Many women like the idea of having larger breasts while others are happy with modestly sized breasts or even small breasts. But it’s nearly unheard of for any woman to be happy with asymmetrical breasts.

Not only can this issue be embarrassing and uncomfortable, but it can also be disconcerting. What are the causes of breast asymmetry? you wonder. Could it be a problem with my implants? A hormonal imbalance? Breast cancer?

Below, we’ll go over the top breast asymmetry reasons, then discuss some of the best ways we treat asymmetrical breasts if this issue has been bothering you.

Top Reasons for Uneven Breasts

#1 – Pregnancy

As a woman’s body goes through the stages of pregnancy, her breasts may change drastically — usually becoming larger. This is the body preparing itself for breast milk production with the secretion of prolactin and the growth of breast duct cells.

#2 – Breastfeeding

If a woman is breastfeeding her baby after childbirth, the size and shape of her breasts will vary significantly from week to week, day to day, and hour to hour — depending on how much milk she is carrying and needs to produce at any given time.

#3 – Puberty

Certain young women may develop breast asymmetries during puberty. These changes usually resolve quickly, and the breasts become evenly shaped and sized as the puberty stage ends.

#4 – Menstruation

During menstruation, changes in hormones may cause the size or shape of one or both breasts to change. Like puberty-related changes, these are usually short-lived, and the breasts will regulate in volume after a few days or weeks.

#5 – Injury or Trauma

Injury to a single breast is one of the main reasons for sudden asymmetry in breast growth in adult female individuals. Some injuries can cause cysts or swelling, for example. This may be after a car accident, a fall, or even during or after a significant illness.

#6 – Normal Changes Due to Aging

Certain women simply experience varied breast shape as they age. Gravity, posture, sleeping position, exercise routines, and other common daily activities can slowly alter the way the breasts sit on the chest wall.

#7 – Implant Issues

Finally, if a woman has breast implants, she may experience uneven breasts due to capsular contracture in one breast or a leaking or ruptured implant. This is more common with saline implants, as when a saline implant ruptures, the fluid may leak entirely out, leaving a noticeable difference in breast size.

Breast Asymmetry on Mammogram Reasons

Occasionally, women will go for their annual mammogram and receive results that indicate asymmetrical breasts. This is a cause of concern for many women, who obviously worry that a  mammogram results with breast asymmetry could mean breast cancer or another serious medical problem.

Often, mammogram results will indicate that asymmetries are related to density, breast tissue volume, or structure. In fact, any of these asymmetries are fairly normal and not a sign of developing breast cancer. Nearly all of the time, asymmetries in mammogram results are benign.

In fact, what an asymmetrical result is indicating is that a specific area on one breast is different in some way from the same area on the other breast. The difference may be calculated with a number indicating the relative breast volume asymmetry value. In these cases, radiologists will often order additional tests (a breast biopsy or breast ultrasound, for example) or follow-up mammograms to be sure that any asymmetries are benign.

Usually, the differences have to do with a change in size, volume, or form over time. More rarely, mammogram machinery and technology may be faulty. Again, it is uncommon for breast asymmetry to be a sign of breast cancer. Usually, other symptoms such as flaky red skin around the nipple, dimpling irritated breast skin, swollen breasts, or distinct breast lumps are the notable signs of possible breast cancer.

If you ever have questions about an asymmetrical mammogram or the possibility of breast cancer and your personal cancer risk, never be afraid to consult your doctor or radiologist about follow-up tests. Breast cancer research is constantly improving and evolving to save more lives.

How Is Breast Asymmetry Treated?

The good news about most cases of uneven breasts is that the issue can be treated with reconstructive surgery. However, the first thing we always want to do when a patient comes in with uneven breasts is to make sure that there’s not a worrisome underlying cause. 

For this reason, we like to have a consultation appointment with you where we can discuss your medical history — and possibly schedule some additional medical tests for you to ensure that your breast asymmetry is not caused by an underlying condition that needs to be treated.

Once we’ve done that and the cause of asymmetry is benign and not requiring treatment, we can discuss the various ways to correct your asymmetry and give you breasts that look full, natural, attractive, and — most of all — symmetrical. With breast asymmetry surgery, it always depends on the patient and the particular situation each patient is in with her breasts. The following procedures are the options we usually turn to when correcting breast size asymmetry:

Breast Augmentation (Breast Implants)

A breast augmentation using breast implants is one of the most common procedures performed to correct breast asymmetry. In fact, it is often performed after a prior unsatisfactory breast augmentation as a breast augmentation revision surgery.

During this procedure, a small incision is made in the breast, and a saline or silicone implant is inserted to add volume. Breast implants run the gamut from large and voluminous to very small and natural-looking. You will have plenty of time to discuss your implant options with Dr. Sieber and his staff.

Breast Fat Transfer

Breast augmentation fat transfer surgery is a two-stage process that first involves using liposuction to take out unwanted fat from one (or multiple) areas of the body (usually the abdomen). The second step is the re-injection of that fat (after it has been processed outside the body) into one or both breasts.

Breast Lift

Sometimes, the position of a breast on the chest wall is thus that it sits lower than the other breast. This can be corrected with a lift to one or both breasts.

A breast lift, also known as mastopexy, requires an incision to be made around the areola (the darker part of the skin that surrounds the nipple) and usually, an incision to be made from the lower part of the areola down to the crease beneath the breast. Sometimes, an additional incision is made along the crease. Then, excess skin, fat, and breast tissue is removed, and the incisions are closed up.

Breast Reduction

Finally, if the patient is interested in bringing the size of the larger breast down, a breast reduction can be performed.

Some patients with asymmetrical breasts may want to simply perform a breast reduction on one breast to make it the same size as the other, smaller breast. Other patients may want to reduce the overall size of both breasts and because of the asymmetry, this may involve removing more fat, breast tissue, and skin from one breast, in particular.

Uneven Breasts? Schedule a Consultation Today

Do you have uneven breasts that look and feel asymmetrical in volume, shape, or position? Double board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. David Sieber can help.

Contact us today to book a consultation to discuss breast asymmetry surgery with Dr. Sieber. We look forward to your call. 

References

https://www.healthline.com/health/breast-asymmetry

Traditional liposuction has been effective at erasing hard-to-lose fat for decades. Patients look and feel better after surgery. Their clothes fit better. And they feel more confident and self-assured in their own skin.

If you’ve ever gone through traditional liposuction, however, you know there are downsides too. The agitation of surgery can leave extensive bruising. Healing can be painful and arduous with lots of swelling and puffiness. And finally, sometimes the results aren’t quite what you were looking for, especially in terms of precision.

Now, enter Vaser liposuction — sometimes known as ultrasound assisted liposuction.

This new take on traditional lipo has revolutionized the world of cosmetic surgery, providing a number of unique benefits. Of course, as with anything in life, there are a few drawbacks too. Below, we’ll take a look at the top Vaser liposuction pros and cons.

But first, what is Vaser lipo?

What Is Vaser Liposuction?

VASER stands for Vibration Amplification of Sound Energy at Resonance. This is a fancy way of saying that ultrasound frequencies are used to emulsify (liquefy) the patient’s fat cells.

Whereas before (with traditional liposuction), the fat was physically removed from the surrounding tissue through the agitation of the plastic surgeon’s movements, Vaser now allows the surgeon to do less physical labor to dislodge the fat. The fat is liquefied through the ultrasound frequencies and comes out much more easily.

This isn’t to say that there is not a place for traditional liposuction anymore. In some situations, it may make sense to use the traditional method. However, in many situations — especially in recent years — Vaser liposuction has been shown to be far superior.

Of course, we want to give you the full picture when you are choosing between Vaser liposuction and any other type of liposuction. Therefore, we’ve outlined both the pros and cons of this revolutionary technology below.

Pros and Cons of Vaser Liposuction

Let’s take a look at the main Vaser liposuction pros and cons.

Vaser Liposuction Pros

Less trauma to tissue

Because your plastic surgeon will not need to agitate the fat that is to be removed so that it can be suctioned out, this causes less trauma to the surrounding tissue.

During the agitation process of traditional fat removal with liposuction, blood vessels and the surrounding fat tissue are often severely damaged. Excess fat can still be removed this way, but the damage it causes often results in pain, especially during the initial recovery period.

With ultrasound assisted liposuction, the ultrasound energy does the work of “shaking” that deep fatty layer free of its fat cells. This results in easy removal and less trauma and blood vessel damage.

Minimal discomfort

Naturally, all patients will be kept comfortable during the procedure with anesthesia. However, by minimizing the trauma to the surrounding tissue with Vaser liposuction, patients also experience less overall discomfort both during and after the procedure. It is simply a much more relaxing and less-invasive procedure.

Superior, more-precise contouring

Vaser’s ability to loosen and liquefy fat cells in the target area means that your surgeon can more precisely remove (or suction out) the fat. With traditional lipo, when your surgeon is both dislodging and suctioning out the fat — almost at the same time — some blood vessels are also removed, which is not ideal. We only want to remove stubborn fat deposits, and Vaser liposuction 360 allows for this more exact removal.

Vaser Liposuction Cons

Scars are inevitable

Your Vaser liposuction procedure requires incisions, and when incisions are required — no matter what liposuction method is being utilized — scars will result.

Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about severe, noticeable scarring after a minimally invasive procedure such as Vaser liposuction. The incisions for this type of fat removal are usually only a few millimeters in length, so they are very small, resulting in very small scars. Other cosmetic surgeries such as tummy tuck surgery require far larger incisions, thus causing larger scars.

Vaser tends to cost more

The cost of Vaser liposuction may be higher than that of traditional liposuction. This is largely because the technology required for this procedure is expensive.

Moreover, surgeons must be specifically trained in Vaser liposuction and the related body contouring techniques, such as high definition liposuction (also known as HD lipo).

In a similar vein, plastic surgeons are performing a more involved surgery when they do the precise body contouring that Vaser enables. Often, Vaser liposuction procedures last longer than traditional liposuction procedures because of this.

You’ll still need to wait to see your results

Like traditional liposuction, Vaser lipo does cause swelling, bruising, and some slight discomfort during the recovery period. While some patients have noted that these side effects are not as intense as they are with traditional lipo, they will still be present.

As a result of this, patients will have to wait to see their full results — just as with most other invasive cosmetic surgeries. While the unwanted fat will certainly be gone and you will be at a lower body weight, the surrounding tissues will be inflamed and swollen.

Call Today to Book Your Consultation

More and more patients are turning to Vaser liposuction as their lipo procedure of choice. To find out if you would make a good candidate for this type of surgery, call today and book your consultation appointment with double board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. David Sieber.

We hope to speak with you soon!

References

1. https://www.healthline.com/health/cosmetic-surgery/vaser-liposuction