Your Options for Breast Lift with Augmentation

January 18, 2019

By Dr. Frank Lista, MD., FRCSC., Medical Director and Founder, The Plastic Surgery Clinic

A lot of the time, patients come to see me when they’re considering a breast augmentation procedure and they have an important question to ask: will breast augmentation address sagging breasts? While breast implants allow us to change the shape of the breast—with an often dramatic but natural-looking result—ultimately, if you want to both raise and reshape a sagging or deflated-looking breast, an augmentation alone is not going achieve your goals.

The good news is there are other options available that can achieve the result you want. It’s even possible to perform a lift that includes an augmentation without the use of an implant. So let’s get into what makes a breast lift such a versatile operation.

Breast Lift vs. Breast Augmentation

A breast augmentation allows you to change the volume, proportion, and shape of the breast with the use of an implant. You can choose to have your incision placed at the lower edge of the areola, under the breast crease, or, perhaps most popularly, completely inconspicuously in the armpit.

If you want to alter the positing of a sagging breast, however, your best option will almost always be a breast lift. Pregnancy, nursing, aging, and gravity can all play a role in the way your breasts change shape over time. With a breast lift you can address an elongated or droopy breast appearance to restore a firmer, perkier breast that sits higher on the chest.

It used to be the case that breast lift surgery required a fairly significant incision in the shape of an anchor, leaving a scar along the bra crease and from the bottom of the nipple to the centre of the bra crease. But we’ve actually helped to pioneer a new approach that totally eliminates this bra crease incision by using what’s known as the “lollipop” technique.

The Best of Both Worlds

So what happens if you want to create more dramatic curves and add upper pole fullness to get the look you want? This is a really common request from women who have breastfed, which often contributes to a loss of volume. We can restore that volume using different methods for augmentation at the same time that we perform your breast lift.

During your consultation, we’ll have a chance to discuss in greater detail if a lift with an implant is the best option to achieve your goals. What’s great about this option is that you can see the same improvement in the raised position of the breast, while also reestablishing volume in loose tissue, enhancing projection, and boosting cleavage. Whether saline or silicone, you’ll have the ability to carefully select the right volume of breast implant to create a totally natural look.

At the same time, you’re not limited to an implant for volume. If you’re a good candidate, we can use a state-of-the-art technique—what’s known as a breast lift with auto-augmentation—to create more fullness in your breast using your own existing breast tissue. We reposition it very carefully, placing it upwards against the breast wall, and this way you achieve more fullness in the upper pole. I explain it in a little more detail in this video.

To find out which technique will create the result you’re looking for, come visit us for a free consultation to discuss all of your options in greater detail.