The first picture that we’re going to look at is a lady in her early 40s who has been wanting to have breast reduction for years. She has spasm of her trapezius muscle, that’s the muscle that goes from the neck down to the shoulders, and grooving of her shoulders, lot of weight, lot of back pain, and she does a physical job. On the right you can see her after breast reduction. Obviously she just looks like she’s more relaxed, just looks happier. Second patient is a younger woman who really has trapezius muscles and spasm. You can see them standing out and grooving by her shoulder. Very pendulous breasts meaning they hang a lot. And then again approximately 6 months after surgery you can see her results. With the nipples brought back up to a proper position the areole or the pigmented skin around the nipple reduced to an appropriate size, and the scars fairly well concealed. This last patient I actually show you two shots. Very heavy, very pendulous breasts. Obviously very large nipple and areolar complexes. A small bony frame with just tremendous amount of weight causing a lot of back and neck pain. There she is on her ¾ view and you can see where the incisions are placed, they’re around the areole, from the areole down to the crease, and then underneath the crease.
Let me ask you Dr. Richards, is there any down time involved with this procedure? I like to keep patients’ elbows below their shoulder level for about 6 weeks. They can still bend at the elbow and wash their hair but I don’t want them raising their arms upward such as putting plates on an upper shelf. So after 6 weeks everything is back to normal? It takes about 2 more weeks for patients to start doing range of motion exercises before they regain full use and extension of their arm. And are there any follow up visits required? Initially I see the patients frequently in the office, particularly the first 3 or 4 weeks. After that they have a follow up at 6 weeks, usually a follow up at 3 months, 6 months, and then a year at which point they’re discharged from my care. How safe is this procedure? Rocko fortunately I haven’t had any severe complications from this procedure. You have a small percentage of patients who are not fully satisfied with the results or have a scarring that’s a bit unfavorable but I would say well over 95% are pleased that they did the procedure. And are there any side effects? No real side effects other than of course it is surgery, there are risks involved with surgery and anesthesia, and you will have a scar. Is the scar noticeable? That’s the beauty of the short scar arm lift. In most positions, resting and in motion, the scar is not visible because the scar is confined to the armpit and maybe to half an inch of skin around the armpit.
See firsthand how Dr. Richards has helped patients across Northern Virginia, Maryland, the Washington, D.C. area, and beyond with his advanced cosmetic surgery techniques. View our online video gallery and learn how the transformations happen.
