Getting plastic surgery is a big decision, and big investment. As with any other investment, it is important to know what to expect from it, and how much return you will get. For some patients, a breast reduction will last them more of their lives, with no need to have any other procedures. For others, they may require one or more additional surgeries in the future.
There is a condition called juvenile breast hypertrophy, which basically means that your breasts grow very large at a very young age. This condition does not mean that you have abnormal hormone levels or any other disorder. Rather, your breasts are just very sensitive to your hormones, so they overreact to them. This usually means that a patient’s breasts will grow unusually large in their teens, and continue to grow until they go into menopause. For these patients, the first reduction usually happens very young, and with the caveat that it will probably happen again at least once. For those who ask, “then why do it right away?” the answer is, because otherwise the breasts will likely get so large that they will be utterly unmanageable throughout young adulthood. The good news is that the second procedure is generally not 5 years later. Most patients will go at least 20 years before having to do anything again.
For other patients, a breast reduction will last until some other life event changes things. This could be pregnancy, weight changes, or menopause itself. In a small group of women, menopause is the time when they go from a small chested person to someone wearing orthopedic support bras. This happens because the breasts are hyper sensitive to the hormones that increase in menopause rather than at puberty. In those instances, the reduction happens later in life, but usually only once. For the rest of the patients undergoing breast reduction, the procedure tends to last a lifetime. Small adjustments may be needed as things changes and stretch, but they never go back to where they started from. Furthermore, of all plastic surgery patients, the ones having a reduction are among the happiest, and they all report that is was a game-changing life-altering improvement in every way. There are few investments that any of us make about which we can say the same.
