Breast reduction in Edinburgh, Scotland

Your care starts with a consultation and examination by Mr Chris Cartlidge. You will discuss your goals, suitable options, expected scars and risks, and receive an information leaflet to read before deciding.

If you decide to proceed, the hospital arranges pre-assessment and Mr Cartlidge sends a final letter before surgery.

Surgery takes place at Spire Shawfair Park Hospital in Edinburgh or Circle Kings Park Hospital in Stirling, depending on your preference. Consultations take place in Edinburgh.

Discharge is on the same day or the following day, according to your operation and recovery. A nurse reviews you to remove the dressings. You then have a final consultation with Mr Cartlidge and are discharged when you are happy with the outcome and your care is complete.

Follow the individual advice supplied by your surgical team about dressings, pain relief, support bras, driving, lifting, exercise and returning to work. Arrange help at home and transport after surgery.

Breast reduction is a common operation and most of these surgeries pass uneventfully. You will have swelling, bruising and pain after the surgery. This usually settles down within a few weeks but very occasionally you can be left with long-term pain related to your surgery.

There are some rarer but important early complications:

1. Bleeding – unexpected bleeding after surgery may require re-operation to evacuate blood and stop the bleeding. Rarely, you may require a blood transfusion or extra time in hospital. Bleeding affects 2-3 out of every 100 patients.

2. Infection – extensive precautions are taken both before and during the procedure to reduce the risk of infection. You will receive antibiotics at the time of surgery. Infection may require antibiotics, additional wound care or further surgery.

3. Wound healing problems – for various reasons, including smoking, vaping, e-cigarette use or diabetes, the small blood vessels of the skin may not be working well. This increases the risk of wound breakdown (or necrosis), and the area particularly at risk is the T-junction at the bottom of an anchor-scar. If this breaks down you may require antibiotics, regular wound dressings and/or eventually additional surgery. You should not smoke for at least 6 weeks prior to and 2 weeks after your operation.

4. Nipple problems – the nipples are likely to be numb and less sensitive after surgery. Occasionally they can have increased sensitivity and this can cause pain. You will probably not be able to breastfeed following a breast reduction. If the nipple becomes swollen and blue, its blood supply may be at risk and you may need urgent surgery to correct this. There is a small risk of the nipple dying (nipple necrosis) and this may require the nipple to be removed and may be replaced with a graft of skin taken from elsewhere in your body, with the option to have a nipple tattoo or reconstruction in the future.

There are some later issues that it is important for you to know about:

1. Asymmetry – although care is taken to ensure that the breasts appear symmetrical following the procedure, there can be asymmetry between the two sides when you have healed. In the worst cases, this may require further reduction surgery on the side with too much tissue left behind. Differences between the scars can usually be corrected with a small procedure.

2. Unsatisfactory result – occasionally patients do not feel satisfied with the result of their surgery, and improvements in appearance and physical symptoms are not as good as they might have hoped. It is important that you are clear with your surgeon about the size and shape of breasts that you want, and realistic about what can be achieved. The outcome of your surgery can be expected to change with time, particularly as a result of ageing, pregnancy or weight loss or gain.