Breast sagging or sagging breasts

Image: Stage 3 breast sagging (according to Vrebos).

The colloquial term sagging breasts is known in medicine as ptosis mammae, mastoptosis or mastoptosis. It is a sagging of the breasts.

You can find information on the corresponding corrective surgery under Breast lift.

How can breast sagging be categorized?

A simple and common classification of the degrees of severity are the types according to Vrebos (1976):

• Type I – sagging breasts in which the nipples are still at a normal height. The excess skin is slight.
• Type II – The nipple is still in the correct position at this stage. However, the mammary gland has shrunk considerably and the excess skin is larger.
• Type III – There is extensive excess skin with subsequent displacement of the nipples. These are located below the underbust fold when standing. This stage of sagging breasts can only be corrected with a T-incision breast lift.

What can cause breast sagging?

• The tendency to premature breast sagging is often inherited.
• It occurs more frequently and much earlier in the case of large, heavy breasts. The weight leads to overstretching of the skin, so that the skin mantle becomes wider and the mammary gland sags.
• In many cases, sagging breasts can be observed after pregnancy. After breastfeeding, the mammary gland tissue recedes excessively, leaving a relatively large skin mantle.
• Sagging breasts are also often the result of severe weight loss. The amount of fatty tissue in the breast shrinks with the above-mentioned consequences.

What treatment options are available?

Breast sagging cannot actually be treated conservatively. However, there is an obvious prophylaxis. This consists of supporting the breast with suitably stable bras in order to reduce and delay overstretching of the skin. As a general rule, the heavier the breast, the weaker the skin and the poorer the support, the more pronounced the sagging breast.

• A breast lift is the only sensible treatment option. The surgical techniques are selected depending on the severity of the mastoptosis and are described in detail in the breast lift chapter.
• If you have large breasts, a breast reduction should be considered in order to maintain the lifting effect for longer by reducing the weight of the breast.
• A slight sagging of the breasts can sometimes be corrected with a so-called filler lift. The filler lift describes the tightening effect achieved by the volume of the implant inserted during breast augmentation. The larger the implant and the smaller the breast sagging, the greater the lifting effect.
• In the case of very small breasts and severe sagging, a breast lift is generally not sufficient. In this case, the breast lift can be combined with a breast augmentation.