Breast augmentation surgery is still one of the most popular cosmetic procedures year after year, but breast augmentation is not always just about increasing breast size, it is also one of the only methods to correct tubular breasts. Here, plastic surgeons explain more about the causes of tubular breasts, how to determine if you have tubular breasts, and your corrective options.
Plastic surgeons explain what tubular breasts are, what causes them, and how to repair them!
⭐1. What is a tubular breast?
Tubular breasts, also known as nodular or constrictive breasts, are a type of breast abnormality that has three distinct characteristics. The largest one is the undeveloped part of the bottom, which we call the lower pole. Normally, the area under the nipple is circular and curved, but for nodular breasts, there is almost a straight line from the nipple to the chest wall.
This coincides with another major difference, namely the high folds under the breast: In nodular breasts, the bottom of the breast is located above the chest, very close to the nipple areola complex, and there is almost no tissue in the middle,. He added that the final feature is the herniation of breast tissue into the nipple areola complex, which makes the areola appear large and swollen.
⭐2. What does a nodular breast look like?
The name for this disease is appropriate because nodular breasts look like long tubes. Without the bottom of the breast tissue, the top will fall down, making the nipple appear to be at the bottom of the breast, sometimes even pointing downward. As mentioned earlier, the large and swollen areola is another obvious sign.
It is worth mentioning that the severity of this situation varies. Although the classic nodular breast has these three criteria, many women have nodular breasts, but only one or two defining characteristics. Nodular breasts have a wide range, and the severity may even vary from breast to breast. In fact, the asymmetry rate of nodular breasts is also increasing. Nodular breasts are rarely seen or even slightly symmetrical, so this is also a problem that needs to be addressed during surgical correction.
⭐3. What causes tubular breasts?
This condition begins at the beginning of puberty with breast development. A normal breast begins to grow from the breast buds located below the nipple areola complex and expands in four directions: from the inside to the sides, and from the side to the top. In the case of nodular breast deformities, this tissue does not normally spread, but grows forward, just like a tube, and the Cooper’s ligament that supports the breast tissue also deforms. In normal breasts, they extend directly from the chest wall to the nipple. In nodular breasts, these ligaments or bands are circular, like spider webs, which also allow breast tissue to grow into tubes. This is a congenital defect with no known underlying cause at birth for women.
⭐4. How common is nodular breast?
Quite common. About 10% of the population has nodular breasts to some extent; Dr. Cassileth believes that this situation may be more common if very mild cases are considered.
⭐5. Can you repair tubular breasts without surgery?
This is a difficult question to answer. All the doctors we spoke to emphasized the fact that it is absolutely impossible to correct this situation without surgical intervention. However, there are many different methods for performing nodular breast surgery.
⭐6. What is involved in tubular breast augmentation?
Every doctor we talk to has a slightly different technique. However, the most important point is that tubular breast augmentation is completely different from traditional breast augmentation. Simply implanting it into a normal breast in the same way will not produce good results at all. Finding a breast surgeon who often performs surgery on nodular breasts is crucial. His preferred method is to create an incision to help reduce the sub breast folds, and then score the breast tissue in a radial fashion; This combination helps break the tight breast tissue in the tubular breast and produce more expansion in the lower part of the breast. High profile implants that protrude forward and apply the required force to expand tissue, forming a breast without tissue.
Dr. Pitman almost always combines breast augmentation with breast augmentation for his tubular breast patients. Vertical lift, with a vertical incision at the bottom of the breast, helps to cut the Cooper’s ligament at the bottom of the breast and expand it. During breast augmentation, you can also reduce the size of the areola and treat the common swelling of nodular breasts. He said he placed the implant on a biplane, under the muscles at the top of the breast and under the breast tissue at the bottom of the breast, so that the weight of the implant can help further extend the lower area.
The first thing to do is reposition the existing breast tissue and move it to a lower position to help cover the implant. Basically, I would expand the intercepted tissue behind the areola and then place it anywhere I wanted, which usually improves the appearance of the areola almost instantaneously. Implants placed under the abdominal muscles are placed on the pectoral fascia, a hard layer at the top of the muscle, which can hold the implant in place. Considering the possibility of asymmetry, it is also crucial to treat each breast as its unique situation. It is worth noting that “correction of nodular breasts does not always rely on implants. A combination of measures such as repositioning tissue, resecting tissue if a breast is large, and fat transplantation can produce good results. This is a good choice for patients who do not want to replace implants every 10 years in the rest of their lives.”.
Classification of breasts
Generally speaking, adult female breasts can be roughly divided into six types according to their size and shape, namely, small breasts, semicircular breasts, water droplet type breasts, spherical breasts, tubular breasts, concave breasts, and so on.
- Small breasts: The shape of the breast is less developed, with no obvious upper polar curvature of the breast, and the curvature of the lower breast folds is larger. Adolescent women are more likely to occur during puberty, with a genetic tendency;
- Semicircular breast: The breast is arc-shaped, with a lower polar arc that resembles a semicircular shape. It is a common breast appearance for non fertile women;
- Drop-shaped breast: The upper part of the breast is very close to a straight line, the lower part is extremely full and curved, and the side surface resembles water droplets, belonging to a better aesthetic appearance of the breast;
- Globular breast: When the breast volume is relatively large, it can be seen that the side is spherical, with downward nipples, and sometimes accompanied by sagging. Breastfeeding women and obese young women often occur;
- Tubular breast: This type of breast is relatively rare and is a malformation. The breast is long and tubular, often caused by poor gland development, and is often accompanied by ptosis, which generally requires surgical correction.
- Sagging breasts: They are commonly seen in older women, as well as in women after breastfeeding. The appearance of the breasts is like a drooping pocket, with insufficient soft tissue atrophy, and there is no aesthetic sensation, which affects the appearance after dressing. Therefore, it is often necessary to wear a gathered and elevated bra.
