About Breast Lift Surgery

Women who are unhappy with sagging in their breasts often choose to have a breast lift. Usually this sagging is a result of pregnancy and breast-feeding, but not always. Frequently a modest implant is used in conjunction with the lift to restore fullness in the upper part of the breast. Adding implants is completely optional and really depends on the look you want.
 

During a breast lift, also known as a mastopexy, the breast is lifted by removing the excess skin. In many women a delicate incision around the nipple area (areola) is all that is needed. In others, who have a large amount of excess skin, the incision will need to be extended.

It is important to know that some women who come to our office for breast augmentation are surprised that Dr. Reath recommends a breast lift along with their augmentation to achieve a pleasing shape and perkiness. It happens most frequently with women who have had children, but not always.

Will You Need A Breast Lift? Here's an Easy Way to Tell.

Standing in front of a mirror, look at your nipples in relation to the natural crease of your breasts. If your nipples are lower than your breast crease before surgery, adding implants without removing excess skin will make them more saggy. (Sad, but true.) The pictures below show the great results when a lift is performed along with an augmentation.

Before and After Breast Lift Pictures:

Before and After Full Mastopexy Augment: She is 5'9" and weighs 129 pounds. Here is a 31-year-old who was concerned with both the shape and size of her breasts. She had significant sagging as a result of pregnancies when her breasts increased to a DD. She told us that they shrunk back to a C cup after breast feeding.  Dr. Reath used 325cc Mentor MemoryGel implants (cohesive silicone gel) implants on the right side and 350cc on the left side. They are placed underneath her chest muscle.

Before and After Full Mastopexy Augment: She is 5'4" and weighs 114 pounds. This is a 31-year-old student and mother of three. She told us that she was finished having children and she wanted her breasts to look the way they did before her pregnancies. Dr. Reath performed a full mastopexy augment with Mentor silicone cohesive gel implants placed underneath the chest muscles. The right side is 325cc and the left is 350cc. She is very happy with the size and natural feel with her choice of silicone implants.

Before and After Mastopexy without Implants- She is 5’2” and weighs 120 pounds. Here is a 39-year-old mom who was concerned about the shape, but not the size of her breasts. They increased a cup size during breastfeeding, and settled back to their normal size with sagging she did not like. (Notice the nipple position is below her inframammary crease in her pictures before the surgery.) Since she was happy with the size, she elected to have a breast lift without implants and is pictured here 6 months later.

Breast Lift Pricing

For most women, the cost of a breast lift ranges from about $6,000 to around $8,000 depending on several factors: the incision site, the amount of skin to be removed and whether or not implants are used. If you are using implants and chose silicone, this also adds to the cost of your surgery.

If you are a massive weight loss patient, your breast lift will be more expensive because there is more skin to be removed, which takes more time in the operating room. Typically an extended mastopexy augment will range from $8,000 to $9,000 depending on your implant choice.

Cash Discount:
Good News! For our patients who would like to pay with cash or check we offer a 5% discount.

Your surgical quote will include the implants (if desired), surgical suite, anesthesia, post-op bras, all follow-up and our exclusive breast lift recovery kit. (Scroll down to the recovery section to read more about our recovery kits.)

[Also included in the price of your surgery is a CosmetAssure policy, which protects you in the unlikely event of a complication after surgery. We are the only plastic surgeon's office in Knoxville to provide this important insurance. Read Dr. Reath's blog post where he explains why he feels so strongly about offering this extra safety net to our patients.]

Breast Lifts: Helpful Pages on Our Site

The Fun Part: Trying on Breast Implant Sizers. Click Here for Tips.

 
Before and After Breast Lifts: Complete Gallery of Photos
 

Everything You Need To Know About Silicone Breast Implants. Click Here.

Not in Knoxville? Click Here for Help For Out of Town Patients.

Have you read our new ebook? "A Girlfriend's Guide to Breast Augmentation" is 33-pages of everything you need to know about breast augmentation and breast lifts... plus some fun stuff to lighten things up! It's written by some girlfriends in the know...Dr Reath's office staff. It's a must-read for anyone considering a breast lift with implants.

Breast Lift Video:

Just to reiterate, not every woman who wants a breast lift will need or want to use implants. In fact, on a recent Truth-O-Meter Tuesday video, Dr. Reath discusses the misconception, "In order to get a good result from a breast lift (or mastopexy), you have to have implants placed." (The answer is false.)

Before and After Pictures - Correction of Uneven Breast Size

Correction of breast asymmetry:
One side augmentation, one side peri-mastopexy augmentation (to correct asymmetry in size and nipple height) Patient is a 35-year old woman who lost significant breast volume after breast feeding her children. Dr. Reath performed an augmentation on one side and a peri-mastopexy augmentation on the other to address the asymmetry in her nipple height and breast size.

More before and after photos of breast lift patients

Before and After Full Mastopexy Augment: She is 5'3" and weighs 135 pounds. This mother-of-four came to us with concerns about her breasts. Through diet and exercise she lost over 30 pounds, which was great for her health but left her with some saggy skin which she wanted removed. Dr. Reath did a a full mastopexy augment with 350cc silicone cohesive gel implants placed on top of the chest muscles, (subglandular position).

Before and After Full Mastopexy Augment: She is 5'8" and weighs 153. Here is a woman who told us that she spent her entire adult life hating the shape and sagginess of her breasts, in addition to the fact that they were two different sizes. Because her breasts were so narrow, Dr Reath performed a full mastopexy augment with silicone implants placed beneath her chest muscles. He used 325cc implants on the right and 350cc on the left to correct the asymmetry. What a transformation! She is thrilled with her results and told us that she wished she hadn't waited so long to have them done.
 

Before and After Full Mastopexy Augment: She is 5'5" and weighs 134. This 31-year-old had several children and breast fed them all. She was concerned about the size, shape and symmetry of her breasts. Dr. Reath performed a full mastopexy augment with 350cc saline implants placed underneath her chest muscles. She is so pleased with her lovely new figure!

Before	After
Before	After
Above photographs are actual patients of Dr. Reath's who have given consent for the use of their photographs for this website.

Before and After Full Mastopexy Augmentation- She is 5' 2" and weighs 127 pounds. Here is a 29-year-old mother of two who told us that she currently was a B-cup but had been a D-cup while she was breast-feeding. She enjoyed the larger size and did not like the "sagging shape" as a result of her pregnancies. After working with sizers in our office, she chose a 300cc saline implant. Dr. Reath performed a full mastopexy-augment and placed the implants underneath her chest muscles and inflated the to 350cc. She was thrilled with both the size and shape of her breasts. Her scars will continue to lighten over the next several months.

Before and After Breast Lift with a Slight Breast Reduction: She is 5'4" and weighs 152. Here is a 45-year-old woman who was unhappy with the sagginess of her breasts. She was starting to get neck and back pain and her shoulders were sore where her bra hit them. She had lost 30 pounds and with the weight loss her breasts became more saggy. Since she wanted her breasts to be smaller, Dr. Reath performed a slight reduction along with her breast lift and she is pictured before and six months after her surgery.

Before & After Full Mastopexy Augment: This is a 33-year-old who lost over 60 pounds with diet and exercise. She was unhappy about the sagging in her breasts as a result of her weight loss. Dr. Reath performed a full mastopexy (breast lift) and also used a small 175cc implant to give her the size and shape she wanted. She is very comfortable with her new figure and is able to be a lot more physically active than before her surgery.

Before	After
Before	After
Before	After
Above photographs are actual patients of Dr. Reath's who have given consent for the use of their photographs for this website.

Before and After Full Mastopexy Augment: This is a 23-year-old woman who wanted to improve the size and shape of her breasts. She told us that even before her pregnancy, she did not like the tubular shape of her breasts. After breastfeeding, she lost breast tissue and began to have more sagging. Dr. Reath performed a full mastopexy augment with 350cc saline implants placed beneath her chest muscles.

The Operation

The good news is that the operation is done as an outpatient procedure and does not involve an overnight stay in the hospital. The entire operation is done under general anesthesia (you will be put to sleep) and takes about an hour or longer if a breast lift is also performed. At the end of the operation, patients are placed in a special bra to support their breasts. After recovery from the anesthesia, they go home in the care of their family.

Recovery

Our Surgical Recovery Kits are a great personal touch. Patients tell us that the recovery kits we include with their surgeries are an area that really sets us apart. Each recovery kit contains items hand-picked to make your recovery faster and more pleasant. They are packaged in an attractive quilted spa bag. We put together everything you’ll need after surgery so you don’t have to. People who have had surgery with other doctors are amazed that we include these kits at no charge for all of our surgery patients.

New! We now include medical-grade silicone shapes (which are medically proven to aid in healing and reduce the appearance of scars) in all of our breast lift recovery kits. (an $80 value)

Helping our patients manage a speedy recovery is one of our primary missions. Most patients are up and about the day after a breast lift but instructed to rest and avoid any lifting. About a week after the operation patients are seen in the office to check their surgical sites and instruct them in massage and stretching exercises. Expect the stitches to be removed in about a week.

Most women are able to return to normal activities in 7 to 10 days and usually need no more than a week off from work.

Breast Procedures Leave Women Extremely Satisfied according to a new study.

A new study presented at the ASPS Meeting in Chicago confirms our experience with breast lift patients. In the study breast lift (mastopexy), the combination of breast lift with augmentation, breast augmentation, and breast reduction achieve high satisfaction rates, enhance self-esteem and improve quality of life. Moreover, 99 percent of women would have their surgery again.

The study found breast lift and lift/augmentation to have a high level of patient satisfaction that rivals breast augmentation and reduction. "Many studies have shown breast augmentation and reduction are highly gratifying procedures for women, but until now we've had limited information on patient satisfaction for breast lift or combination lift/ augmentation. This data fills in the gap," said Eric Swanson, MD, ASPS Member Surgeon and study author. "When the vertical technique is used in the augmentation/lift procedure, patient satisfaction is high." (Dr. Reath agrees with the study's findings and uses the vertical technique whenever possible.)

Knoxville Breast Lift - Knoxville Mastopexy
Knoxville Breast Implants - Knoxville Plastic Surgery

Injectable Wrinkle Treatments