Facts about uneven breast surgery
Uneven breast surgery, or breast asymmetry surgery is a surgery performed by a board certified plastic surgeon to create a more even appearance to two breasts that developed differently.
Uneven or asymmetric breasts
Some of the causes for uneven breasts are:
- Poland syndrome
- Constricted breast
- Hypoplastic breast
- Breast asymmetry
Let’s review these to further understand what each condition is:
How does Poland syndrome cause the need for uneven breast surgery?
Poland syndrome is a condition where the muscles on one side of the body are underdeveloped or missing entirely. This syndrome can affect the shoulder, chest, arm and even the hand. Mild cases of Poland syndrome may go unnoticed until puberty. For our purposes here, when the chest muscle, the Pectoralis Major, is missing or underdeveloped the chest can take on a concave appearance. This results in a depression and may even seem as though there is no breast on that side of the patient’s body. Dr. Grunwaldt has extensive experience repairing this condition through uneven breast surgery.
uneven tuberous breasts
What are constricted breasts?
Constricted breasts, also known as tuberous breasts, is a congenital abnormality. In this condition, the breasts do not develop fully during puberty. Not only can the breasts be small, there can be a wider space between the breasts and they can be “saggy”. Surgical correction requires higher expertise than for regular breast augmentation. This is another specialized surgery in the category of uneven breast surgery that Dr. Grunwaldt has performed for many patients.
What are hypolastic breasts?
Hypoplastic breasts can occur similar to the above. This condition is also called Mammary Hypoplasia. Some of the signs of this are narrow, widely spaced breasts, areolas are swollen, uneven breast appearance, and breasts do not grow during pregnancy.
Breast asymmetry is a diagnosis of two, unequally sized and shaped breasts. Trauma, puberty and hormonal changes are the main causes of unequal breast appearances. It is important to assure that you do not have an underlying health issue causing this asymmetry before you consider corrective surgery. Sometimes your doctor will order and MRI or ultrasound to assure that there are no underlying conditions. Dr. Grunwaldt’s expertise is extensive in this area.
In performing uneven breast surgery, Dr. Grunwaldt can use implants to increase the size of one breast to more closely “match” the opposite breast. She can also use additional techniques to help reshape a breast that has an uneven appearance. Over the past decade Dr. Grunwaldt has perfected her techniques and as a clinical associate professor at UPMC has trained quite a few new plastic surgeons in these surgical strategies.
She is happy to perform a comprehensive consultation with you and to discuss your options and to design a treatment plan most effective for what you desire.