Most patients who undergo breast reduction surgery–where the removal of tissue and fat produces the desired results–are thrilled with the results and are perfectly happy with the look of their chests.
Breast reduction surgery is usually performed in order for the patient to be more comfortable. That being said, what happens if you lose sensation after breast reduction? How long does it take to regain feeling after this surgery?
First of all, let’s talk about what happens during breast reduction surgery and why sensation is affected in the first place. During breast reduction surgery, fat and tissue are removed from your breasts in order to reduce their size and weight. This can lead to nerve damage if certain steps aren’t taken during surgery (like avoiding excessive pressure on nerves). But as long as a surgeon takes care when removing fat and tissue from your breasts, then nerve damage is unlikely. read more on Permanent Numbness After Breast Reduction/Weight Gain After Breast Reduction.
How Long Does It Take To Get Sensation Back After Breast Reduction
How Long Does It Take To Get Sensation Back After Breast Reduction
The answer to this question depends on the type of breast reduction surgery you’ve had.
There are 3 main types of breast reduction surgery:
Lollipop. This is the most common type of breast reduction surgery. In a lollipop breast reduction, the surgeon makes an incision around the areola (the colored part of your nipple) and lifts out a wedge-shaped piece of tissue from under your armpit. The remaining breast tissue is then tightened, reshaped, and repositioned to give you a smaller, perkier look.
Vertical mastopexy (also called “keyhole”). This type of breast reduction surgery involves making an incision around your nipple and removing fat from behind it before pulling the nipple up into its new position. This creates a more natural look than lollipop reductions do because they don’t have any visible scars around your nipples. Vertical mastopexies also tend to be easier to recover from because they leave no visible scars on your breasts themselves.
Cantonment flap. A cantonment flap involves cutting out excess skin to remove fat during a vertical mastopexy procedure
• Mini-Liposuction: This is similar to liposuction-only breast reduction but also includes skin removal around the nipple area.
• Traditional breast reduction: This involves removing excess skin and fat from the breasts while reshaping them into smaller sizes. The surgeon may leave scars around the nipple area or make an incision around each areola (the dark area around each nipple) before removing tissue from underneath each one. This type of breast reduction is performed under general anesthesia in order to reduce pain during recovery time; some patients may require additional pain medication after surgery too.
• Mastopexy (breast lift): Mastopexy lifts sagging breasts by removing excess skin and repositioning it higher on your chest wall using stitches or surgical tape placed directly underneath your breasts during surgery; this type of
Breast reduction surgery is a very common procedure that helps many women deal with the health effects of having large breasts.
The procedure is performed under general anesthesia in an outpatient surgical setting and typically requires hospitalization for one night following surgery. Patients are able to return to normal activities within two weeks after surgery and experience minimal scarring because they do not require an incision around the nipple area or vertical incisions on either side of the breast crease line (also known as anchor scars).
Breast reduction surgery is a common procedure that can help women who are dealing with large breasts. The procedure involves removing excess tissue from the breasts, which will reduce their size. It can also reduce back pain, neck pain, and shoulder pain.
The main benefit of breast reduction surgery is that it helps you feel more confident about your body. You’ll feel better about yourself and may even be able to wear clothes that you couldn’t before because they didn’t fit over your large breasts.
You should consider breast reduction surgery if your breasts are painful or heavy, or if they make it difficult for you to exercise or perform everyday tasks such as dressing yourself.
In some cases, breast reduction surgery can also help with problems like back pain and neck pain caused by having large breasts.
Breast reduction surgery is designed to reduce the size of a woman’s breasts, which can be caused by several factors. The most common cause of excess breast tissue is pregnancy and breastfeeding, which can lead to sagging breasts. Breast reduction surgery is also used to correct asymmetry between a woman’s breasts and prevent back pain from overdeveloped muscles.
The procedure is typically performed under general anesthesia, and takes about two hours. During the procedure, incisions will be made around each nipple and around the areolae (the dark area surrounding the nipple). The excess fat and glandular tissue will then be removed before sutures are placed to close up the incisions.
Permanent Numbness After Breast Reduction
That said, numbness and tingling may diminish over the course of a few months before reaching their “new normal.” About 15% of breast lift or reduction patients will experience permanent nipple numbness depending on their specific anatomy and the course of their sensory nerves.
A number of breast reconstruction patients at our practice in the New Orleans, LA area have questions about numbness and tingling after surgery. Let’s take a moment to consider how common these side effects are, why they happen, and how surgeons can help address these patient concerns.
How Common Are Numbness and Tingling?
Numbness and tingling are common after any sort of surgery, not just breast reconstruction. Many patients will experience some amount of numbness and tingling as part of the recovery process.
Why Does Numbness and Tingling Occur?
During surgery, some amount of nerve damage is bound to occur as tissues are adjusted and worked with. The numbness and tingling is the result of this nerve damage. Over time, the nerves will repair themselves, leading to fewer issues with sensation and strength going forward.
How Long Will the Numbness and Tingling Last?
This can vary from patient to patient. Some of our breast reconstruction patients in the New Orleans area have reported that numbness and tingling mostly goes away after several months. Other patients have numbness and tingling around the chest area for years, though with gradual improvements.
Ongoing Research Into Reducing These Side Effects
An article published by the Cleveland Clinic notes that plastic surgeons experienced with microsurgery are developing procedures to restore sensation and reduce tingling following surgeries. There is promising research about natural-tissue flap reconstruction techniques, which may be able to promote nerve regeneration.
The article notes that the research is still ongoing. Surgeons must determine the nerves that are most likely to restore sensation after surgery, and what methods are available or must be developed to encourage nerve regrowth in patients.
Weight Gain After Breast Reduction
Following breast reduction, women can also see an improvement in posture. Since the pressure on the neck and back is alleviated, women can usually see an improvement in posture allowing them to stand taller following surgery. This allows them to hold their shoulders up and back, allowing them to correct the “hunched-over” appearance that many women with overly-large breasts can experience.
Since the main culprit can be proportions, causing women to feel as though they appear to gain weight after the procedure, some women choose to have additional plastic surgery procedures to adjust the overall appearance of the body. These procedures can include a tummy tuck and liposuction to create a smaller, more firm torso appearance. In many cases, these procedures can be performed simultaneously to produce amazing results in one overall treatment.
The same thing happens when you gain weight; the skin stretches out over time to accommodate additional fat deposits. If you have had breast reduction surgery and have lost weight since then, your old stretch marks may reappear, causing an unsightly appearance in addition to being uncomfortable.
A breast reduction can be a life-changing procedure for some women, but it’s not a magic bullet. It’s important to know that weight gain after breast reduction is common, and it varies from patient to patient.
What Causes Weight Gain After Breast Reduction?
Weight gain after breast reduction is usually caused by several factors working together. Some of these factors include:
Your body will burn fewer calories as you lose weight because your metabolism slows down when it has less mass to carry around (1). This means that if you cut 500 calories from your diet per day, your body won’t burn 500 fewer calories each day — it will burn more like 300-350 fewer calories each day instead (2). So even though you may be eating fewer calories than before the surgery, your body isn’t burning as many either.