Three-Flap Mastopexy with Reduction or Augmentation

Background: Many authors have studied breast ptosis and made contributions to the search for a procedure that allows its correction with long-lasting results and minimal scars. Collective evolution has allowed us to reach the point where we are today and will allow us to continue improving techniques in the future.

Objectives: The mastopexy procedure that we have used for the last 11 years, resulting from our surgical practice and countless observations at conferences, is a versatile procedure, applicable to different types of breasts and mastopexies with and without reduction or augmentation.

Methods: Analysis and the clinical review of the patients and the records of the mastopexy cases that we operated on using the technique from January 2009 to March, 2020, are presented here. Using a periareolar approach for grade I ptosis and an inverted "T" approach for more severe ptosis, the excess skin is removed, and three flaps of breast tissue, superior, medial and lateral, are carved. A retromammary dissection is performed to anchor the end of the flaps, medial and lateral, to the pectoral aponeurosis, followed by invagination of these flaps to concentrate the breast tissue in the upper and central area of the breast. Closure of the wound is then performed, transforming its excess length into a short horizontal one, into the inframammary grove.

Results: Sixty-seven female patients, between 36 and 59 years old, underwent this procedure. Complications included hematoma (4%), overcorrection (4%), dehiscence (3.3%), residual ptosis (2.7%), pathological scarring (2.7%) and rotation folds (2%). Maximum follow-up was 8 years 2 months, mean follow-up 2 years 9 months, with satisfactory results for the patients and surgeon.

Conclusions: The mastopexy procedure that we present here is a versatile technique, which can be applied to most cases requiring correction of ptosis. It provides the breast with proper shape, size and location with fewer scars. It is a logical, safe, efficient, reproducible procedure, which is easy to learn.

Level of evidence iv: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.