On average, you can expect your recovery to take two to six weeks. If you have a sedentary job, you’ll likely be cleared to return to work within just a week; for a very active job, you’ll need a respite of two weeks.
In this article we’ll discusses How long after breast reduction will I know my size and Common problems after breast reduction surgery
Most women will be able to resume normal activities about two to three weeks after a breast reduction. Normal activities usually include household chores, some types of exercise, and going back to work. Some women, such as those who work office jobs, may be able to return to work about one week after treatment. Each patient will have a unique recovery timeline, but some common milestones you can expect include:
Day One
General anesthesia, which will keep you asleep and relaxed during surgery on the day of your procedure, will be used. You will need to arrange for transportation and assistance at home for the first week after your procedure. We will give you several post-operative instructions to follow, such as:
- Taking care of incisions
- Movement and activity restrictions
- Medications and prescriptions
- How long to wear a support bra
Your instructions may include tips on the best way to sleep, such as on your back, and movements you should avoid, such as lifting your arms or any heavy objects. You may be instructed to avoid getting your incisions or dressings wet for at least 24 hours and to avoid hot water. You should avoid alcohol and smoking during your recovery period.
Week One
You will be required to wear a support bra after your surgery for the majority of the day for about four to six weeks. The only time you should take off your support bra is for showering. Consistently wearing your support bra will ensure the results of your breast reduction develop as desired. During the first week of your recovery, you will be encouraged to have light movement, such as walking around the house, but overall you should focus on resting.
It’s important to eat healthily and drink plenty of water during your recovery, as your body will need these resources to heal faster. You should continue to take all medications as prescribed and avoid strenuous activity. Your first follow-up appointment is usually scheduled a week after your procedure to assess your healing process.
Week Two
During the second week of your recovery, your incisions may start to feel tight and itchy. This can be managed by keeping your incisions moist, such as with Vaseline. You should continue to wear your support bra as directed, as this will help your breast tissues contour correctly during healing. Your activity may also be limited and you should continue a low-sodium diet with plenty of water. This may be the week when you return to work.
One Month
About one month after your procedure, you may feel normal after your treatment. During this period, you should be able to resume most of your normal activities, including house chores and light exercise. Please continue to avoid lifting, strenuous exercise, and any straining activities. You should continue wearing your support bra for the majority of the day.
During this month, you may start to notice the physical benefits of your procedure. You may notice that you have less back, shoulder, and neck pain, and that clothes are fitting more easily. You may also have another follow-up appointment.
Two Months
After about two months, you will be able to resume most of your other activities, including your normal exercise routine. Exercise such as jogging, yoga, and swimming may be options for you during this time as long as you follow all other directions. Although you will be mostly healed by this time, you should continue to wear your support bra until the end of six to eight months to ensure your breasts have settled and healed correctly. After two months, you should be able to wear normal bras and sports bras as you wish.
How You Can Prepare for Your Surgery and Recovery
Preparing for your breast reduction surgery and recovery is essential since having a low-key recovery period will ensure your results develop as desired. You can prepare for your surgery by following pre-operative instructions, such as discontinuing certain blood-thinning medications and supplements, avoiding alcohol and tobacco products, and arranging for your recovery period.
Some things you can do to prepare for your recovery include taking time off work, arranging for someone to be with you the first few days after your surgery, grocery shopping and meal preparation, and shopping for additional compression bras. You will want to be sure you have comfortable, loose clothing and that you can keep water, snacks, and medications by your bed or the area you plan to be in during your recovery.
Are There Any Other Tips for Recovery?
The most important tip to keep in mind is listening to your body. If you are trying to do an activity and you experience any discomfort or soreness, you should take that as a sign to stop doing that activity. Your body will let you know when you can resume activities without discomfort. Focus on resting and following your post-operative instructions so you can recover from your procedure as soon as possible.
How Soon Will You See Results?
Most women will start to see the initial results of this surgery about four to six weeks after the breast reduction surgery. These results will continue to improve as more time passes. Ultimately, your optimal results may be visible two to three months after your procedure if you follow all post-operative instructions closely.
Why Do Women Have Reduction Surgery?
A breast reduction is a moderately invasive surgery that has a prolonged recovery time, but it’s also very common so it’s clear that many women feel this procedure is beneficial. There are several reasons why a woman may want to have reduction surgery. No matter what your reason is, this procedure is designed to help you feel better and reduce your pain. Some of the most common reasons women seek this procedure include:
PAIN AND ACHES
Large breasts can cause pain in the back, shoulder, and neck. The pain is typically caused by the weight of the breasts putting stress on the muscles and nerves of the upper back, neck, and shoulders. This pain can be disruptive to daily life and can cause other medical concerns, such as headaches, over time.
SKIN IRRITATION
Skin irritation can occur for a few reasons. For example, rashes and sores beneath or between the breasts can form because of skin pressure and friction; sores can also form because of underwires in bras. Many women experience deep gouges in their shoulders because of bra straps, as well. Skin irritation on the breasts can be hard to treat because large breasts require support throughout the day, so it may be difficult to apply ointments.
ACTIVITY RESTRICTIONS
Overly large breasts can also restrict your activities, such as going to the gym or doing other activities. Women who have very large breasts may find it difficult to complete certain chores. Women may not be able to comfortably jog, run, or do other activities even with sports bras.
SELF-CONSCIOUS
Finally, many women seek this procedure because they are self-conscious about the appearance of their bodies. Large breasts tend to have a long or pendulous appearance, which some women may find undesirable. Self-consciousness can also stem from difficulty finding bras that fit correctly.
How Long After Breast Reduction Will I Know My Size
Week 1
After one week, you will begin to notice the swelling reduce, albeit slowly. It is important to avoid putting pressure on your chest, as this can strain incision sites and cause wound breakdown. You will not drop from one cup size to another so dramatically; instead, you will notice a gradual change.
Month 1
Most of the side effects you will experience from breast reduction, such as swelling and soreness, will have dissipated significantly after one month. You will be able to resume your daily activities and begin to feel that your breasts are settling into a natural place. Typically, your breasts will still be swollen but may have dropped by at least one cup size.
The breasts heal at different times, therefore, you may notice that they are asymmetrical at certain points, but this is not usually cause for concern.
Month 6
The full results of your breast reduction will be fully realised after six months when all post-surgical swelling and bruising have dissipated. At this point, you will be at your permanent and final cup size, so this would be a good time to get your breasts measured to find out your cup size.
Cup Sizes After a Breast Reduction
The number of cup sizes that you can lose with this cosmetic surgery depends on your original breast size, the composition of your breasts, and your goals. In most cases, the breasts will be brought down to a C or D cup from whatever their original size is. However, they can be brought down to a B, or even only slightly down to a DD, if preferred. Notably, it is not usually recommended to lose too much breast tissue as this may hinder the normal functioning of the nipples.
Tips to See Breast Reduction Results Faster
Elevate Your Chest
Keeping your chest uplifted will help relieve pain and allow the bruising and swelling to heal faster. For this reason, you should aim to sit upright wherever possible and may prop yourself up with pillows when you sleep after breast reduction, at least until the pain has subsided. This will allow the breasts to settle comfortably into a natural place.
Drink Water
It is important to stay hydrated post-surgery in order to replenish the cells to promote healing. This will also encourage swelling to decrease faster. Drinking plenty of water helps drain the lymphatic system, which further advances your recovery.
Go for Walks
Light exercises like walking allow for smooth blood circulation, which is beneficial for healing as well as preventing any serious danger of blood clot complications. This is also a way to keep the body active without putting pressure on the upper body.
Wear a Surgical Bra
Surgical bras give your breasts support whilst the tissue recovers from surgery. The compression provided by surgical bras can prevent the overaccumulation of blood and fluids, and thus swelling.
A surgical bra also has the added benefit of preventing the skin from sagging, which can potentially impact the final results of your cosmetic surgery.
At the CREO Clinic, we provide surgical bras as part of your surgery fee.
Do Breasts Grow Back After Breast Reduction?
There are a few factors that can cause a growth of the breasts after breast reduction, although it is rare they will go back to their original size. Typically, breast reduction results are permanent, but weight gain, pregnancy, and menopause can trigger a growth in the breasts.
Therefore, it may be worth losing weight before breast reduction to ensure that you can maintain a stable size after surgery. Additionally, we recommend delaying surgery until after your final pregnancy to ensure the longevity of your results.
Common Problems After Breast Reduction Surgery
Breast reduction surgery — known medically as a reduction mammoplasty — is a common procedure done either for medical or aesthetic purposes to reduce the size of a person’s breasts, chest, or nipples.
Generally speaking, the benefits outweigh the risks, and the risks themselves are both minimal and rare.
Still, it’s important to know what’s possible before undergoing any major procedure. Here are the 10 most common concerns after breast reduction surgery.
Overall weakness and fatigue
Even if surgery is deemed medically necessary, the procedure itself is a type of trauma.
In fact, even after uncomplicated surgeries, it’s commonTrusted Source for people to experience postoperative fatigue.
Postoperative fatigue is thought to be caused by a combination of the following:
- an inability to increase your heart rate via exercise
- nutritional changes
- hormonal imbalance
- the energy it takes the body to heal
It typically lasts for a month following surgery.
But it can be sped up by:
- increasing your water intake
- eating nutrient-dense food
- limiting or avoiding caffeine
- avoiding alcohol and substance use
- moving gently when given the green light by your care team
Chest soreness or tenderness
Some tenderness and soreness at the surgical site are common and should be expected.
If you think about it, it makes sense! If you slice your finger with a potato peeler, it’s tender for a few days. If you get stitches on your head after running into a post, it throbs for a few days. Even a paper cut makes itself known days after being delivered.
But there is a difference between typical tenderness and tenderness that’s a sign of infection, explains Sean Satey, MD, a plastic surgeon based in Beverly Hills, California.
“Infection after breast reduction surgery is fortunately very rare and occurs less than 1% of the time,” he said.
But when tenderness is combined with redness, discharge, fever, vomiting, or chills, you could have an infection and should get the area looked at by a healthcare professional.
Scarring
You can expect some scarring. Any procedure that involves surgical incisions will lead to some degree of permanent scar tissue.
The scar’s location and overall visibility depend on the type of breast reduction surgery you have, your body chemistry, and how well you take care of the area.
According to Constance M. Chen, MD, a plastic surgeon and breast reconstruction specialist in New York, you can generally expect scarring around the nipple-areola complex and a vertical scar at the bottom of your breast.
“If you’re curious how your scars will heal, you should look at the other scars on your body,” said Satey.
If you typically have minimal scarring, you’ll likely experience the same after breast reduction surgery. If, however, you typically have keloid scarring, you likely will have keloid scars at the incision site.
To minimize scarring, Satey recommends:
- working with a surgeon who specializes in breast reduction surgery
- keeping the wound clean to prevent infection
- an aggressive postoperative scar management protocol
- waiting the recommended amount of time before lifting weights
How to care for your chest to prevent scarring
Surgeons typically recommend the following to prevent scar formation:
- Avoid the sun.
- Apply anti-scar medication.
- Regularly massage the scar.
- Use silicone bandages.
- Regularly redress the wound.
“The scars can be treated with silicone scar therapy, laser therapy, or microneedle with platelet-rich plasma,” said Alexander Zuriarrain, a quadruple board certified plastic surgeon at Zuri Plastic Surgery in Miami.
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Breast tissue or nipple asymmetry
You can expect some differences between sides when fully healed.
“Breasts are sisters, not twins, so they may not be perfectly symmetrical, just as many breasts are not perfectly symmetrical before surgery,” said Chen.
Keep in mind, she adds, that it will also take months for the final shape and size to develop as the tissue settles after surgery.
Loss of nipple sensation
About 10% of all patients experience some sensation loss, says Satey.
According to holistic plastic surgeon Shirley Madhère, founder of Jet Set Beauty Rx, sensation loss may be more likely if:
- a high volume of breast tissue is removed
- a larger portion of the nipple is removed
- you have a history of smoking cigarettes or vaping nicotine
- you have an underlying condition that affects your blood circulation, nervous system, or your ability to heal
“Sometimes the sensation loss is lasting and full; other times it is temporary or partial,” said Madhère.
Difficulty with breastfeeding or chestfeeding
“It’s a myth that people will lose the ability to breastfeed following breast reduction surgery,” explained Jonathan Kaplan, MD, a plastic surgeon with Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery in San Francisco.
Most people will still be able to breastfeed because the milk duct isn’t removed, adds Kaplan.
You may be more likely to lose the ability to breastfeed or chestfeed if your nipple and areola are removed during surgery.
So, if breastfeeding or chestfeeding is important to you, talk with your surgeon about which technique will give you the aesthetic you want and preserve your ability to produce milk in the future.
Delayed wound healing
You can expect healing to take at least a few weeks, according to Chen.
Typically, people experience swelling and tenderness for a few weeks while the wounds heal, she says. “And it takes a few months for the swelling to go down and for the breasts to settle into their new size.”
Still, for some people, the wounds take extra long to heal.
“Delayed wound healing can usually be treated with standard wound care and dressing changes,” said Chen.
If you’re worried about how long your body is taking to recover from surgery, consult with your surgeon.
Hematoma
A hematoma is a type of blood clot that occurs under the skin. Far less serious than a blood clot in the veins, a hematoma is basically a bad bruise.
However, hematomas do become a cause for concern when they don’t stop growing, notes Chen.
“Be on the lookout for an expanding hematoma, which is when a blood vessel starts bleeding after surgery,” she explained. “It can cause the breast affected to become tight, bulging, and painful.”
If you have a hematoma or something you think is a hematoma, go to the doctor ASAP.
“It may require a trip back to the operating room to evacuate the blood and stop any bleeding if it hasn’t already stopped on its own,” she said.
Fat or nipple necrosis
Nipple necrosis, also known as necrosis of the nipple-areolar complex, is a very rareTrusted Source complication of breast reduction surgery.
Put simply, it’s the death of a nipple.
Typically, it happens when the blood supply isn’t successfully reattached to the nipple after the breast was moved or reshaped during surgery.
Without nutrient-rich blood being pumped to the sensitive tissue, it’s unable to heal properly and subsequently dies.
This can also happen if there isn’t enough blood leaving the nipple, as it can cause blood to get trapped in the tissue.
The main sign of nipple necrosis? An unexpected color change.
If your nipple is paler than expected, there may not be enough blood flow into the nipple. If your nipple is purple or darker than expected, there may not be enough blood flow out of the nipple.
If a doctor or other healthcare professional concludes that you do have nipple necrosis, your surgeon can either go back in and reattach the nipple to the blood supply or perform a free nipple graft. The latter involves detaching the nipple from the underlying breast tissue and reattaching it as a graft.
Infection
“The incidence of infection after breast reduction surgery is low and generally only appears in 1% to 2% of patients,” said Madhère.
“If an infection does occur, it usually occurs within 5 to 7 days after,” she said.
Common signs of infection include:
- redness or skin that feels hot to the touch around the incision
- intense pain or discomfort around the incision
- foul-smelling discharge from the wound
- fever
- chills
- nausea
How to reduce the risk of infection
“Infection prevention begins before the actual operation,” said Satey.
- A few days before the surgery: People are typically advised to cleanse the chest with an antiseptic solution to help eradicate the natural bacteria that live on the skin, Satey explains.
- The day of surgery: Your skin will be prepped with an antiseptic solution, the procedure will be performed with a sterile approach, and the wound dressings will be placed in a sterile fashion.
- After surgery: A member of your surgical team will teach you how to properly care for your wounds to minimize the risk of infection.