Mastopexy

Mastopexy (Greek μαστός mastos "breast" + -pēxiā "affix") is the plastic surgery mammoplasty procedure for raising sagging breasts upon the chest of the woman, by changing and modifying the size, contour, and elevation of the breasts. In a breast-lift surgery to re-establish an aesthetically proportionate bust for the woman, the critical corrective consideration is the tissue viability of the nipple-areola complex (NAC), to ensure the functional sensitivity of the breasts for lactation and breast-feeding. The breast-lift correction of a sagging bust is a surgical operation that cuts and removes excess tissues (glandular, adipose, skin), overstretched suspensory ligaments, excess skin from the skin-envelope, and transposes the nipple-areola complex higher upon the breast hemisphere. In surgical practice, mastopexy can be performed as a discrete breast-lift procedure, and as a subordinate surgery within a combined mastopexy–breast augmentation procedure. Moreover, mastopexy surgery techniques also are applied to reduction mammoplasty, which is the correction of oversized breasts. Psychologically, a mastopexy procedure to correct breast ptosis is not indicated by medical cause or physical reason, but by the self-image of the woman; that is, the combination of physical, aesthetic, and mental health requirements of her self.