breast lift salt lake city

Types of Breast Lift

Written by J. Dayne Petersen

There are several possible factors that cause breasts to sag. Unavoidably, over time, gravity and the aging process cause the breast tissue to lose elasticity and to stretch the ligaments that attach the breast to your chest muscles. Breasts enlarge during pregnancy and breast feeding, causing the skin to stretch. As breasts reduce in size following pregnancy, the breast tissue that was stretched now sags. Likewise, a loss of weight can cause breasts to sag as they reduce in size.

The breast lift procedure removes excess skin from stretched, sagging breasts and repositions the nipple higher up, pointing forwards, restoring a youthful, healthy appearance. There are several breast lift techniques, and depending on breast size and the level of ptosis, or sagging, a different breast lift will best suit you to help achieve your desired results. The types of breast lift are commonly grouped together by the visible scars after the procedure.

The crescent lift and donut lift are the least invasive types, but also result in the least repositioning of the nipple. In this procedure, the surgeon makes a circular or crescent cut around the areola, removes some skin around the areola and repositions the nipple higher up on the breast. This procedure is best for asymmetry between breasts or achieving a small amount of lift on smaller breasts.

The lollipop lift results in a scar around the areola and a vertical scar down the bottom of the breast. The surgeon makes a cut around the top of the nipple and a V-shaped cut down the midline of the breast. It’s a more invasive technique, but achieves more lift for larger-breasted women with more severe ptosis.

The anchor lift, or a full breast lift, results in a scar around the areola, down the middle of the breast and around the inframammary fold, or crease under the breast. This technique achieves the most lift of any procedure and is appropriate for large breasted women with severe ptosis. This is also the technique used to reduce volume in breasts that are too large, causing back and neck pain.

Of course everyone would like the greatest result with the least amount of scarring, and having the appropriate lift will give you the best, most satisfying result. Scars will fade with time and experienced surgeons, like Dr. Petersen, will do everything possible to ensure an attractive result with minimal scarring.