Can breasts regrow after Breast Reductions?

Aurora is now part of The Private Clinic, a nationwide group of clinics with over 35 years of experience specialising in Cosmetic Surgery and Skin and a Trust Pilot 5 star rating. For comprehensive information, before and after photos and costs on Breast Reduction procedures click here

Our expert Plastic Surgeon Adrian Richards is the Medical Director for The Private Clinic. Clinics are located in Birmingham, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Glasgow, London Harley Street, Leeds, Manchester and Northampton.

At our clinics, we’re seeing a growing number of enquiries for Breast Reductions, especially from younger women. But is there a ‘right time’ for a Breast Reduction – and can they grow back again?

Well the short answer is yes, breast tissue can grow back after surgery, under certain circumstances.

It’s more likely to happen to younger women whose breasts are still growing. Especially if they also have significant amounts of glandular tissue.

Although glandular tissue can be removed during surgery, there’s typically a fair amount left behind. And it behaves differently to other tissue in the body.

If you have a nose job, for example, though your nose will keep growing throughout your life, it’ll never go back to the size it was before surgery. Good job, or half of Hollywood would be in trouble!

But after breast reductions, it’s possible – if rare – for breast tissue to grow excessively (hypertrophy), just like it could before surgery. What’s more, certain factors make it more likely.

Weight gain, contraceptive pills, menopause and especially pregnancy can all kickstart a new growth phase for the breast tissue. So in theory, any of those could potentially reverse the results of breast reduction surgery. It’s rare, but it can happen.

So is there a ‘best time’ for breast reductions?

Given that breasts can change in size and shape after surgery (and breast reductions aren’t cheap), you’ll want to give yourself the best possible chance of avoiding that outcome.

Because breast reduction is a quality-of-life procedure rather than purely cosmetic, you won’t want to wait too long. But to have the best chance of achieving permanent results, it’s a question of putting off surgery until a few things are in place.

First, it’s best to wait until you know your breasts have finished growing naturally. That can be up to 22 years of age for some women. So if you’re around that age, regularly measuring yourself to check your size is stable is a good idea.

It’s also good to be at a stable weight, with no big gains or losses for 6 months or so.

But perhaps your best safeguard, if you know you want children (or more children if you have them already), is to wait until you’ve completed your family.

And that’s for two reasons. Besides the fact pregnancy can make your breasts grow, there’s also a significant chance you won’t be able to breastfeed after having a breast reduction. So your best bet is to postpone surgery until you’re absolutely sure you don’t want any more children.

These are just precautions, and of course if your breasts are causing you a great deal of pain, you may not want to wait. The risk of your breasts growing to the size they were before surgery is small, and you have to balance that risk against the huge potential benefits.

Ultimately, as with all plastic surgery, you have to approach it with your eyes wide open and make the right decision for you.

Want to know more about breast reduction?

At Aurora Clinics, we’ve a team of BAAPS-registered specialist breast surgeons, all highly experienced in performing breast reductions. Visit our gallery of before and after breast reduction photos, hear from our breast reduction patients and find out the cost of breast reduction on our dedicated pages. To book a consultation at a clinic close to you, call us on 01324 578290 or fill in our quick contact form and we’ll be in touch.