I love breast reductions. I did two of them this week and saw countless other consultations of women struggling with large, droopy, painful, can’t jog, can’t wear sundresses breasts.
So when reading my Aesthetic Surgery July 2021 journal (always learning!), I saw an article on “Is Time a Factor in Quality of Life Improvement Following Breast Reduction?” Since I do so many breast reductions, I was curious what they were going to say. When do they see improvement? And does it wane with time or improve?
Study:
- They used the RAND Health Status Survey to analyze quality of life, looking at time after surgery.
- They did 50 consecutive patients, single surgeon and technique, over a 3 year period.
- Patients were divided into 3 categories: less than 3 months postop, 3-12 months, and 1 year or greater.
- Average amount removed was 480g per breast (that is about a pound)
- Mean follow up was 14 months.
Findings?
- All patients were satisfied with the shape
- No major complications
- All 3 groups showed improvement in the quality of life score UNRELATED to time since surgery.
- This improvement in symptoms and wellbeing was also UNRELATED to amount of tissue removed.
- They conclude “Breast reduction improves symptoms and well being… the improvement is rapid and may lead to better coverage from medical insurance providers.”
My thoughts?
BREAST REDUCTIONS ROCK. My patients tell me stories daily on how the surgery absolutely improved neck pain, back pain, shoulder notching, jaw tightness, breathing, posture, rashes, headaches. They revel in buying a bra off the rack (not some super specialized online bra store that can stock their size.) Their clothes fit. They are no longer “short waisted” as the breasts are back up where they should be from the breast lift that happens with every reduction.
So what did this study tell me? Not a ton. It reemphasizes how the improvement is immediate and lasts. That is good to know. As far as their hope insurance will cover the procedure more, I will not hold my breath. As a plastic surgeon who did a breast fellowship and does a ton of breast surgery, in my over 20 year career I have seen insurance companies become harder to deal with and make breast reductions harder to get covered, not easier. See my blogs on a sample rejection letter and the Schnur scale.
Breast reduction or breast lift surgery improves symptoms. Insurance may say it needs to meet a certain level to be “medically necessary,” but know I see improvements with the whole spectrum of lift and reductions.