Breast Enhancement - Dr. Mackenzie - Santa Barbara - Breast Implants, Breast Lift, Breast Reduction, Breast Reconstruction

• Breast Augmentation
• Breast Lift
• Breast Reduction
• Breast Reconstruction
• Male Breast Reduction (Gynecomastia)

Breast Augmentation (Breast Implants)

For many women, small breasts can be an issue of self-consciousness and self-esteem. Smaller-breasted women often feel unfeminine and lack self-confidence in their presentation. Moreover, clothing at most stores is designed with medium to larger breasted women in mind, forcing women with smaller breasts to wear uncomfortable padded bras or to forgo fashionable clothing entirely. For women who want feminine curves, Dr. Mackenzie offers several breast augmentation procedures. We use FDA approved saline and silicone breast implants at our Santa Barbara office to enhance the curvature of the body.

Breast augmentation can make your body swimsuit ready for the Santa Barbara summer or just moderately enhance your curves and make you feel more comfortable and feminine. If you are interested in getting breast implants, you should contact our Santa Barbara office to schedule a complimentary consultation.

In consultation, you and Dr. Mackenzie will decide what type and size of breast implants would best suit both your body and your cosmetic goals.  Although traditional consultation techniques such as trying on implants in a bra are helpful, we are happy to have in Santa Barbara the Axis Three 3-D photo system that can take your photo in 3-D and then allow Dr. Mackenzie to morph your image on the computer with different implant sizes and styles.  This is a huge help for patients in determining what size of implant they want for their body.  Dr. Mackenzie will also discuss options for incision location, which include the transaxillary (armpit), inframmary (in the breast fold), and periareolar (around the edge of the nipple/areola).  Each approach has it's pros and cons, and Dr. Mackenzie will discuss these with you.  For example, the transaxillary breast augmentation incision offers a very discreet location for the scar, avoiding a scar on the breast.

After breast augmentation surgery, patients will experience some pain, swelling, and bruising around the breasts. These symptoms will eventually fade.  It is a fact that breast augmentation, particularly subpectoral breast augmentation (which is the way breast augmentation is typically done), is a painful procedure - moreso than many other plastic surgery procedures.  To ensure maximum comfort during your recovery, we routinely offer revolutionary pain pumps that can significantly reduce pain after breast augmentation and the need for narcotic medication, which in turn minimizes their side effects such as nausea. The pumps consist of thin tubing that slips through the skin and safely administers non-narcotic pain medication directly to the area around the breast implant under the muscle. They are completely portable and discreet.  Dr. Mackenzie is also involved in ongoing research into other methods and products for pain relief following breast augmentation and plastic surgery.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) offers a website with additional conditions set forth by the FDA related to patient education. It is the authoritative web site for both saline and silicone breast implants and offers objective and science-based information at www.breastimplantsafety.org.

click here to view our before and after gallery

If you are interested in breast enhancement, contact our Santa Barbara office today to learn more or to schedule a complimentary breast augmentation consultation.  Also, check out our blog for more information on breast augmentation and other plastic surgery topics, and view our gallery which has photos along with annotations that will also help give you information about breast implants.

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Breast Lift (Mastopexy)

Pregnancy, breast feeding, genetics, age, or other factors can cause breasts to sag, causing women to lose confidence in their appearance, making them feel older, even unfeminine. However, breast sagging (breast ptosis) can be eliminated by the breast lift procedures offered at our Santa Barbara plastic surgery practice. A breast lift rejuvenates sagging breasts, restoring their youthful, rounded appearance and gets the nipple back up where it used to be. Although a breast lift can improve the shape of the breast, often women will want to add a breast implant to restore some fullness and perkiness that the lift by itself will not always provide.  If you are interested in the breast lift procedure, a complimentary consultation with Dr. MacKenzie at our Santa Barbara office will give you a better understanding of the surgery and what you can expect. Dr. Mackenzie will discuss your cosmetic goals and also advise you of the type of breast lift that best suits your needs, and whether implants would further improve the result. 

The breast lift procedure requires general anesthetic and the procedure takes about an hour and a half to two and a half hours depending on the degree of sag. With breast ptosis especially, no two women are alike, and there are different types of mastopexy for different types and degrees of sag.  Dr. Mackenzie does not take a cookie cutter approach to breast surgery, especially mastopexy, and will choose the procedure that is best for your breasts.  Dr. Mackenzie will try and minimize breast scars whenever possible, doing limited incision mastopexy techniques when he can.  If breast implants are desired, these will typically be placed at the time of the mastopexy, but in some cases of severe ptosis, Dr. Mackenzie will defer the placement of the implants.

Normal side effects of breast lift surgery include pain, soreness, swelling, bruising, and general fatigue. However, all of these symptoms will fade with time, scars will improve, and patients can begin to enjoy their new, youthful curves.  For more information on breast lifting, check out our blog and the photos in our gallery which are annotated to provide you with additional information.  If you are considering breast implants along with your breast lift, certainly check out our section on breast augmentation.

click here to view our before and after gallery

If you are interested in achieving more youthful breasts through a breast lift surgery, schedule a complimentary consultation at Pacific Plastic Surgery in Santa Barbara. Start yourself on the path toward rejuvenating your figure today!

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Breast Reduction

The breast reduction procedure offered by Dr. Mackenzie, our Santa Barbara plastic surgeon, removes breast tissue and skin, decreasing the size of the breast, improving the breast shape, and lifting the nipple. In addition to being an issue of self-consciousness, large breasts can also be a medical concern. Women with very large breasts can experience discomfort in the shoulders, neck, and back, bra strap grooving, and skin irritation under the breast folds. Breast reduction surgery can alleviate discomfort and other symptoms associated with large breasts, so if you are tired of the discomfort and aggravation associated with large breasts, you should consider breast reduction as a permanent and straightforward solution.  Your insurance may provide coverage for breast reduction if you have legitimate medical problems related to the large breasts.

Prior to breast reduction surgery, you will have a complimentary consultation at our Santa Barbara office. In consultation, Dr. Mackenzie will discuss your breast reduction surgery goals, including the size you would like to be, and what other improvements may be expected, including relief of back pain.  If you are overweight and have a reasonable chance of loosing that weight, it is best to do that before breast reduction surgery.

The surgery itself requires the breast reduction patient to undergo general anesthesia, and it will take about two and a half hours at one of our Santa Barbara surgical facilities.  If possible, Dr. Mackenzie will try to minimize the breast scars by limiting the incisions, but with breast reduction surgery, a significant amount of skin needs to be removed in addition to breast tissue.  Dr. MacKenzie will then shape the remaining breast tissue and close the skin meticulously.

Following surgery, breast reduction patients will experience some pain, as well as swelling and bruising in the breast area. Surgical drains are typically placed and remain for a few days before they are removed in the office.  The final breast shape will take form after several weeks.

The majority of breast reduction patients experience drastic improvement in their quality of life after breast reduction surgery. They enjoy increased self-confidence and a more comfortable lifestyle free of shoulder, back and neck pain.  Please check out our blog for more on breast reduction and other topics, and our gallery for annotated photos.

click here to view our before and after gallery

For more information on the breast reduction procedure available at our Santa Barbara practice, contact Pacific Plastic Surgery today.

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Breast Reconstruction

For a woman getting a diagnosis of breast cancer, the shock is understandably enormous, and she will also be daunted by the amount of information that she will suddenly get from her physicians, friends, and other resources, including the Internet.  Because of the desire to treat the cancer as soon as possible, this will all happen in a fairly short period of time, and often leads to "information overload", worsening her anxiety.

Techniques and treatments have thankfully advanced so that breast cancer can often be caught early, and sometimes treated with minimal effect on the breast appearance.  However, when mastectomy is necessary, or even if a significant lumpectomy is planned, plastic surgical reconstruction of the breast is available to restore or retain the breast appearance.

The breast reconstruction procedure often requires a series of two or three staged surgeries that can take several months. Patients have generally two broad options for breast reconstruction - implant reconstruction or autologous (using their own tissues) reconstruction. In implant reconstruction, a synthetic implant is placed under the pectoral muscles, forming the breast mound. In autologous reconstruction, the surgeon moves a flap of skin or tissue from one area of the body, usually the abdomen (TRAM flap) or back (Latissimus flap) to the breast in order to form the breast mound. In a later surgery, the plastic surgeon can create the areola and nipple, completing the breast reconstruction procedure.  There are many options and variations regarding breast recontruction techniques, tailored to the individual patient, and this will be discussed in detail during your consult.

You should also choose a plastic surgeon who is well versed and experienced in multiple techniques of breast reconstruction.  Every patient is different - you do not want a cookie cutter approach to your breast reconstruction surgery!  There are many newer techniques of muscle-sparing TRAM and DIEP flaps, free TRAM flaps, and single staged implant reconstruction with skin sparing or nipple and areola sparing mastectomy.

Because of the sheer amount of information and explanation necessary, Dr. Mackenzie will typically take more time in consultation with the breast reconstruction patient and her significant other than for any other procedure.  Dr. Mackenzie understands that after a diagnosis of breast cancer, your life becomes a hectic array of doctor visits, tests, and information gathering.  Dr. Mackenzie will discuss any surgical plan with your general surgeon, as the technique of breast reconstruction also depends on the exact surgical (and possible ancillary treatments such as breast radiation therapy) procedure to be performed.  Please also read Dr. Mackenzie's June 25, 2009 blog post "Breast Reconstruction Outcome also Depends on Mastectomy Technique" on this subject.

Dr. Mackenzie performs breast reconstruction in Santa Barbara at Cottage Hospital for inpatient procedures and at Cottage Hospital or South Coast Surgical Center for outpatient procedures.

For more information on breast reconstruction or any breast enhancement procedures, contact Pacific Plastic Surgery in Santa Barbara.  The American Society for Plastic Surgeons has additional information on breast reconstruction.

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Male Breast Reduction (Gynecomastia)

Many people are surprised that enlarged breast tissue can be a problem for men and adolescent boys.  Although some adolescent boys go through a period where their breast tissue can enlarge somewhat, when significant it can understandably cause severe anxiety.  Rarely, there can be hormonal problems that cause the enlargement and in these cases endocrine evaluation is necessary prior to any surgery.  In adult men, the cause may be related to certain medication use, drug use, or in rare cases endocrine or malignant causes.  In many cases there is no apparent cause at all.  I do see a fair number of body builders who use, or have used, anabolic steroids in the past and this can certainly be the cause of gynecomastia.

The surgery that I perform, suction-assisted gynecomastectomy, typically involves removing some of the breast volume with liposuction, and then making a small discreet incision within the areola near the nipple, and removing the remaining fibrous breast tissue directly.  The surgery is done under general anesthesia and usually takes under two hours.  A compression wrap is applied for a couple weeks.

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