Over time, skin loses its elasticity and sagging, or ptosis, occurs. The breasts are not exempt from the trials of age and gravity and many women turn to mastopexy, or breast lift procedures to restore the breasts to a fuller and more youthful appearance. One of the key downsides to the procedure that cause many women to avoid the surgery is the scarring that's associated.
Dr. David Broadway, cosmetic surgeon in Denver at bod:evolve, has developed a virtually scarless breast lift by using Vaser lipo to tighten the skin and lift the breast. "The idea came to me after being down in Argentina where we were doing [Vaser] high definition training and we were able to see skin contracture. I knew people were using the Vaser for breast reduction, and I thought, 'why can't we try it for just simple skin retraction and tightening.'"
Very soon, Dr. Broadway had a patient interested in breast lift and decided to offer her the opportunity to be his first Vaser Breast Lift patient. "Just working under the skin, using superficial techniques, I was able to move the nipple position up a full centimeter and a half, I was able to pull up the breast tissue, and give her a nicer look." Since this first procedure, Dr. Broadway has further developed his technique, "I've probably done about 75 of them now, and I've done them in combination with a breast augmentation."
Dr. Broadway cautions, "It's not as powerful as a mastopexy, no question about that, but the advantage is that it's virtually scarless." One key factor in the procedure's success is wearing a tape bra to hold the breasts in the desired position. "[The breasts] have to stay taped for about 3 weeks, if [the patient] will tolerate that. The patients that i didn't tape didn't get as good a result. You have to tape them in place, ask them to keep that soft tissue quiet, and again, it's not as powerful as a mastopexy, but it's another option for a patient that just absolutely refuses to put a scar on their breast, but needs something more than an implant to give them a lift."
Not every patient is an ideal candidate for this procedure. Dr. Broadway describes the ideal patient as one who, "has mild ptosis that is interested in getting some improvement... but they're unwilling to have a mastopexy of any variety. Those are the patients that are good candidates. If they will allow me to use a mastopexy, I would probably opt for that, but this is an alternative for them."
Dr. Broadway says that this procedure is not usually done as a stand-alone but rather, is used in combination with other procedures such as breast implants or lipo with Vaser, therefore the cost is usually about $500-$1000. The results will continue to improve for about 3 months and patients have very little pain or downtime.
Dr. David Broadway
In addition to being a world renowned expert in the field of cosmetic surgery, Dr. David Broadway is a member of Operation Smile, an organization that corrects congenial or acquired deformities in children from rural areas worldwide and developing countries such as China, the Philippines, Colombia, and Ecuador. Dr. Broadway has personally volunteered on missions to the above countries, and was a team leader in Operation Smile, Colombia.
