Liposuction as an Adjunct Procedure in Reduction Mammaplasty

Abstract

Liposuction has been recognized as a useful adjunct to breast reduction surgery for fine contouring of adjacent areas to achieve aesthetic balance and preservation of nipple sensation. In particular, the liposuction technique has provided an acceptable way of treating the "fat roll" of the lateral portion of the breast, which extends to the axilla and lateral chest. The purpose of this study was to review the authors' approach to adjunctive lipoplasty with breast reduction surgery and to review their experience. Examination of their own results in 70 consecutive women who underwent reduction mammaplasty in 1998 by the senior surgeon did not reveal any substantial difference in the complication rate of those women who had adjunctive liposuction with their breast reduction surgery vs. those who did not. All complications such as fat necrosis, cellulitis, and seromas were confined to the breast and were not related to the liposuction. Furthermore, there was no additional morbidity associated with ultrasonic liposuction compared with traditional suction-assisted lipectomy. Their experience indicates that patients undergoing reduction mammaplasty may benefit aesthetically from adjunct lateral chest wall liposuction without additional morbidity.

Liposuction Reduction Alone Versus Inferior Pedicle Mammoplasty in Young Females: A Comparative Study

“…Currently available methods for breast reduction are liposuction and/or surgical pedicle techniques [5]. All methods are aimed to alleviate the symptoms and to preserve normal breast shape, contour and sensible nipple and areola without neglecting the oncological aspect [15][16].…”

“…Other series reported an average operative time of 57min (40-90min) and 71min (45-130min) for liposuction reduction respectively [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] which is lower than reported by our series due to the learning curve which was low early then improved afterwards while that for inferior pedicle is 120min (125-279min and 151.3min±58.9 which nearly similar to our results [13,18]. Both techniques were noted to be comparable in relieve of patient's preoperative somatic complaint and this also reported by multiple previous series [5,[19][20][21][22].…”

Safe Reproducible Breast Reduction

“…Reports using superior, inferior, and lateral pedicles have been published, although theoretically this strategy can be used with any pedicle technique. [26][27][28][29] Although there are reports of liposuction-only reduction mammaplasty, [20][21][22][23][24] this technique has not been widely adopted. [30][31][32][33]…”

Practice Advisory on Liposuction

“…It has also been used to a more limited extent to correct areas on the upper arms and breasts as an adjunct to reduction mammaplasty or treatment for gynecomastia. [42][43][44][45] Facial aesthetic surgery has also utilized liposuction for recontouring the neck and localized areas of the face, and it has even been used in some reconstructive procedures, such as flap defatting, to advantage.…”