Gigantomastia Treated with Removal of nearly 9 pounds of breast tissue, Raleigh*

This is a 46-year-old woman with a long-standing history of macromastia with significant breast hypertrophy characterized as gigantomastia. She suffered from neck pain, back pain and grooves in the shoulder areas as well as rashes under the breasts -called intertrigo. She wore a size 40N cup and needed specially fitted bras . She underwent bilateral breast reduction with removal of just over 4 kg of breast tissue from the breasts totaling 8.8 pounds. She had near immediate improvement in her symptoms with the excess weight removed from her breasts. Breasts this large present a surgical challenge. In many cases the viability of the nipple can be threatened because of the enormity of the breast size were blood flow may not be adequate to support the viable nipple areola complex.. Traditional techniques with pedicled approaches are much more difficult and in many cases these patients require free nipple grafts. This patient had successful performance of a superior medial pedicle breast reduction with full preservation of the nipples. Experienced surgeons have a repertoire of techniques to treat each patient according to their anatomy. But no one breast reduction is the same and approaches need to be individualized.