Being unhappy with the look, shape or feel of the breasts can be devastating to patient’s self-esteem. It can adversely affect their ability to wear the clothes that they’d like. And it can even throw off the proportion of the entire torso, sometimes making patients look heavier than they actually are. Dr. Sean Doherty offers his Boston patients a full range of breast surgery options. These include:
Breast Augmentation: Currently the most popular aesthetic surgical procedure in the world, a breast augmentation uses either silicone or saline implants to increase the volume of a patient’s chest. Dr. Doherty’s goal with every breast augmentation is to deliver a completely natural looking result that is in synch with your individual anatomy. This entails working closely with you to find the exact right implant for your body, goals, and lifestyle. A breast augmentation may be performed alone or in combination with fat grafting and/or a breast lift.
Breast Lift: Also referred to as a Mastopexy, a breast lift is ideal for patients whose nipples rest below the crease beneath the breasts, often referred to as the inframammary fold. These patients describe their breasts as saggy. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, weight gain/loss, and age can all stretch the skin of the breast and cause a sag. A breast lift is a surgical procedure to remove this excess skin and lift the breast back up to a higher point on the chest wall. The result is a perkier, more youthful looking breast. In patients with enough of their own breast tissue, a breast lift can be transformative on its own without the need of an implant. But in patients who desire a bit more fullness in their chest, especially in their upper pole of the breast, Dr. Doherty will often combine the breast lift with implants.
Breast Reduction: Having breasts that are too large can be emotionally traumatizing for patients. It can also adversely affect their ability to wear certain clothing and make exercise painful. A breast reduction is a surgical procedure to reduce the size of a woman’s breasts. Similar to a breast lift, in a breast reduction, Dr. Doherty will remove not only the excess skin but also any excess fat and breast tissue. He will re-positioning the nipple and areola while leaving it attached to your body. His goal is to create breasts that are not just smaller and more lifted, but also more in proportion to the rest of your torso. It is a surgery that can completely revitalize a patient’s outlook on life and has one of the highest patient satisfaction ratings of any aesthetic procedure. Dr. Doherty does not participate in insurance programs for breast reduction procedures.
Breast Implant Exchange: There are many reasons why a patient may want to exchange her implants. Aesthetic tastes may change. Patients who got their original implants in their 20’s often want to go smaller in their 40’s or 50’s. Some patients, however, gain weight with age and may want to go bigger in order to create a more proportional silhouette. Also, no breast implant lasts forever. Complications can occur such as a rupture, implant malposition or capsular contracture. A breast implant exchange is a surgical procedure to remove your current implants and replace them with breand new implants. However, the procedure is rarely as simple as changing a tire. Often, the tissues of the breast have stretched with time and the new implant will not work without also tightening the skin envelope with a breast lift.
Gynecomastia: Women are not the only ones who can suffer from too much breast tissue and concern with their chest. Gynecomastia is an enlargement of a man’s chest from an excessive amount of breast tissue, breast gland and/or fat. In certain cases where the underlying cause of the enlarged male chest is due to excess fat alone, Dr. Doherty will perform liposuction to reduce the size of the patient’s chest. But in cases where breast tissue and/or gland are also present, he will need to perform a gynecomastia surgical procedure, also known as a male breast reduction. Here patients have unwanted fat removed from their chest with liposuction and unwanted breast gland removed with a simple direct surgical excision. His goal with either procedure is to create a sculpted, toned, masculine chest that is in proportion to the rest of the torso.