Answer:
Strattice is porcine acellular dermis. This is skin from a pig that’s been treated to have no cells in it.  We use it quite frequently for revision breast surgery and in primary mastopexy augmentation when the tissues are very thin.  In our practice, it has phenomenal results in treating capsular contracture.

Answer:
Symmastia is when the breast implants communicate in the central portion.  This can be due to over dissection of the tissues.  It is corrected with Strattice and correcting the pockets so they are not so close together.

Answer:
A breast reduction is really a breast reduction with a lift combined.  We excise skin and reshape the breast to lift the breast at the same time as the reduction.

Answer:
Patients who are unhappy with their breasts after children who have sagginess can often benefit from a breast lift.  Patients need to come in for a consultation so we can evaluate what the breasts looks like.  A breast lift will lift the breast to a higher position and get rid of some of the sagginess but it won’t provide a tremendous amount of added fullness.  For more fullness, implants are best in combination with the breast lift.

Answer:
The result of natural breast augmentation with fat is a permanent procedure.  As patients lose or gain weight, there may be some change in the shape and size of the breast.

Answer:
A closed capsulotomy is when you squeeze a breast to help pop a capsule contracture.  This is not considered the best procedure to use at present.  We treat most patients with capsular contracture with a surgical approach of complete capsulectomy, implant exchange, and usually Strattice placement.  However, with the new ultrasound system from Aspen Laboratories, we can sometimes treat this non-surgically.  Patients need to come in for a consult and we need to examine the patient.

Answer:
Most of the breast augmentation procedures done in our office are with silicone.  The silicone implants feel more like a natural breast with less rippling.  Some women like to go with saline implants because they still have some unreasonable fear of silicone implants.  At this point, the silicone implants are considered very safe.  Other reasons for using saline implants are for women under age 22 because the FDA has mandated that you have to be 22 and over to get silicone implants.

Answer:
We see many patients who have gynecomastia in our practice.  In our center, it is a combination of a surgical fix and nonsurgical fix.  We do hormonal tests for everybody with gynecomastia to check their estrogen levels to make sure that these are within normal limits.  Otherwise, we believe that gynecomastia will come back after treatment if the estrogen levels are too high.  Surgery usually involves Vaser liposuction to sculpt the chest.  However, sometimes excisional procedures are needed.

Answer:
Drains are used for different breast augmentation surgeries as to the preference of the surgeon.  In our practice, we do not use drains for primary augmentation and for minor corrections.  However, for significant breast corrections including capsulectomies and position changes under the muscle, we do use a drain.

Answer:
Patients should be able to go back to work after breast reduction after a few days.  Breast reduction is usually not as painful or debilitating a procedure as breast augmentation which may require a longer time out of surgery especially, when the implant is placed under the muscle.