CHAPTER 38 Local Flaps for Tuberous and Asymmetric Breasts
Key Points
Summary
In this chapter I will consider only the ‘heavily hypoplastic tuberous breast.’
Many surgical techniques have been described to best treat these malformations1–20 but none of them, in my opinion, seem to be perfectly applicable to each case and to each different morphological anomaly.
I have developed a new ‘basic idea’ which can be tailored to fit each clinical case.
The flaps need to be long enough to reach the pectoralis muscles once the fibrotic constriction of the breast base is released. This constriction often needs to be released by radial and transverse incisions from the deep surface as described by Aston and Rees,14 and Maxwell.9
Patient Selection and Indications
Basically I distinguish three different types of flaps that can fit different types of deformities:
Operative Technique
Markings
The fundamental points on the breast are marked as follows:
After the preoperative skin markings are drawn, two other important points must be considered:
Intraoperative preparation
Some temporary tacking stitches are usually needed to control the results and the symmetry.
Surgical steps
The most common steps of the operative technique can be summarized as follows:
Hypoplastic tuberous breast deformity (Cases 1–3)
The high morphological complexity of this malformation and its multiple details must be individually considered in approaching surgical repair. This makes it difficult, almost impossible, to describe one complete step-by-step operative sequence for its correction. I have illustrated three different surgical cases presenting different morphological characteristics and the relative intraoperative sequences and drawings (Case 1, Fig. 38.1; Case 2, Fig. 38.2; Case 3, Fig. 38.3).
Asymmetric tuberous breast deformity (Cases 4–6)
I have called the following procedure ‘selective subcutaneous gland excision.’
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