How to assess your breast: Possibilities

Posted on September 16, 2009

When considering an alteration to your breasts, it is important to figure out what you do and don’t like. Are your breasts symmetric? Do you like their volume? Do you like the shape? Do they sag? Do you want a mature looking breast or a more youthful one? How do you feel about implants?

Treatment options a cosmetic surgeon may recommend for the breast are breast augmentation (also known as “augmentation mammaplasty,” “breast enhancement,” “breast aug,” “breast implants”), breast reduction (also known as “reduction mammaplasty”),breast lifts (also known as “mastopexy” – there are many types of breast lifts), and breast reconstruction.

Symmetry

First, are they symmetric? Most breasts are not. Usually one is larger, one sits higher on the chest wall, the nipples are at slightly different heights. Which shape or size suits you better?

Volume

Do you like the volume? Do you want them to be the same size, larger, or smaller.

Shape

Do you like the shape? Do you want more cleavage and upper breast fullness? Do you have narrow or tubular breasts (tubular breasts are a natural variant where the lower half of the breast is not as full, giving a tubular shape)? Do you have wide flat breasts? Do they sag

Cancer

Are you missing a partial or total breast due to cancer?

Remember that your insurance will cover changes to both breasts, even if the cancer impacted only one. So consider your other breast. Is your risk for breast cancer in this side very high? (Do you have the BRCA gene?) Do you like your unaffected breast? You don’t need to change it, a cosmetic surgeon can match the reconstructed breast to it. But if you don’t like your natural breast, do you want it larger? Smaller? Lifted? Look at this as an opportunity to modify it if you would like.