You may already know that cosmetic plastic surgery to reduce the size of very large breast usually will also:

• Stop back, shoulder and pain
• Take away the grooves in the shoulder bones
• Clear the dark marks under the breasts
• Allow sports without massive breast bouncing

You can now add to the list of beneficial results: make sure you are 100 percent cancer free!

A recent study shows you could have the dreaded disease and not know it.

Susan E. MacLennan, M.D., an assistant professor of plastic surgery at the University of Vermont Medical College and colleagues evaluated the breast reduction cases of 202 women over 20 months.

The purpose: to evaluate the incidence of hidden carcinoma and the excessive growth of normal cells in samples of breast tissue removed in breast reduction procedures.

According to Dr. MacLennan, breast reduction and correction of unequal breasts is done 100,000 times yearly in the United States. So Dr. MacLennan and her study colleagues were thinking that, as the sampling of breast tissue increased, so would detection of heretofore unknown cases of breast cancer.

After crunching all the data, the researchers found that significant pathologic findings like carcinomas and abnormal cell growth were found in 12.4 percent of the study patients.

Once the lab had done all its detective work, the rate of proven cancer was found to be four percent over all patients.

But as women get older, the need for increased screenings grows.

For breast reduction study patients over age 40, 6.2 percent of the group was shown to be cancerous.

For  patients in the study over 50 or older, the rate was 7.2 percent.

Nonetheless, none of the lesions had been identified on the patients’ mammograms taken before surgery.

 If you’re over 40 and you have breast reduction, the study authors suggest telling your surgeon you would like the skin and fat removed from your breasts to be checked for pathologic findings.

 The earlier the condition is found, the better your final results will be!

Now, new research shows breast feeding is more important than anyone ever thought to mom’s health, too.

But what about nursing and cosmetic surgery on the breasts like:

• Breast augmentation
• Breast lift
• Breast reduction

Will any cosmetic plastic surgery procedure on the breasts affect a woman’s nursing ability?

Its’ an important question because the research has revealed that breast feeding may even lower a woman’s risk of the big C.

The August issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, a professional publication for doctors, carries an article about 60,000 women in their 60’s and their health conditions compared to whether or not they breast fed their infants.

Results? Women who breast feed their babies – even for small amounts of time – may lower their risk of developing premenopausal breast cancer – even if they have a family history of the ailment.

The study group who nursed their infants for a year were found to be:

• Nearly 10 percent less likely to have cardiovascular disease
• Very less likely to have heart disease risk factors
• Less likely to have high blood pressure
• Less likely to have diabetes
• Less likely to have high cholesterol

(Read more about the breast nursing study.)

In the vast majority of cases, breast augmentation patients will be able to nurse normally.

Note: If you have nursed in the year before your surgery, a slim possibility exists that you may produce milk after your operation. Your surgeon can prescribe a medication to treat the condition.

For a breast lift or mastopexy, your surgeon will ask if you plan on having more children.

Due to the rigors of pregnancy and nursing, the lifting effect of mastopexy can be undone. If you think you may nurse again, tell your surgeon; a breast lift does not automatically destroy the ability to nurse.

In breast reduction, excess fat and glandular tissue is removed from the breasts while the nipple and areola, the colored areas around the nipples, are moved upwards.

While all that is great for the mother — the weight of abnormally large breasts causes other health woes – some women may be unable to nurse afterwards. Be sure and talk to your surgeon about breast feeding.

Read the story of one mom who had breast reduction and did nurse.

Actually, there’s nothing unusual about that – at least when it comes to celebrities.

In the world of cosmetic breast augmentation, the most common reason for new patients having a breast revision surgery is because they did not like their final size after healing and wanted to go bigger.

But as women get into their 40s and beyond, they often go back under the knife for smaller size implants.

You’ve already read our recent blog about Denise Richards’ breast reduction after spending many years with a larger size that did not fit her general body build and delicate bone structure.

She’s not alone! The list of other celebrities opting for a smaller breast implants now include:

• Victoria Beckham
• Demi Moore
• Courtney Love
• Jennny McCartney

According to various news reports (Rolling Stone, US Magazine and AwfulPlasticSurgery.com) the commonly accepted story seems to be that Britney talked her mom into allowing her, Britney, to get breast implants as a teenager.

Sure enough, as Britney grew, her breasts continued growing also and the size became too large and unflattering for her body and, especially, for a dancer.

(Note: If you want the new silicone gel implants, you must wait until you are at least 22 for precisely that reason – teens may grow a while longer!)

Solution? Out with the large breast implants!

Many dancers, especially ballet dancers, consider larger breasts an unwanted hindrance to balance and graceful movement.

Nobody has mentioned it, but if Britney also nursed her two boys – which she claims to have done — she may have been a good candidate for a breast lift, too.

Nursing often deflates the breasts because they swell and fill during pregnancy and then droop after childbirth and nursing.

Read more about breast implant explantation, the surgical process that removes or exchanges breast implants for a different size.

To qualify, each breast must weigh at least 10 pounds. Today, many teens afflicted with the condition go under the knife before the age of 17 to reduce both breasts into a more manageable size.

You may have noticed Soleil Moon Frye was in the news for winning a best documentary at the San Diego Film Festival for a film, Sonny Boy, about her Alzheimer-stricken father.

But Soleil was best known for her four-year run as a bright, adorable 12-year-old on Punky Brewster.

As the five-foot-one Soleil matured and grew into a woman, she developed a 38DD bust line which presented a whole host of problems. For one, she could not run for exercise.

If she tried to jog, boys would taunt: “Hey, Punky Boobster!” There were also practical considerations, with Soleil once admitting it was even hard to give somebody a hug.

The medical complications were all too real however; the huge weight caused back problems and made her bra straps painfully dig into her shoulders.

And young love was a problem, too, because no matter how much a teen lad cared for her, the main attraction became…..well, hey, you’ve got the picture by now.

If she moved too much or too fast in a film, her condition showed a massive chest heaving up and down.

It’s a long video, but the first few seconds show Soleil running with a massive bosom, that rises and falls like huge ocean waves.

Back then, Soleil told People Magazine: “People started to think of me as a bimbo.”

Shortly before her 16th birthday, Soleil went under the knife for breast reduction surgery, an operation that was performed on 88,732 women and teens in 2008, the most current year for which statistics exist.  (17,902 men also had the procedure in ‘08.)

According to the record books, the problem has been with us for quite a while and was first described by doctors in 1648; the largest recorded weight was 67 pounds per breast.

The only known medical treatment is plastic surgery.

To qualify for the procedure these days, each of the patient’s breasts must tip the scales at a weight of at least 3.5 pounds.

Read more about breast reduction.

With over half a million U.S. women undergoing some form of breast surgery yearly, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS),  plastic surgeons and others want to know exactly what makes breast surgery patients happy at the end of the day.

So five researchers from Canada, the United States and England interviewed 48 breast surgery patients, who had:

• 15 breast reductions
• 12 breast augmentations
• 21 breast reconstructions

The patients were chosen at random from the practices of four plastic surgery practices in Vancouver, Canada.

The basic task was for each patient to describe the condition of her breasts and how the subsequent surgery impacted their lives.

Results: Six themes came out of all the interviews, including:

• Satisfaction with breasts: Women who were happy with breast size, shape, symmetry, cleavage, scars, positioning, how natural the breasts look and feel and how the breasts fit the rest of the body were key concerns.
• Satisfaction with the overall outcome
• Psychosocial well-being: Patients rating high levels of well-being were pleased because, after surgery, they felt less embarrassed, more confident in social settings, more self-assured and more feminine and attractive.
• Sexual well-being: The subjects said they felt more sexually attractive when clothed and unclothed. They were more confident sexually and more satisfied with their intimate lives. Said one breast augmentation patient: “What I find now is that I am sensual, which I did not feel before.”
• Physical well-being
• Satisfaction with the process of care: Attention plastic surgeons and office staff: According to the study, breast surgery patients mainly look for the amount and quality of information they get before surgery; the actual care provided by the surgeon along with the office staff care. Responded one patient: “And once I came home, the home care…the nurses would come round and they were just excellent..”

After nine breast augmentation surgeries, 28-year-old Sheyla Hershey, a Texas woman with 38KKK breasts, is claiming the record for the world’s largest bust line.

But if you look at her breast augmentation after picture, you can see she has given herself a case of what plastic surgeons know as gigantomastia.

According to Wikipedia,  gigantomastia breasts weigh at least ten pounds each. Some tip the scales at 20 pounds each.

Many women with breasts much smaller than that ask for breast reduction surgery, because well, for starters, aches, pains and other health woes go hand-in-hand with very large breasts.

Some women with large breasts even have notches worn into their shoulder blades due to the constant, heavy weight put on the bra straps. They also usually suffer other ailments like back and neck pain which brings on frequent headaches.

Almost every breast reduction patient also mentions the unwanted attention from boys, men and ordinary passersby. Juvenile gigantomastia is especially hard on teen girls who are taunted, teased and hounded about their breasts.

Here’s another consideration: if the patient is in pain and her health is being complicated by the very large breasts, health insurance will often pay for breast reduction.

If the Times Union Blog in Albany, New York, is correct, Sheyla is also gambling with her very life.

With each breast already holding a gallon of silicone, U.S. surgeons would not perform any more breast enhancement, so she went to Brazil for yet another procedure.

Remember the old saying about people who forget the past being condemned  to repeat it?

One of the most high-profile instances of a cosmetic plastic patient ignoring sound medical advice was when Donda West was turned down by one plastic surgeon – due to her general health – and went to see another…..who may not have known about her conditions.

View some before and after breast reductions pictures

Over time, the scarring lightens but as skin color becomes darker – as with American Indians, some Latinas and African-Americans — special problems can develop.

Fifty percent of women with darker skin are prone to a type of scarring known as Keloid; these scars appear as wide, heightened and thick and grow outside the boundary of the incision, often like a large, flat tumor.

Moreover, Keloids are often painfully itchy. Those scars are often found on various parts of the body, including the breasts. Keloids are very difficult to treat. Surgeons can treat the scars with drugs that act on the immune system, can surgically remove the scar or use a combination of the two. Lasers are sometimes used but, like in surgical treatments, patients often see a recurrence of about 50 percent. (Read more about Keloids and darker skin in plastic surgery.)

Some plastic surgeons eschew the knife and use liposuction instead to reduce the size of very large breasts, thereby avoiding longer incisions altogether.

Because the average breast is usually more than half fat, an average liposuction reduction makes a breast about two sizes smaller while making sure future problems with Keloid scarring does not happen.

Breast reduction surgery may be necessary because extremely large and heavy breasts:

• Cause back and shoulder problems and other medical problems
• Create grooves in shoulder bones due to the weight placed on bra straps
• Make finding clothing difficult
• May be covered by medical health insurance

Some health insurance companies cover breast reduction because the woman’s health is better with  smaller breasts.

Do you have scars? How did they heal?