Many patients confuse the anatomical landmarks of the nipple and the areola. In other words, they use the terms as though they’re the same thing. This confusion is clear when discussing a breast augmentation. Most patients believe that one option for placement of the implant, aside from putting it through the armpit or under the breast (in the inframammary fold), is to “put it through the nipple.” No one has ever put a breast implant through the nipple itself. What they’re describing is placement of the implant through an incision along the edge of the areolar. Big difference!

This confusion is also on full display when patients ask for a nipple reduction when in fact they mean an areolar reduction. And vice versa. We’ll explain the differences below.

Nipple Reduction vs Areola Reduction

The areola is the pigmented round area, surrounding the centrally located nipple, on the breast. Your surgeon can reduce the areola and separately, they can also reduce the projection or height of the nipple in the middle of the areola. If referring to the nipple and areola together, this is the nipple areolar complex (NAC). The situations where it’s appropriate to reduce a nipple or areola are described below.

After breast feeding, the breasts become very pendulous or droopy. Additionally, the nipple areolar complex can become very large. If a patient comes in to see their plastic surgeon for a lift, there are multiple potential benefits as it relates to the nipple and areola.

To correct the droopy breast, the patient can request a breast lift. This is the removal of excess skin that tightens the breast skin “envelope.” By removing the skin and tightening the envelope, the breast gets a lift. In the process of removing excess skin, the areolas are always reduced. Therefore, the round pigmented area surrounding the centrally located nipple is reduced to match the newly lifted breast.

If the patient is also unhappy with the length or projection of her nipples, the surgeon can shorten them during the same operation. Keep in mind that if a patient wants, the areola can be made smaller without a nipple reduction and the surgeon can shorten the nipple without an areolar reduction. But if undergoing a breast lift or reduction, the areola will always become smaller.

Check out the video below to see an actual nipple reduction and areolar reduction.

Video: Nipple reduction vs areola reduction

To check pricing on a nipple or areolar reduction from Dr. Kaplan, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Nipple reduction vs areola reduction (sort of like Ford vs Ferrari) [video] first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Vertical scar vs no vertical scar breast reduction

During a breast reduction, your surgeon is removing excess skin and excess breast tissue. Removing the excess skin is the “lift” portion of the procedure and removing the excess breast tissue is the reduction portion. In the process of performing a breast reduction, you create scars around the areola and under the breast at a minimum.

Depending on the size of the breasts and the technique, you may be able to avoid the vertical scar. After watching the video below, this will make more sense. Rather than removing a portion of vertical skin, the breast tissue is pushed up underneath a flap of skin that has a hole for the moving areola. By shifting the tissue in this way, a vertical scar is unnecessary.

You may be wondering why everyone doesn’t get a breast reduction with this technique. Here are four reasons. 1) Not all physicians know the technique. 2) Your breasts have to be fairly large and 3) insurance doesn’t reimburse specifically for this type of breast reduction. The other trade-off is that the incision under the breast is “pleated” when closing the wound. However, this really isn’t a tradeoff because this scar flattens and fades with time.

No vertical scar breast reduction video

To check pricing on a no vertical scar breast reduction from Dr. Kaplan, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post No vertical scar breast reduction [video] first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.