Breast Asymmetry

Treatments

When thinking about treatment, patients need to decide which breast they prefer (the larger or the smaller one), or if they would like a size somewhere between the two. If there is no breast growth on one side, then that almost always means surgery is needed on that side. It’s common to treat both breasts to make them match in shape and size.

The following are surgical options when there is no breast development on one side:

• If there is no breast on one side, patients will need breast reconstruction on that side using tissue expansion and then an implant. Tissue expansion is when a balloon-like implant is placed under the skin and inflates over time, so there is enough skin to cover an implant.
• If there is no breast on one side, plastic surgery also does a procedure on the normal side. This is because the normal side’s shape will likely be different than the shape of the implant on the abnormal side.
• If a patient is developing breast asymmetry during puberty, a tissue expander is placed on the small side so that patients don’t have to go through puberty with asymmetric breasts.
• This process will take more than one operation, maybe even three.

The following are surgical options when one breast is smaller than the other:

• This is when a patient needs to decide whether they prefer the smaller breast, the larger breast, or if they’d like a breast size in between.
• If the smaller breast is preferred, plastic surgery does a reduction procedure on the larger breast. If the larger breast is preferred, we can place an implant in the smaller breast. In this situation, it is very likely we will need to do a shaping procedure on the larger breast, because each breast is likely different in their shape too, not just their size.
• If the larger breast is preferred, fat grafting can be done to transfer tissue to the smaller breast. This usually works if the differences between the two breasts is drastic. Also, it requires 3-5 sessions of fat grafting, where fat is harvested from somewhere else in the body (usually the abdomen or thighs) and injected in the breast. This means 3-5 trips to the operating room.
• If a size somewhere in the middle is preferred, this will require an implant on the smaller side and a reduction on the larger side, where breast tissue is removed to make it smaller. This process will take more than one operation.

It is important to understand that breast asymmetry is a tough problem, and your breasts will never be identical, but no woman’s breasts are identical. But our highly skilled team will be able to make them similar to each other, both in size and shape.