Breast Surgery in Scottsdale & Phoenix, AZ

Breasts often play an essential part in the confidence a woman has in her body. Women who are unhappy with the size and shape of their breasts may refrain from wearing certain clothing or donning a bathing suit. Dr. John Corey offers a broad range of breast surgery services to women in the Phoenix and Scottsdale areas. He understands that your breasts are one of the most important elements of your femininity, and they can have a significant impact on your self-image.

The best way to determine which breast surgery procedure will most effectively achieve your goals is to meet with our board-certified plastic surgeon—Dr. Corey—in person. Schedule your initial consultation at our Scottsdale office today at 480-767-7700. Dr. Corey and our skilled staff serve clients throughout Arizona including Phoenix, Gilbert, Mesa, Chandler.

During your consultation, Dr. Corey will examine your breasts and listen carefully to your concerns in order to better understand your desired outcome. He will work with you to create a customized treatment plan that helps you achieve the beautiful results you deserve.

There are many aspects of breast surgery to consider before you decide on a specific procedure. Some of these factors include: 

• Breast Surgery Options
• Correction of Breast Asymmetry (Uneven Breasts)
• Common Breast Surgery Combinations
• Breast Incision Options
• Pros and Cons of Breast Incision Choices
• Proper Massage Technique After Breast Augmentation (Video)
• Silicone vs. Saline Breast Implants
• Risks Associated with Breast Augmentation
• Why Choose Phoenix Plastic Surgeon Dr. John Corey

Breast Surgery Options

For most of our patients, breast surgery isn’t just about size. It encompasses a whole range of ideas and feelings from establishing body balance and proportion to restoring shape and volume that may have been lost after childbirth or weight loss. Regardless of what your aesthetic goals may be, Dr. Corey has the skills, experience and artistic sensibility to deliver beautiful breasts that complement your figure and enhance your overall appearance.

Our plastic surgery office offers a full range of breast surgery options, including:

• Breast augmentation
• Breast lift
• Breast implant revision/replacement
• Breast donut mastopexy (mini breast lift)

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Correction of Breast Asymmetry (Uneven Breasts)

It is not uncommon for women to have some unevenness to their breasts. However, this can be very dramatic in certain cases. In some women, breast asymmetry can be as much as two or three cup sizes in difference.

There are many variations in the surgical correction of asymmetric breasts, depending on the patient’s specific presentation. In some rare cases, just the addition of a silicone or saline breast implant may help the situation. However most of the time, this is not enough. Correction of breast droop (or ptosis) may be involved, and this may be different from side to side.

Dr. Corey feels that in many moderate to severe cases, the ability to obtain more balanced breasts cannot be achieved using different size implants alone. A patient may need a full breast lift (or mastopexy) on one side and a mini (peri-areolar or “donut” lift) on the other. His approach with patients often involves reducing and lifting the larger breast to more resemble the shape and size of the smaller breast, then using similar size breast implants to achieve more balance and proportion for the woman’s body type.

Again, there may be multiple variations on this depending on the patient’s individual presentation and goals. In cases of adolescents, there may be further surgery required as the patient continues to mature.

While correction is available, it should be noted that even after surgery, the breasts most likely will NOT look identical. They may be much improved, but there will always be differences from side to side. A frank discussion should be had with Dr. Corey because breastfeeding may not be possible after a lift, and this may be a concern in younger patients.

Breast asymmetry can begin to present itself early on in life and can be very traumatic for teenage girls as they begin to develop. This is not the case of a young girl getting breast implants for her sixteenth birthday—This would be reserved for severe cases of asymmetry, uneven breasts or breast deformity. These young girls tell Dr. Corey of the horribly embarrassing situations they have encountered in Middle and High School and the personal grief of just shopping for a bra or swimsuit.

The recovery is much like it is for the other types of breast surgery. Most breast asymmetry patients are up and around in 3-5 days, with no bouncing type of exercise for two weeks. If you’re interested in this form of breast surgery, view our breast asymmetry surgery before and after pictures and schedule a consultation with Dr. Corey.

Schedule a Consultation Today

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Common Breast Surgery Combinations

For some women, a single breast surgery technique is all that is required to produce highly desirable results. Others, however, have several concerns impacting the appearance and appeal of their breasts, making a combination of procedures the best course of action.

Popular combinations offered by Dr. Corey include:

• Breast augmentation with breast lift: With this surgical combination, Dr. Corey is able to address a number of common aesthetic imperfections including breast size and shape, nipple placement, asymmetry and inadequate cleavage.
• Breast lift with breast reduction: By reducing volume and lifting breast tissue, this combination is capable of slimming the upper body while producing ideal contours and restoring physical comfort.

In addition to these combinations, Dr. Corey provides breast implant revision surgery that can often be enhanced by adding one of several lifting techniques.

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Breast Incision Options

Some incision choices in breast surgery will be dictated by the type of surgery we are doing, while other breast incisions can be totally optional, depending on the patient and the surgeon. For example, the type of breast incision used in a breast lift operation will largely be contingent on the type of lift the woman may need. This can range from an incision just around the areola for a donut mastopexy or “mini” breast lift all the way to the full “anchor-type” incision used in a full breast lift.

At our plastic surgery practice in Scottsdale, Dr. Corey always tries to use the smallest incision necessary to get the job done. One of the biggest challenges he encounters is when a woman comes into his office and presents with very saggy, droopy breasts and desires enlargement to lift her breasts, yet she does not want any lift type incisions or scars.

At times, there is a misconception that implants alone will correct an abundance of droop but they don’t. So, in a breast lift situation, it really depends on the amount of breast droop that a woman has and what her ultimate goals are as well. A patient may be willing to accept a bit more droop after surgery and elect to have the donut lift, understanding that the tradeoff may be a bit less fullness at the top of her breasts.

Now, when talking about straightforward breast augmentation, there may be a bit more flexibility in breast incision choice. The three most common incisions in breast augmentation are:

• The periareolar incision, placed at the color change that most women have between the areola and the skin of the breast.
• The inframammary incision that is placed underneath the breast where the natural fold is located.
• The transaxillary incision, which is in the crease of the underarm.

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Pros and Cons of Breast Incision Choices

All of the incision options have pros and cons, and all can be used with silicone or saline implants.

With the first two methods—the periareolar and the inframammary breast incisions—they are well hidden under clothing. The downside is that there has to be an incision made in the breast tissue itself to be able to place the implant in its proper location. That tunneling through breast tissue has the potential of causing scar tissue in the breast itself and severing some breast ducts and/or nerves, which is not a problem in the far, far majority of cases.

With the underarm approach, because access is gained to the subpectoral or space under the muscle from the underarm, there is no disruption of the breast tissue itself, no tunneling through ducts or nerves and no potential breast scar tissue left behind. An endoscope (camera) is often used to aid in visualization when creating the space for the implant and adjusting the pectoralis muscle. Some women worry that this transaxillary incision may be seen when raising the arm, but because it fades so well, that is rarely an issue.

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Proper Massage Technique After Breast Augmentation (Video)

Dr. Corey expects smooth breast implants placed under the muscle to settle a bit after surgery and believes massage helps them to settle where they should be and this may also help them settle faster. His massage technique is featured in the video below and is a series of exercises to train the body to form its capsule around the implant how and where we want it to be.

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