeeding leads to breast drooping.
While breastfeeding may appear to cause the sagging frequently seen after childbirth, it is likely the changes to the breasts during and after pregnancy have more to do with this issue.
Wearing a bra 24 hours every day will prevent breast sagging.
Celebrities like Halle Berry may swear to this practice, but there is no scientific evidence to support full-time bra wear will prevent breast sagging. However, proper support, particularly when exercising, can prevent excessive breast jiggle that may lead to sagging over time.
Exercise can help keep your breasts perky.
This myth truly has absolutely no factual basis, since the breasts are made up of skin and fatty tissue instead of muscle. However, if you provide support to your pectoral muscles through regular strength training workouts, it may enhance the appearance of your breasts as well. Just don’t expect to reverse sagging that has already occurred by breaking a sweat on your pushups or bench presses.
Breast sagging can be prevented.
There are ways to maintain the youthful position of the breasts for a period of time, but age and gravity will eventually catch up with you. That collagen and elastin loss cannot be stopped, which will lead to at least a degree of drooping over time.
Causes of Breast Sagging
There are many potential culprits that can lead to breast sagging, beyond gravity and age. These might include:
- Pregnancy – the more times you are pregnant, the more likely it is that your breasts will lose some of the firmness and begin to sag
- Smoking – in addition to increasing your risk for a host of conditions, smoking destroys elastin in the body that can lead to breast drooping
- Not Wearing Sunscreen – UV exposure depletes collagen and elastin which leads to the premature appearance of wrinkles and breast sagging
- Yo-Yo Dieting – constant, dramatic changes to your weight can make breast tissue more lax and lead to breast sagging over time
- Running without Support – long periods of running can cause enough breast jiggle to lead to drooping breasts if proper support is not provided during your workouts
Benefits of a Breast Lift
Once your twins begin their droop, the only way to restore their youthful appearance is with a surgical procedure known as a breast lift. This procedure removes excess skin and tissue from the breast, while placing them back into their proper position. A breast lift offers dramatic, long-lasting results with a single procedure and recovery period.
There are a number of potential benefits a breast lift can offer:
- Improved positioning of the breasts
- A more youthful body profile overall
- Increased fullness in the breasts (for some patients)
- Better clothing fit
- Renewed self-confidence
About the Procedure
Dr. Rappaport performs breast lifts on an outpatient basis, using either local or general anesthesia. Incisions are placed around the areola and may extend down the lower half of the breast and across the breast crease. Most scarring will not be overtly noticeable once the incisions fully heal.
During the procedure, Dr. Rappaport removes sagging skin and extra breast tissue before placing breasts back into a higher position on the breast. Some women may also require an adjustment to the placement of the nipples and areolas to ensure a nature result to the procedure. Recovery from a breast lift is often shorter than you might expect, with most patients returning to their daily activities within one week.
Getting Extra Help for Your Girls
For some patients, a breast lift alone may not be sufficient to achieve the full desired results. Patients wishing for additional fullness may want to consider augmentation using implants at the same time as the breast lift. Implants come in a wide range of sizes and styles, allowing us to customize your procedure to your specific body size and desired results.
If the large size of your breasts is causing discomfort and embarrassment, breast reduction may also be performed at the same time as a lift. This procedure removes additional tissue from the breasts to create a more proportionate size to the rest of the body. If you are suffering physical symptoms as a result of your large breasts, you may qualify for insurance coverage to help you pay for at least a portion of your procedure.
While there is no stopping the changes to the breasts that often occur over time, there are ways to reverse those changes and restore a youthful appearance to the breasts. To learn more about your options in breast lifts, contact Houston Center for Plastic Surgery at (713) 790-4500.
