Reduction Mammoplasty in Uberlândia, Brazil

They are. Reduction mammoplasty, reduction mammaplasty, reduction mastoplasty and breast reduction all name the same operation: removing breast tissue and skin to decrease volume. A breast lift — mastopexy — is a different operation, since it raises and reshapes a sagging breast without necessarily reducing volume, and it has its own page on this site. Because nearly every reduction also has to lift the breast and reposition the areola, the term reduction mastopexy is used when reducing and lifting happen in the same operation. What decides between the two is the relationship between volume, skin laxity and symptoms, assessed at the physical examination.

Surgical time varies depending on the technique used and the amount of tissue to be removed, and is estimated individually during the consultation.

In selected cases, yes. The reduction addresses excess volume and skin; a silicone implant may be added when, after the reduction, projection is lacking in the upper pole of the breast. It is not the rule — it depends on the amount of remaining tissue, the quality of the skin and the desired shape, all defined at the individual assessment.

Planning starts with markings made while the patient stands, in the operating room, because that is the position that shows where the breast sits and where the nipple-areola complex should end up. Under general anesthesia, excess skin and breast tissue are removed and, in most cases, the areola stays attached to the breast on a pedicle of tissue that preserves its blood supply and part of its nerve supply — in very large reductions another technique may be needed, discussed individually at the consultation. The area removed depends on where that pedicle comes from: when it comes from above, the lower and outer portions are the ones removed; when the lower portion is what feeds the areola, it is preserved and removal is concentrated in the upper, inner and outer portions. The remaining breast is reshaped and closed in layers, with the areola repositioned higher. When indicated, liposuction of the lateral chest is combined in the same operation to follow the new contour. The operation is almost always bilateral, with different weights removed on each side, according to the pre-existing difference in volume. The exact plan comes from the physical examination.

It depends on the case, and both approaches are possible. Discharge the same day happens after a few hours of observation, once pain is controlled and you are walking and passing urine normally. An overnight admission comes in when the volume removed is larger, when another procedure is performed in the same operation, or when a medical condition makes observation advisable. Whether you go home the same day or stay overnight is always assessed case by case, according to the extent of the surgery, the anesthesia, whether other procedures are combined and your pre-operative assessment — and it is defined before the surgery, not on the day. That same decision determines the venue: procedures with same-day discharge are performed in the operating theatre of Healme Clinic itself, and those requiring admission in the operating theatre of the UMC Hospital — in the same complex, with no travel between sites.

Six months of stable weight is the usual criterion, and it is what the published indication criteria in post-weight-loss body contouring describe. The reason is not bureaucratic. Weight regain after this kind of surgery is common: in a follow-up of patients who underwent trunk-based contouring, those who had had bariatric surgery regained on average about 12% after reaching their lowest weight, against about 8% among those who had not. Operating before the weight settles means operating on a body that is still going to change. Body mass index comes into it as well, and not as a detail: in a series of 2,533 post-weight-loss abdominoplasties, patients with a higher BMI had more seroma, dehiscence, hematoma requiring reintervention and surgical site infection. Stable weight and BMI are therefore assessed together, and the target is defined individually at the consultation — in some cases the advice is to keep losing weight before scheduling surgery, which frustrates those who arrive wanting a date, and is what protects the result. Nutritional assessment and stopping smoking are part of it too.

Nutritional assessment is neither optional nor outsourced: the clinic has a dietitian on the team, and every patient has a nutritional consultation, with bioimpedance analysis. This exists for a reason the post-weight-loss body contouring literature documents well. GLP-1 analogues suppress appetite and delay gastric emptying, which reduces protein and micronutrient intake; bariatric surgery, sleeve gastrectomy included, predisposes to deficiencies in iron, vitamin B12 and protein. And protein deficiency is not a detail: it impairs collagen production, angiogenesis and immunity, and is a risk factor for poor wound healing — precisely what is most feared in this kind of surgery. Guidelines describe a target of 60 to 120 g of protein a day, and a substantial share of patients on these medications fall short of it; hence the emphasis on spreading protein through the day, in smaller and more frequent meals, rather than concentrating it. The laboratory work-up before surgery is broad and includes screening for anemia and for the deficiencies most associated with this profile. The exact list is defined case by case and discussed at the consultation, because it depends on how the weight was lost, how long ago, and what was already being replaced.

It's usually performed under general anesthesia, determined together with the anesthesiology team during the preoperative evaluation.

Patients tend to describe heaviness, tightness and burning in the breast rather than sharp pain, strongest in the first 48 to 72 hours, when pain medication is prescribed on a fixed schedule rather than only when it hurts. What limits daily life most is not the breast itself but raising the arms and pulling weight, movements that stay restricted for some weeks. The anesthesia team may add chest wall blocks to the analgesia plan as part of a multimodal approach. None of this makes the procedure painless, and pain thresholds differ from person to person. Intense, worsening or one-sided pain is not expected and should be reported to the team.

This is the most common reason for the surgery and the complaint where improvement tends to be most consistent: patients with breast hypertrophy frequently report relief of neck, upper back and shoulder pain, and the grooves left by bra straps tend to improve once the breast weighs less. Even so, the end of pain cannot be promised. The spine may have causes of its own — a disc problem, scoliosis, long-standing posture changes, chronic muscle tightness — that do not resolve by taking weight off the breast, and part of the improvement depends on physiotherapy and strengthening afterwards. At the consultation the estimated weight to be removed is discussed alongside your symptoms — relief does not depend on reaching a fixed number of grams — separating what surgery tends to relieve from what needs other treatment.

The first few days typically call for relative rest, with restrictions on strenuous effort and wide arm movements, easing gradually under medical guidance as recovery progresses.

This varies by job type — desk-based work is generally resumed sooner than jobs requiring intense arm movement or heavy lifting.

Driving is generally resumed once discomfort has eased and arm movement has recovered, which is assessed individually based on each patient's progress.

Light activities are usually reintroduced gradually, while higher-impact exercise or activities involving the chest area call for a longer waiting period, assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Yes, wearing a surgical bra or compression band is generally recommended for a period after surgery to support healing and comfort, as guided by the surgical team.

Most cases use no drain: in routine reductions it has not proved necessary to prevent hematoma and seroma, and it tends to be reserved for very large resections or for situations identified during the operation. When a drain is used, it stays for a few days and is removed at a follow-up visit. Stitches are generally internal and absorbable, with nothing to take out; when external sutures are used, removal usually falls between day seven and day fourteen, often in stages, starting at the areola. After that, adhesive tapes over the scar may be kept for weeks. What applies to your case is set by the surgeon as healing progresses.

Patients are usually advised to sleep on their back with the trunk raised — two pillows or the head of the bed lifted — for the first weeks, since that position limits swelling and avoids pulling on the vertical scar and on the junction of the T. Pillows alongside the body help prevent rolling over during sleep, and getting up by turning the body rather than pushing with the arms spares the suture line. Clearance to sleep on the side usually comes between the third and sixth week, depending on healing; face down takes longer, generally some months. Many patients sleep in the surgical bra during this period. The exact timing is given by the surgeon at follow-up visits.

For desk work, with no exertion and no need to raise the arms, time off is usually ten to fifteen days. For work that involves carrying weight, heavy arm use or long periods standing — nursing, kitchens, cleaning, hairdressing, teaching physical education — thirty days or more is common, and the return may be partial before it is full. The medical certificate is issued by the surgeon based on your recovery and on a real description of your job, not from a table. It is therefore worth bringing to the preoperative consultation what your work actually involves and whether tasks can be reduced for a period.

Most swelling settles over the first three to six weeks, and during that period it is common for the breasts to look higher, firmer and larger than they will be. The shape starts to settle around the third month, as tissue descends and fills the lower pole, and the contour regarded as stable usually appears between six and twelve months. The scar matures on its own, slower timeline than the shape — that is covered in the question on how the scar evolves. Differences between the two sides during this settling are also normal and tend to lessen. This calendar is an average — swelling, skin type and the amount of tissue removed change the pace for each patient.

Scar extent varies by technique and volume removed, and is planned to stay as discreet as possible.

It's common for the scar to look redder or feel firmer in the first few months, gradually softening over time — full scar maturation can take quite a while.

No. No laser, injection or device removes breast tissue and excess skin: reduction depends on surgical resection, and therefore on a scar. There is, described in the literature, a reduction performed with liposuction alone, suited to breasts made up mostly of fat, with skin of good elasticity and an areola still in an acceptable position — suitability depends on those characteristics, not on the volume to be removed. It lowers volume with smaller scars and skin retraction usually raises the areola somewhat, but it does not surgically reposition it and does not correct significant sagging, so a patient with marked laxity tends not to be satisfied with the result. There is also a difference that is not cosmetic: in a reduction by resection the removed tissue is sent for routine pathology, which occasionally identifies changes that imaging had not shown; liposuction alone produces no specimen for that examination. Devices may assist at stages of the operation, which is different from replacing the removal of tissue. Which technique is indicated in your case is decided at the physical examination.

Scars follow a few classic patterns. The inverted T — also called the anchor — combines a scar around the areola, a vertical scar down to the fold and a horizontal one hidden in the breast fold itself; it is the pattern that allows the most skin to be removed. The vertical pattern, without the horizontal arm, suits small and moderate reductions and, in selected cases, larger volumes as well; the periareolar pattern is the one restricted to small reductions. The L pattern is a variation with a short horizontal arm. The Pitanguy technique, described in Brazil in the 1960s, is one of those using a superior pedicle with an inverted-T resection, and it remains in use. No pattern suits every breast: the choice depends on how much tissue is to be removed, the distance from areola to fold and the quality of the skin.

In very large reductions, a technique involving a free nipple-areola graft may be needed, which carries a risk of changes in pigmentation or sensitivity — this is assessed individually for each case.

It is major surgery, performed under general anesthesia in a hospital, and no operation carries zero risk. The risk of death is very low in elective plastic surgery performed on a healthy patient, but it depends above all on each patient's clinical condition, the length of the operation and any procedures combined with it. The complications that actually occur more often are different ones: hematoma, infection, partial opening of the scar where the T meets, delayed healing, fat necrosis, compromise or partial loss of the skin and of the nipple-areola complex — more likely the greater the weight removed and in patients who smoke —, altered nipple sensation, which can be permanent, asymmetry and the need for a revision. What lowers risk is a complete preoperative assessment, stopping smoking for the period the team advises — the modifiable factor that weighs most on healing complications —, coming to surgery at a stable weight, surgery with an anesthesiology team in a hospital, thrombosis prophylaxis when indicated, and not stacking on more procedures than the case supports. None of these measures removes the risk.

Venous thromboembolism prophylaxis is used in every patient, not only in those at higher risk. It has two parts. The mechanical one is routine: anti-thrombosis compression stockings and intermittent pneumatic compression of the legs, used during the operation and in the immediate postoperative period, until early ambulation — the third pillar, and the reason the team insists on short, frequent walks from the first hours. The chemical part is individualised: how long enoxaparin is used is defined by the Caprini score, a validated instrument that adds up factors such as age, body mass index, expected length of surgery, hormone use, smoking and personal or family history of thrombosis. None of these measures eliminates the risk, which is why asymmetrical pain or swelling in a leg, shortness of breath and chest pain need immediate assessment, not waiting.

This depends on the technique used and is assessed individually — an important point to discuss at the consultation.

Tissue that was removed does not come back, but what remains still responds to weight and to hormones. Significant weight gain, pregnancy, breastfeeding, hormonal contraception or hormone therapy, and aging itself can increase volume or leave the breast lower over time. In someone operated on before the breast had stabilized, growth may simply continue. Surgery does not affect fertility: pregnancy afterwards is possible and no waiting period is mandatory, although complete healing and stable weight are usually advised first. Pregnancy can change the result obtained. Breastfeeding depends above all on how much of the tissue directly under the areola is preserved, so it varies with the technique; even so, in the available studies the chance of breastfeeding after a reduction is lower than in women who have not had the operation — roughly six in ten patients who try are able to — so the advice is to try, with support from whoever follows the feeding. With patients still planning children, this is discussed before the technique is chosen.

There is no fixed age. What matters is whether the breast has stopped growing: volume is generally expected to be stable for about a year before surgery, because tissue removed before that can be followed by further growth. In practice that stability is usually reached around fifteen to seventeen, roughly two years after breast development is complete. About one in five adolescents who have the operation notices some regrowth over time, usually small and without the need for further surgery. Adolescents with marked hypertrophy and symptoms — pain, skin breakdown in the fold, limits on physical activity and a significant effect on daily life — may have an earlier indication, assessed case by case. Under eighteen, consent from a legal guardian is required, with the adolescent herself taking part in the decision, and the assessment tends to involve her pediatrician or gynecologist as well.

Enlarged breast tissue in men has its own name — gynecomastia — and its own operation, planned differently: the goal is a flat chest contour, the male areola is smaller, and access is usually at the edge of the areola, with or without liposuction. Before surgery the cause is investigated, which may be hormonal, related to medication or to the use of certain substances. Gynecomastia surgery has its own page on this site, with details of technique and recovery. For trans men, chest masculinization is a different operation, with its own criteria for indication and follow-up, and is not the same as a breast reduction.

Surgical fees are always private — Dr. Lorena does not operate through health insurance. What is possible, when a genuine, documented medical indication exists — such as very large breasts with a documented functional impact — neck and back pain, postural changes, skin breakdown in the inframammary fold —, is to guide the patient and attempt to have the health plan cover part of the hospital admission, which may include the operating room, the hospital stay and materials, according to the terms of her policy. Authorisation is the insurer's decision and cannot be guaranteed; the team advises on the documentation required and on how to proceed.

Yes, where there is a reconstructive or functional indication — for example breast hypertrophy with a documented functional impact, such as neck and back pain or skin breakdown in the inframammary fold. Surgery for purely aesthetic purposes is not covered by the SUS. Dr. Lorena is a plastic surgeon appointed by public examination to the Hospital de Clínicas of the Federal University of Uberlândia (HC-UFU) and preceptor of its plastic surgery residency, and she operates on SUS patients there. The route, however, does not run through this site or the private practice: the patient must register at the primary care unit (Unidade Básica de Saúde) nearest to where she lives, be assessed by a doctor there and, if there is an indication, be placed in her municipality's regulation queue. The surgeon cannot choose who is operated on through the SUS — the order follows the queue and the rules of the system strictly.

We do not publish isolated before-and-after pairs. Resolution 2,336/2023 of the Brazilian Federal Council of Medicine allows results to be demonstrated, but only within a set that also includes unsatisfactory outcomes and the complications described in the literature, across different body types, age ranges and stages of healing, and with no editing of the images (art. 14, II). An isolated pair of photos does not meet those requirements and also implies a guaranteed result, which the same resolution prohibits (art. 11, XII). At the consultation the expected outcome is discussed from your own anatomy — what is reasonable to expect, what is not possible, and what the risks are.