Tuberous breast correction
Tuberous breasts describe a developmental breast abnormality in
which the breast tissue bulges through an enlarged areola (the
pigmented area around the nipple). In addition, most tuberous
breasts are underdeveloped and have a high and tight breast crease.
In order to correct the situation, all of these factors must be
addressed. The breast is usually enlarged using a breast implant.
Mr Pacifico will have chosen the surgical technique to correct your
tuberous deformity after a careful pre-operative assessment.
Sometimes the breast tissue must be redistributed to drape over the
implant, all through an incision (scar) around your areola.
Alternatively, a separate incision may be made in the breast crease
to place the implant, followed by surgery around the areolar. The
aim is to reduce the size of the areola and tighten it to stop the
breast tissue bulging through. This leaves you with a circular scar
around the areola and sometimes also with a scar underneath the
breast. Sometimes a different procedure needs to be performed on
the other breast if it is not tuberous, but, for example,
What does it involve?
The operation is performed under a general anaesthetic (with you
asleep). You will wake up with surgical tapes along the wounds and
a surgical drain (tube) coming out of each breast. You will need to
go into a supportive post-surgical or sports bra the evening of the
surgery (or the next day).
What are the benefits?
This procedure corrects the problems concerning the shape of
your breasts as well as their size in one operation. Many other
procedures described for tuberous breasts involve 2 or 3 different
How long is the surgery?
The surgery takes about 2-3-hours.
What is the recovery period?
The procedure requires an overnight stay in hospital after the
surgery. This is to ensure that there is only minimal fluid coming
into your drains, which may then be removed. You should wear a
sports bra day-and-night for at least 6-weeks after surgery.
How long before daily activities may be resumed?
Strenuous activity should be avoided for at least 2-weeks.
Driving should wait until 4-weeks after the surgery - you need to
be comfortable performing an emergency stop or similar manoeuvre.
If you drive too early and you need to do an emergency stop, the
wounds may come apart.
What are the success rates?
Tuberous breast correction is a challenging operation, but
provides good results. Occasionally, minor revisional surgery is
needed to perfect the outcome.
What are the possible complications?
- Wound infection & wound breakdown
- Bleeding or haematoma (a collection of blood in the wound
resulting in the need to take you back to theatre to stop the
- Capsular contracture is an important possible complication to
be aware of - this refers to a tightening of the naturally forming
scar tissue around the implant that may change the shape of the
breast or cause discomfort. This would mean further surgery to
replace the implant and release the tight scar tissue.
- Lumpy scarring (hypertrophic or keloid scarring) which can be
difficult to treat
- Nipple problems, including a change in nipple sensation
(usually less sensitive, but occasionally more) and complete or
partial loss of your nipple (a rare but important
- Breast asymmetry - no breasts in any woman are identical, and
although Mr Pacifico strives to make both sides as equal as
possible, there will be differences between them
- Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolus (PE) - these
are blood clots that may occur in the leg (DVT) and travel to the
lung (PE) which may be very serious - fortunately they are not
- Further surgery may be needed to make adjustments to correct
for imperfections or significant differences between the