No ideal age for reduction surgery
When is the right time for breast reduction surgery?
In looking at potential complications, one might think there is an ideal window of opportunity — after childbearing, to eliminate worries about breast-feeding complications, but before the hormonal decline of menopause. Yet experts say it doesn’t happen that way.
“Women truly get it done at all ages; you don’t have to choose a time,” says Dr. Michele Shermak, a plastic surgeon in Maryland. A 2011 study she led indicated that women in their 40s and 50s had a higher rate of infection and poor wound healing after the procedure, but she emphasizes that higher complication rates in middle-age women reflect mere nuisances, rather than health-threatening emergencies.
Beverly Hills surgeon Dr. Kelly Killeen agrees, saying there is not a cut-off age. Instead, women should ask themselves whether they are healthy candidates. “If a 60-year-old woman is healthy as a horse, her heart looks beautiful on her annual exams and her labs are perfect — why not? Why would you deny her the benefits of breast reduction if she is a good candidate for surgery?” Killeen says.
On the other end of the spectrum are young women like “Modern Family” star Ariel Winter, large-breasted teens who experience medical symptoms and low selfconfidence . Though there have been recent claims that an increasing number of teens are undergoing the surgery, data show otherwise. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, fewer teens had the surgery in 2014 than in 2005 and, over the last decade, the percentage of breast reduction patients 18 and under has remained steady.
Beyond potential breastfeeding difficulties, surgeons have additional concerns for teenagers considering the procedure. Shermak has operated on 16-year-olds, though she says it’s important to determine whether they are emotionally mature enough to make informed medical decisions.
“Not every teenage girl is ready for it,” she says. “They have to be educated; it’s not like a magic wand. They are going to have scars, they are going to have a recovery. This is not magic — it’s a process, and there are some long-term changes.”
There is also the possibility that a teenager’s breasts will continue to develop after surgery, though Dr. David Kulber, director of the Plastic Surgery Center for Excellence at Cedars-Sinai, says this still shouldn’t preclude them from having the surgery if they are experiencing symptoms. “If you’re operating on a 16year-old, their breasts may grow and they may need another surgery. But letting them suffer until they’re 21 — I think that’s unacceptable.”
Elise Harrison, a resident of Maryland, had the operation in her mid-40s without complication. Nearing her 50s, she feels better about her body than ever before. Her only regret is that she didn’t have the operation when she was younger. She says, “I would have had more confidence and higher self-esteem earlier in life.”