After breast reduction surgery, taking the right steps is crucial for effective recovery. Recovering properly allows your breasts to heal as quickly as possible and minimises the risk of injury. If you learn what to expect from your recovery timeline, you can plan accordingly. Part of this will be getting regular checkups with your surgeon to stay on top of your recovery needs.
What does breast reduction surgery involve?
During a break reduction surgery, a surgeon will remove excess breast tissue, including fat and skin, to reduce the size of the breasts. It is an invasive procedure, which requires a surgeon to make an incision down each breast around the nipple and areola. Liposuction is often used to remove the fat tissue from the breasts before they are reshaped.
After the breasts have been brought down to their desired size, the nipple and areola are reset and the incision sites are stitched back together. In addition to adjusting breast size, plastic surgeons will ensure that the breasts are reshaped and made to look as symmetrical as possible.
How long is breast reduction recover time?
While breast reduction recovery time varies between individuals, the recovery period generally takes between 6 and 14 weeks for most patients. But even after this period, there may be some lingering symptoms like chest numbness or mild pain.
Because of how much recovery time varies, it’s important to schedule periodic checkups with your surgeon. They will know your medical history and guide you through your individual recovery needs. Your recovery recommendations will vary based on where you are in your recovery timeline.
What symptoms can you expect during breast reduction recovery?
There are a range of symptoms you could experience whilst recovering from a breast reduction. While everyone’s recovery varies, certain symptoms are fairly common among patients.
Pain
Following a breast reduction, you can expect some moderate pain around the incision sites. Even after the initial pain from the procedure subsides, your breasts may still feel tender for a few months. You may also get back and neck pain if you spend long periods lying in the same position.
Skin irritation
You may experience some irritation around the tissue and skin near the incision sites in the breasts. Typically, this will begin a week after your procedure and last between two weeks and one month.
Stiffness
Many patients find that they get stiffness in their upper body following breast reduction surgery. This is because tissue and nerves need time to heal after the procedure. Stiffness may sometimes be exacerbated by all the time you spend lying down following your surgery. It’s important to start moving as soon as your plastic surgeon says you are allowed to if you want to counteract this.
Numbness
Breast reduction surgery may cause some damage to nerve endings in the breast. This will cause the nipples and breast skin to lose feeling temporarily. Feeling will typically return to the breasts after a few months.
What steps should you take for breast reduction aftercare?
There are important steps to take for recovery immediately, in the short-term, and in the long-term following a breast reduction procedure. They all contribute to helping you heal and avoid excessive discomfort during the recovery process.
Immediate recovery
Immediately following your procedure, you will stay in the hospital until you are discharged. When you wake up from your general anaesthesia, you will be asked about any pain or nausea you feel. This will be addressed by hospital staff.
After this, you should get a friend or family member to take you home from the procedure. For the first few days after your procedure, you should focus on bed rest, using ice packs on the sore areas, and taking the necessary prescribed medications, such as anti-inflammatory drugs. This period is when you will need to do the most healing from your procedure.
Short-term recovery
In the first few weeks after your breast reduction, you should prioritise rest. You will need to spend a lot of time in bed, so it’s important to call your work ahead of time and get time off after your procedure. Avoid anything strenuous including vigorous exercise or sexual activity.
You may be given pain killers and scar creams to help you deal with soreness of pain near the area of incision. Make sure to carefully follow your surgeon’s instructions for any medications that you have been prescribed.
Long-term recovery
Even months after your breast reduction surgery, you may still experience residual swelling and numbness in the chest area. There are steps you should take to help your recovery during this period. They mainly involve using sunscreen and other products to help your scars heal. While you can resume some physical activity after a few weeks, you should still avoid heavy lifting until your surgeon gives you the go-ahead.
How long should I wear my surgical bra after a breast reduction?
It is generally recommended that you wear a surgical bra for about six weeks after undergoing breast reduction surgery. It should stay on for most of the day or night and you should only remove it for showers. Surgical bras help to reduce pain and make it easier to move around until the swelling subsides.
What exercises should I do for breast reduction recovery?
Exercises are a good way to help with recovery after a breast reduction surgery. However, it’s important to wait until you have recovered adequately before taking on any strenuous activities. Additionally, wearing a surgical bra or sports bra is important to reduce injury risk during this time.
Breathing exercises
Breathing exercises provide many benefits for someone after their breast reduction surgery. They help your muscles to relax, which is important for post-surgery recovery. Deep breathing also has the potential to improve circulation, which also aids in the healing process.
Range of motion exercises
Range of motion exercises are a good way to counteract the muscle stiffness that may follow a breast reduction. They help you regain and maintain a certain level of flexibility that makes moving and performing everyday tasks easier.
Low-impact exercises
You may be able to start introducing low-impact exercise as soon as two weeks after your procedure. These may include light walking, cycling on a stationary bike or using an elliptical machine. Exercises like this help promote blood flow and don’t put any real strain on the chest area. Additionally, these exercises could help you lose weight that you may have gained during recovery.
Stretching
Stretching is another good way to keep your muscles engaged during the recovery process. However, it is important to get approval from your surgeon before beginning a stretching routine. If you begin stretching before you are sufficiently healed, you risk pain and damage to your surgical wounds.
Resistance exercises
After enough time has passed and your surgeon has given you the green light, you are able to gradually begin introducing some resistance training. However, this is not an invitation to begin doing highly strenuous exercise. When introducing weights or resistance training, you will generally start with very light weights to start off with before gradually increasing the resistance as you heal more.
Breast reduction surgery recovery costs
Recovery does not play a significant part in breast reduction surgery costs. The surgery itself makes up the most of the direct costs. The direct costs related to recovery include follow-up appointments and any medications you need to take following your surgery. Indirect costs include the time you will lose by missing out on work. These breast reduction costs should still be considered when you are budgeting from the procedure.
Should you schedule follow-up appointments after your breast reduction?
Follow-up appointments are important to make sure you have a smooth recovery process. Try to meet every so often with your plastic surgeon to see where you are at in the recovery process. They will be able to identify any potential complications such as unusual swelling or infection around the chest area.
Make sure you follow the surgeon’s specific instructions for best results. They will likely advise that you eat healthy foods and do specific recovery exercises.
Get the best breast reduction aftercare with West Coast Plastic Surgery
At West Coast Plastic Surgery, we go above and beyond for every part of the breast reduction procedure. This includes aftercare, and we make sure that a patient’s recovery process goes as smoothly as possible. We use our expertise to provide a range of cosmetic surgery procedures for our patients. Dr. Qadir Khan is a board certified plastic surgeon that has helped countless people get the results they are looking for. Contact us today if you’re interested in breast reduction surgery.