How common is breast asymmetry?
- Breast asymmetry is very common. In a study done in USA, it has been found that 88% of women had some form of asymmetry of the breast and 65% of women had asymmetry in more than one parameter of the breast.*
Who need treatment for breast asymmetry?
- All women need not be treated for breast asymmetry as many variations are minor. There can be some situations in which there is gross asymmetry of the breasts which can even be noticed externally and this can bother many women.
How are patients with breast asymmetry managed?
- Patients with breast asymmetry need to be evaluated and have to be discussed with the patient. The breast asymmetry could be due to asymmetry in volume, projection or due to the position of the nipple. The exact problem has to be found out and then tackled.
- If there is asymmetry due to volume, we can either reduce the size of one breast or increase the size of the other breast. Reducing the size of one breast would need breast reduction and increasing the size of the other breast would need breast augmentation with implant or fat grafting or use tissues from another place such as the abdomen (DIEP flap) or the inner thigh (TUG flap) or the back (Latissmus dorsi flap) .
- Some breasts may have adequate volume. However, one breast may hang more than the other breast. This can be corrected by a breast lift operation where the volume of the breast is not disturbed and the excess ptosis or hanging of the breast is corrected.
- The nipple size, shape and position can also be corrected. The final aim of the operation is to have breasts which are as symmetrical as possible.