Background:
The treatment of breast ptosis and gland hypoplasia in a single surgery is a challenging procedure and the result is less predictable. In this surgery, the complications mainly concern the prosthesis, such as implant deflation, capsular contracture, palpability, or malposition. We, therefore, propose a different and new technique that avoids breast prosthesis, combining mastopexy and autologous augmentation with fat grafts.
Methods:
Combined mastopexy and autologous fat graft augmentation (lipopexy) was performed in women affected by breast ptosis and asymmetric breast or hypomastia. The breast lift technique was determined due to the ptosis level. The process of fat grafting was executed according to the PureGraft and, in some cases, to GID System, to Celution System or Carraway’s techniques.
Results:
Thirty-four patients affected by breast ptosis and hypomastia underwent lipopexy from January 2010 to May 2017. The mean volume of adipose tissue injected for each breast was 225.98 ml. After surgery, the patients were followed for an average of 22.8 months. A mild ptosis relapse with partial fat absorption was observed in 4 cases (11.76%) and the presence of oily cysts was diagnosed in 2 patients (5.88%). One severe complication was recorded (hematoma drainage). All the patients healed uneventfully in 2 weeks.
Conclusions:
This technique allows the surgeon to distribute the desired fat volume along the breasts, avoids implants, and displayed stable results. This treatment has been demonstrated not to interfere with follow-up breast imaging. We, therefore, consider lipopexy a valuable and safe alternative to mastopexy and mild to moderate breast volume augmentation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.