Many patients come to my office and want a breast lift. That’s OK, but if you are a big breasted women (I would say D cup or larger in this case), a breast lift may not be the correct procedure for you.

A breast lift is a skin only operation. Excess skin is removed to make the breast rise. Women with heavy breasts are not great candidates for this type of surgery. Of course it can be done, but the results will not last that long. How long will they last you ask? In general the bigger the breast the shorter the result will last. Perhaps only a few months. This is because heavy breasts will quickly stretch the tightened skin and the breasts will fall again. So, you may look pretty good for a few months, but after that you’ll be right back down again. Time and money wasted.

A breast reduction, on the other hand, is really the procedure of choice for the bigger breasted woman. It will give you the lift you seek as well as relieve the back, neck and shoulder pains associated with large breasts.

So you large breasted women may now ask, “what happens if I like my current breast size and just want a lift, not a reduction.” The answer is not to have surgery at all. The lift will not last and the reduction will make you smaller than you want to be.

In summary, breast lift is really a procedure for the smaller breasted woman. Otherwise consider a breast reduction-same result, plus less upper body pain.