Being unhappy with the look, shape or feel of the breasts can be devastating to patients 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 a silicone or saline implant to increase the volume in 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 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 at or 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. A breast lift is a surgical procedure to remove this excess skin, lifting the breast back up to a higher point on the chest wall. The result is a perkier, more youthful look to the breasts. In patients with enough native breast tissue, a breast lift can be transformative on its own. But in patients who desire a bit more fullness in their chest, especially in their upper pole, Dr. Doherty will often combine it with a breast implant.
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 the breast reduction, Dr. Doherty will remove not only the excess skin but also any excess fat and breast tissue, re-positioning the nipple if necessary. 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.
Breast Implant Exchange: There is a myriad of reasons why a patient may want to exchange her implant. Aesthetic tastes change. Patients who got their original implants in their 20’s often want to go smaller in their 40’s. However, some patients 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 a new device. 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. 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 breasts 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, flat chest that is in proportion to the rest of the torso.