Revision of Agmentation Mastopexy, Raleigh, NC*

This 38 year old woman had undergone an augmentation mastopexy by another surgeon about 8 years prior. She was never happy with her result. She was smaller than her goal and had a significant discrepancy in size and shape. She also had retained areolar skin below her nipple in her vertical mastopexy scar which was not removed in the original surgery. Over the years her implants slid laterally and her nipples began pointing upwards ( stargazing). Her goals were to improve size and shape of her breasts and remove the pink skin below her nipple. She underwent a revision of her mastopexy and implant exchange. She originally had a 275 cc gel implant on the right and a 325 cc on the left. She ended up with a 415 cc gel implant on the left and a 450 cc gel implant on the right to achieve symmetry. A capsulorrhaphy ( internal tightening of the pocket with sutures) was necessary to correct implant malposition. She was very pleased with improvement in size and shape achieved . She was much more confident with her new breast appearance. Augmentation mastopexy is a challenging procedure with a relatively high revision rate. The plastic surgeon is attempting to increase size of the breast while reducing the skin envelope which are somewhat competing surgical goals. Mastopexy has a high revision rate but with realistic goals and competent surgery can achieve realistic goals.