Dr Michael Kaplan - Missouri Breast Lift

A breast lift is also called mastopexy and is a group of surgical procedures that alters or lifts the shape of a woman's breasts. Sometimes the areola and nipple are moved and extra breast tissue removed, depending on the patient's needs. Mastopexy can be performed alone or in tandem with breast implants, wherein the procedure would then be called breast augmentation.

Two types of breast lifts offer the patient options to the desired outcome, full breast lift and modified breast lift. The full breast lift begins with an incision underneath the breast along the crease, around the areola and also a vertical incision between the areola and the base of the breast (called an anchor incision or inverted T). Excess skin is removed, the breast is elevated and oftentimes the size of the areola is reduced. Scars from the procedure are designed to fade over time and are partially hidden, but still can remain visible to a degree most times.

Modified breast lift is the other option, also called a limited breast lift, and is designed to result in minimal scarring as fewer incisions are made. Usually, this procedure can yield fewer results than the full breast lift but specific patient needs may warrant this procedure, and sometimes breast augmentation is needed as well.

One popular version of the modified breast lift is the Benelli breast lift (sometimes called the concentric mastopexy or donut lift). During this, a ring of skin is removed around the areola and hugely limits scarring. A crescent lift does the same but also removes more tissue from above the areola, which raises the nipple on the chest wall. A lollipop lift involves an incision around the areola and nipple and has a vertical scar extending to the crease underneath the breast. Breast reduction and other related plastic surgeries are often used together to yield a patient's sufficient medical needs.