I review all of the comments that I receive to my blog.  Occasionally, one will ask a specific question that I am happy to answer.  A few days ago, I received a comment asking “It seems that breast reduction surgery can help women.  Would you share more information and experience about this procedure?”

Breast reduction or reduction mammaplasty is a procedure that can be performed for women that experience neck, shoulder, breast, and back pain due to the large size and weight of their breasts.  Other problems that a woman with large breasts may experience are  shoulder grooving, neurologic symptoms of the hand, and intertrigo.  Breast reduction surgery can improve these symptoms.  Some insurance companies have benefits for the procedure. 

Breast reduction surgery can help with women with large breasts, if you wonder about this, I would point you to a recent article by Woodman et al. that looked at women’s perception of life following breast reduction.  This phenomenological study has a limited number of participants but provides valuable insight into the lives of several women that have undergone breast reduction surgery.   The advantage of this study is that it looks at experiences from a first person (patient’s) point of view and not from the surgeon’s point of view.  Patients often want to know if the surgery will improve their symptoms.  The participants in this report noted a reduction or elimination of their pain symptoms, improved body image, increased self esteem, and increased self confidence.   This study also found that there were some negative experiences associated with the surgery and its recovery.  However, the improvements the women experienced made the surgery worthwhile and would lead them to recommend the surgery to other patients with breast hypertrophy.   

Here is an example of a woman that experienced significant neck, shoulder, and back pain due to the large size of her breasts.  Without a bra, she even experienced pain in the sides of her breasts.  She wanted to undergo a breast reduction to help alleviate her symptoms.  This is the preoperative photograph:

She underwent an inferior pedicle wise pattern breast reduction.  This is the postoperative result:

The reduction improved her symptoms of neck, shoulder, back, and breast pain and dramatically improved her quality of life.  The procedure also provided her with improved self confidence and self esteem.  She was pleased that she ultimately decided to undergo surgery after waiting a long time while considering it. 

Our websites www.beauty-surgeon.com and www.drmckane.com have  additional information and before and after photographs of breast reduction for review.  I invite you to schedule a consultation with me if you would like to learn more about breast reduction surgery or the improvements that can be experienced with it.   Please feel free to contact our office at (713) 661-5255 if you have any questions.

-Brice W. McKane, M.D.

© 2009, Dr. McKane. All rights reserved.