BREAST REDUCTION – TEENAGERS

Posted On: January 06, 2014 Author: The Office of Dr. Stuart Linder Posted In: Breast Reduction, Breast topics, Uncategorized

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Patients do present in their teenage years for breast reduction surgery.  These young women often have the same symptoms associated with bilateral breast hypertrophy, including large pendulous breasts with back pain, neck pain, grooving along the shoulder blades; however intertriginous rashes are less common.  There is also the emotional difficult psychological torment of having disproportionately large breasts at a young age, especially during the puberty years in which impressions in high school years are very important.

Recently, I had a patient present with 36DDD breasts and desired to reduce down to a small B.  The patient underwent the inferior pedicle Wise-pattern technique, approximately 280 to 320 grams of tissue was removed bilaterally, bringing the patient down to a small B.  It is important that all patients under the age of 18, as this patient was 17, must have a parental guardian, and we sit with the patients a minimum of two times with their parental guardian on two separate dates to review all consent forms.  Scarring is extremely unpredictable and therefore photographs of after postoperative breast reductions should be reviewed with the patient and the patient’s legal guardian.  Consent forms should be reviewed with the patient and the guardian in detail and signed accordingly.  Although patients at 17 may continue to develop further breast development for the next four to five years, at times reducing the breast at that age is the correct avenue, especially with disabling over-abundance of breast tissue causing chronic back pain and the emotional physical torment that occurs during their growing years.