What is the difference between breast hardness and sagging?

Patients usually confuse what it is to have hard/firm breasts and breasts without sagging. One characteristic is not necessarily associated with the other.

The natural breast is softer when compared to other elements, such as silicone. When young, the breasts are firmer due to the greater amount of mammary glands in relation to fat. Over time or after pregnancy, the mammary gland is replaced by fat, called liposubstitution, making it less firm and softer.

Sagging is related to the amount of breast that is below the fold of the breasts, called the inframammary fold. In medical jargon, sagging of the breast is known as ptosis and there is a scale that determines the degree of sagging. The scale goes from 1 to 3, ranging from the least sagging breast to the most flaccid.

To determine the sagging of the breasts, the pen test can be used, which consists of placing a pen under the breast and checking whether it falls or not. If the pen does not fall, it is a sign of breast sagging, as there is a breast below the inframammary fold.

Many patients when requesting a firm/hard breast actually want a breast without sagging. When plastic surgeon in Kanpur perform a maneuver on the breasts by elevating them and ask if they would be satisfied with this result, they usually say yes.

For these patients, the best treatment would be to lift the breasts through a surgery called mastopexy or breast lift surgery in Kanpur. In this surgery, incisions are used to lift the breasts and correct the sagging. There are several mastopexy techniques that can use inverted T, L, vertical or around the areola incisions.

There are patients who really want a breast with a harder consistency and, in these cases, it is necessary to use a breast implant. The silicone present in breast implants has a harder consistency than the mammary gland and therefore changes the hardness of the breasts. For breasts without flaccidity, only the inclusion of breast prosthesis can be chosen. In cases of sagging breasts, a mastopexy must be performed in addition to the inclusion of a breast prosthesis, a surgery known as mastopexy with prosthesis.