Overly large breasts create physical and emotional pain for the patient. On top of that, large breasts often get stretch marks. This can further increase the emotional distress for the patient because stretch marks look aesthetically unsightly. While breast reduction surgery can decrease the size of your breasts, it can also remove some of the stretch marks that may have developed on your breasts.
Stretch marks develop in the middle layer of the skin called the dermis. Even though there are no health issues associated with stretch marks, most patients want to get rid of them because they affect their self-esteem. Stretch marks can develop anywhere on the body; however, they often appear on large breasts. They develop due to the stretch of the skin that outdoes the collagen production.
As of now, there is no dedicated treatment for stretch marks. The only effective way to get rid of them is to surgically remove them along with the skin that encompasses them. Breast reduction surgery does just that.
Breast reduction involves the removal of excess fat, skin, and glandular tissue from your breasts. Depending on where exactly the stretch marks are on your breasts, some of them may be removed together with the excess skin. In other words, if the stretch marks are located on the skin that has to be excised during the breast reduction, you are in luck because the stretch marks would be removed.
Stretch marks located on areas of the breasts that do not require skin excision will remain as they are. For example, in a normal breast reduction surgery, the stretch marks situated on the lower halves of the breasts would be surgically excised along with the skin. If you have stretch marks on the upper halves of your breasts, they would not be removed.
It is important for patients to discuss with the surgeon whether breast reduction would remove the stretch marks. The surgeon will examine your breasts and then single out those stretch marks that would actually be removed.
You should not undergo breast reduction solely to have the stretch marks removed. In fact, the removal of some of the stretch marks should be considered only as a bonus you would get for decreasing the size of your overly developed breasts.