Corrections Of Breast Asymmetry

Absolute symmetry at breast level is extremely rare at women. There are often differences between the two breasts, differences that the patient is aware or not.

In case the differences are minimal, usually the patient does not know about them, and, thus, the surgeon must show them within the consultation prior to a potential surgery. Sometimes the differences between the two breasts are also affected by bigger or smaller distortions of the thorax box, half of this being more "recessed" than the other half.

There are many cases where the differences are present at the level of the nipple -areola complex, the areolas being located at different heights, too lateral or too medial. The asymmetries could also occur at the level of infra mammary fold, one being located upper and the other lower. In case of breasts which are very small, this fold practically does not exist and it must be created by the surgeon during the breast increase procedure. Other times there is such big difference between the breasts that they look like they belong to two persons completely different.

Some of these differences could be easily corrected while others not! Your surgeon will make a detailed inventory of the potential asymmetries and will present you the correction options, if the case. The solution for all these differences is difficult and involves first of all the expertise of the surgeon. In case of different size breasts silicon prosthesis of distinct volume could be inserted although the difference of volume between the two breasts remains an arbitrary appraisal which, more accurate it is higher it is the expertise of the surgeon.

The same thing happens with the breasts equal as volume but showing a unilateral deficit of the thorax box. If equal implants are inserted then the result could be disastrous. In this case, the difference of volume between the two prosthesis is even harder to appraise against the breasts asymmetric as volume but with normal thorax box. In case of deficits at the level of infra mammary fold, the corrections are easier to make, and the results are satisfactory maybe due to the fact that this element is less visible.

The hardest to correct are the breast position differences and the areola-mammilla complex position differences. Where a breast is located upper and the other lower it is mandatory to seek for a visual balance by adjusting the heights where the implants are mounted on. If the implants are inserted at the same level, difference of height between the breasts will be more obvious and the dissatisfaction of the patient will be high. The solution to attenuate difference is to locate the implants at distinct heights in such way that global aspect is as harmonious as possible. In case of nipple -areola complex size and shape differences, this could be easily corrected through a periareolar incision.

However, immediately after the surgery  the areola look exactly the same way, but the process of healing could affect their sizes due to tissues are provided with “memory” based on which these tend to recover the initial shape even following a surgical correction.

In case of mammary asymmetries many times extra correction procedures are needed to obtain a result as close as possible to the expected one.

Although the treatment is very efficient, 1% of the patients do not obtain the results they want!