Breast Reduction Surgery in Kenya

Patients who undergo breast reduction surgery frequently are seeking relief from physical symptoms caused by the excessive weight of large breasts. Breast reduction usually can solve these problems as well as improve the size and shape of your breasts. Following breast reduction, your breasts will be more proportional to the rest of your body, and clothes will fit you better. Dr. Stasch performs breast reduction in Kenya for gigantomastia or makromastia on a weekly basis, helping Kenyan woman regain their desired breast shape and size.

You may be a good candidate for breast reduction if you have one or more of the following conditions:

Breast reduction can be performed at any age. Commonly you will have experienced a life-long struggle with all the problems associated with oversized breasts, and now you feel it is time to do something about it. Ideally, you should have stabilized your weight.

Sometime large breasts cause problems from an early age, but we usually recommend waiting with surgery until breast development has been completed. Pregnancy and breast-feeding may have significant and unpredictable effects on the size and shape of your breasts, which might decrease in size again over time. Sometimes the size stays too large to be comfortable, at which stage breast reduction surgery can be performed. Nevertheless, many women decide to undergo breast reduction before having children.

During the consultation, you will be asked about the results you would like to achieve from your breast reduction surgery. This will help us to understand your expectations and determine whether they realistically can be achieved.

There are a number of different techniques used to perform a breast reduction, depending on the size, amount of ptosis and your expectations of the results. In almost all cases of breast reduction, a method is used to reduce the amount of scarring.

Using the safest and aesthetically most pleasing method of the vertical reduction with superomedial pedicle, the incisions and subsequent scars will run around your areola, and from there downwards, curving slightly outwards towards the under-breast fold. Using this type of incision, complications such as wound breakdown are reduced greatly. In much larger breasts, it is occasionally necessary to extend the incision into the fold underneath your breast (anchor- or small inverted T- incision).

Dr. Stasch has published a paper on using the scar-sparing breast reduction even in very large breast (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20179473).

In all reductions, the nipple-areola complex (NAC) is repositioned upwards to the original position and the breast skin is drawn around the areola to define your new breast contour. By excision of the excess breast tissue, the breast is not only reduced in size, but also tightened and molded into a natural shape. The areola, which in large breasts usually has been stretched, is also reduced in size. The amount of fat, tissue and skin removed will depend on the final breast size that you have agreed with us. We usually recommend a size that will fit the proportions of your body.

The nipples and areolas remain attached to underlying mounds of tissue, and this allows for the preservation of sensation. The ability to breast-feed may also be preserved by this method, although this cannot always be guaranteed. Sometimes it might be necessary to shape the lateral sides of your chest using liposuction, in order to improve the contour.

If you only need a mild or modest breast reduction, or there is an asymmetry between the breasts, the incision needed might just be around the areola, which is sutured again after excision of the excess skin and tissue. This technique is suitable when only a small amount of tissue needs to be removed and the breast needs a lift.

We will keep a close eye on you after your surgery and would normally see you for your follow-up appointments at regular dressing clinics every 2-3 days, and 3 weeks and then 6 weeks following surgery, at which point your post-operative photographs will be taken.

Breast reduction often makes a dramatic change in your appearance. Most women feel very pleased with the results of surgery, they often start to exercise again and enjoy new hobbies. Of all plastic surgical procedures, the level of patient satisfaction resulting from breast reduction is among the highest. However, your breasts may require some time to assume a more natural shape – this might take as long as 3 months for the final result to become apparent.

A breast reduction operation is considered a permanent solution to reduce large heavy breasts. Unless you gain or lose a significant amount of weight or become pregnant, your breast size should remain fairly constant. However, gravity and the effects of aging will eventually alter the size and shape of virtually every woman’s breasts over the years. You may choose to undergo a breast “lifting” procedure to restore their more youthful contour at that stage but this might not be necessary.

The incisions from your breast reduction surgery will heal and fade over time. It is important to realize, however, that the incision lines will be permanently visible, more so in some individuals than others. Ideally, the scars will heal well over time and will then be well concealed. Any scar goes through a maturation process, which takes a year to complete.

Whilst these operations are generally safe in the hands of a qualified and experienced plastic surgeon and regarded to be highly successful, there are, as with any operation, risks involved and the possibility of complications that patients need to consider.

Finding postoperative pain will vary from person to person, but this is generally not considered as a painful procedure.

Most patients are delighted with the physical and cosmetic improvements that breast reduction brings. It is impossible to guarantee that a particular cup size will result. There will be minor asymmetries between your breasts and the scars. Occasionally patients will bleed immediately after the operation and need to go back to the operating room for this to be dealt with. Wound healing problems can occur, particularly in the anchor scar procedure where the horizontal and vertical scars meet. All breast reductions result in some scarring although the nature of the scars will depend on the technique that has been used. Most patients will form good quality scars over time, but occasionally and unpredictably some patients will get lumpy scars that do not improve unless treated. Especially in African skin, hypertrophic or keloid scarring can occur, in which case appropriate treatment will be initiated.

Most wound problems are minor and can be managed with simple dressings. However, more major wound problems can arise such as infections, skin loss, wound separation and delayed healing. Wound problems, if they occur, can delay your recovery and result in worse scarring. You may notice that you feel less sensation in the nipple and areola areas. This usually is temporary. It may, however, take weeks, months or even more than a year before sensation returns to normal. Using the scar-sparing breast reduction techniques it will still be possible to breast-feed, but this ability might occasionally be lost.

Smokers are strongly advised to discontinue smoking several weeks prior to surgery and after the operation, as smoking increases the risks of complications and delays wound healing by altering blood circulation in the skin. You can reduce your risks of complications by closely following our instructions before and after the surgery.

The cost of breast reduction surgery depends on your circumstances and the technique we will perform. For more information on breast reduction costs, we invite you to book a consultation session with Dr Stasch. During this confidential appointment, we can discover more about what you would like to achieve and find out if breast reduction surgery is right for you.