Anchor Technique for Breast Lifts

A breast lift is intended to lift your breasts back into a more youthful position if they have sagged or drooped as a result of dramatic weight loss. Breasts lifts are particularly popular among women who have decided that they do not wish to bear or breastfeed any more children. In fact, our surgeons at Jefferson Plastic Surgery offer a breast lift as part of our Mommy Makeover cosmetic surgical procedure package to help you regain the body you had before becoming pregnant. For a Mommy Makeover, a breast lift is often combined with liposuction or tummy tuck.

How can you tell if a breast lift is right for you, and which technique is likely to provide you with the most dramatic results from your breast lift? Here, we review the anchor breast lift technique.

Is a Breast Lift Right for You?

While your decision to undergo breast lift surgery is subjective, there are some indicators that tell you whether or not you would be a good candidate for a breast lift procedure. First, look in a mirror to see the direction in which your nipples are pointing. If your breasts are in their optimal position, your nipples should point straight forward. If they are instead pointing downward, you have some breast sag or droop. Next, determine if your nipples have fallen below the level of your infra-mammary crease, or the point where the underside of your breast meets your chest wall. If your nipples are below this level, you may wish to consider a breast lift.

Which Breast Lift Technique Will Provide the Most Dramatic Results?

Of course, no two women have the exact same shape, size, or position for their breasts, which means that there are a number of techniques that our surgeons can use in order to perform a breast lift. As just one example, if your breasts are small or do not require much lift, our surgeons can perform the breast lift without very extensive incisions. Conversely, breasts that are larger or show significant droopiness or sagging will require more extensive work to properly lift them into a higher position on the chest. Our surgeons will generally opt to use an anchor technique for the latter case. An anchor technique uses three basic incisions:

1. An incision around the areola (the area of darkened skin around the nipple)
2. A vertical incision leading down from the areola to the infra-mammary crease
3. A horizontal incision following the curve of the infra-mammary crease

Once these incisions are made, your surgeon will remove a section of skin and tissue from the area below the nipple and then close up the remaining breast tissue in order to lift the breast and the entire nipple structure to a higher location on the chest. This technique is similar to what is used for a breast reduction, although less breast tissue is removed.

The anchor technique will provide the most dramatic results from a breast lift because unlike other less invasive breast lift techniques, it actually will lift the entire breast, rather than mainly focusing on just the nipple and surrounding structures. An anchor technique is considered the gold standard in terms of providing the most dramatic, long-lasting results for women with larger breasts and significant breast sagging or drooping.