Breasts come in every shape and size. But for some people with large breasts, they can be a nuisance. Large breasts might contribute to back pain and inhibit certain lifestyle goals. Breast reductions reduce the size of your breasts. Here are some of your top breast reduction questions answered.

How Does the Breast Reduction Procedure Work?

The surgeon will remove excess skin and a certain amount of breast tissue from the breast. They will then reshape the existing breast and lift it so that the breast is smaller and has the correct proportions to the body. If the surgeon didn’t lift the tissue, the breasts might sag.

Who is a Candidate for Breast Reduction?

If you live a healthy lifestyle and know that you want smaller breasts, you qualify. Realistic expectations are key. Cosmetic surgery might not be able to achieve everything you want, but your surgeon can talk about how to get the closest results.

These are some reasons that you might choose to have your breasts reduced:

• Your neck, shoulders, or back experience chronic pain with no other explained cause.
• Your breasts make it difficult to keep ideal posture.
• Your breasts are so heavy that your bra straps cut into your shoulders.
• Your bra causes your arms to feel numb and tingly.
• You can’t be as physically active as you want because of your breast size.
• The skin below your breasts is constantly irritated due to sweat and shedding skin cells.

Will Health Insurance Cover Breast Reduction?

Your health insurance coverage typically depends on your reason for choosing breast reduction. If you are experiencing physical symptoms like pain and discomfort, that qualifies the surgery as a medical necessity. In this case, many insurance plans will cover at least part of it. But if you’re only getting a reduction for aesthetic purposes, that is considered a cosmetic procedure that will not be covered.

Before booking your surgery, you should find out what kind of coverage your health insurance offers. There is a good chance that you will need to document the hardship that your physical symptoms cause you. You will also need to prove that there are no non-surgical alternatives that can help with the problem.

Different insurance plans also cover different amounts of tissue removal. You need to reach a certain threshold of tissue removal if you want the surgery to be covered as a reduction. The minimum tends to be about 200 grams, but some insurance policies will only cover surgeries that remove 800 grams per breast.

How Dramatic is the Reduction?

Different people will have different amounts of tissue removed. These will depend on what your original breast size is, along with the ratio of fat to blood supply. Your surgeon’s goal is to remove fatty tissue without removing too much blood.

You can’t plan for a certain cup size; a lot depends on how your breasts heal. With that said, most people go down a cup size for every 200 grams or so of breast tissue that is removed from the chest.

Schedule a Consultation

To learn more about breast reduction surgery, schedule a consultation with Dr. Carpenter by calling (301) 724-5885 or contacting us online.