Lift vs. Augmentation: What’s the Difference for Your Breasts?

Breast procedures are consistently among the most popular plastic surgery options performed throughout the United States each year—especially breast augmentation and breast lift. The Madison and Milwaukee-based Parkins Plastic Surgery team performs both procedures at the practice, working with patients seeking a cosmetic change. This work includes explaining the difference between the two surgical strategies and helping patients to determine which option would be best.

Breast augmentation focuses on adding volume to the breasts, while a breast lift is intended to change the position of the breasts. These unique benefits provide particular results, but not every patient is sure what to choose.

Read on to get a better idea of what the two procedures can address—as well as how they can be combined.

Breast Augmentation

Some breasts are naturally smaller due to genetics, while others lose volume over time due to weight loss, post-pregnancy hormone fluctuations and other body changes, menopause, and more. All breasts also tend to be asymmetrical to some degree, but many people find the visual difference between their breast sizes to be something they’d like to address.

Breast augmentation is ideal for altering both size and symmetry. The procedure involves inserting saline- or silicone-filled implants to make the breasts larger, injecting fat harvested from a patient’s own body to provide a more modest increase, or using both strategies together to create a boost in size with especially natural-looking results.

With augmentation, patients can enjoy anything from a subtle increase in size to a dramatic and very noticeable boost. Every patient is different, so every patient has unique goals and a personal desired outcome.

Breast augmentation can also be used to help patients who have lost breast volume due to trauma or surgery, such as a lumpectomy. Implants are commonly employed to help rebuild a breast mound after mastectomy as well.

Keep in mind that making breasts larger does not change their position on the chest. In fact, adding volume—and thereby weight—to breasts with lax and stretched-out skin can actually cause more of a downward pull. In other words, augmentation is not the solution for drooping breasts.

Breast Lift

Gravity tends to work against breasts over time, as increased skin laxity, stretched-out tissues due to the growing and reduction of milk glands throughout pregnancy and childbirth, and other changes cause drooping. Youthful breasts are perky breasts, with nipples that point outward and upward. Sagging can cause a dramatic change to chest contours, with patients able to hold a pencil under their breasts and dealing with nipples that now point toward the floor.

A breast lift focuses on elevating breast tissue so that it sits higher on the chest once again. The surgery can also include repositioning the nipples and creating a new areola so that everything points the way it used to. Like breast augmentation, a breast lift can also help to make breasts more symmetrical, especially if one is hanging significantly lower than the other.

Unlike augmentation, a breast lift does not add any volume. The breasts will no longer sag, but they will not be larger.

Combined Augmentation and Lift

Experienced plastic surgeons can address multiple cosmetic issues at once with a combine breast augmentation and breast lift. As the name implies, this procedure involves both adding volume and repositioning the breasts on the chest. The result is an increase in size, a change in shape, improvement in symmetry, a reduction in sagging, and a restoration of more youthful contours. These changes can be immensely beneficial for the right patient, so it is important to share any and all goals for surgery during an initial consultation. 

To learn more about breast augmentation options, breast lift details, and the possibilities of a combined lift and augmentation, reach out to the Madison and Milwaukee area’s Parkins Plastic Surgery by submitting a contact form online or calling (262) 269-1050.