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What Is Breast Reduction?

Many people do not understand that having large breasts is not always a good thing! Dr. Weintraub is an expert in creating a new profile and allowing women who suffer from the physical and emotional burden of large breasts to enjoy a new life. Often, the correction of overly large breasts can make patients look younger, as their posture improves. Moreover, post breast-reduction patients feel much more comfortable participating in sports that were previously difficult due to large breasts hindering movement.

Generally, there are three types of breast-reduction techniques:

  • Circular Incision: This breast reduction surgery technique involves creating an incision around the areola (the area directly around the nipple) to remove excess tissue from the breast.
  • Vertical (lollipop) Incision: Similar to the circular incision method, this breast reduction option requires an incision around the areola, as well as an additional incision down from the areola to the crease of the breast – resulting in a “lollipop-shaped” incision.
  • Anchor (Inverted-T) Incision: This type of breast reduction surgery uses incisions around the areola, vertically down the areola to the breast crease, and along the crease to form an “anchor” or “inverted-T” shape.

Dr. Weintraub will discuss which of these breast-reduction options is best for you, depending on the size and shape of your breasts, as well as your desired results.

During your breast-reduction surgery at our AAAASF-accredited NYC surgical suite, Dr. Weintraub will remove breast tissue in order to reduce the overall size of your breasts. The remaining tissue will then be shaped and lifted to create smaller, beautifully shaped breasts that provide a more proportionate, suitable profile for your body type. Breast-reduction results can be extremely long-lasting, and patients will immediately see a difference following breast-reduction surgery. Those looking to improve the proportion of their upper body, to ease back pain, neck pain, bra-strap furrows, chafing, irritation, and poor posture can benefit from breast reduction.

Considering Breast Reduction

While there is no specific chronological age that determines when you should have some rejuvenative procedures, breast reduction should not be considered before the age of 18, or when the patient has matured enough to know what her breast volume is and can judge what she wants.

If you fit these requirements and see something that truly bothers you when you look in the mirror, it is time to pick up the phone and schedule an appointment for a consultation with Dr. Weintraub for breast reduction in New York. Likewise, there is only one person to have plastic surgery for: you and you alone. It should never be undertaken due to pressure from others.

Goals of Breast Reduction

Breast-reduction surgery can produce more proportionate breasts while also easing the physical issues that result from too-large breasts such as back pain, neck pain, bra-strap furrows, chafing, irritation, and poor posture.  The convenience of wearing a t-shirt with nothing under it is also achievable, as is having a body much less hindered when it comes to participating in sports previously hindered by overly large breasts.

Your Consultation

You’ve certainly looked in the mirror many times. However, when you look in the mirror and begin to see things that upset you, that’s when you should schedule a consultation for breast reduction. A consultation will help give you a better understanding of your own issues.

When choosing a surgeon for your Breast Reduction in NYC, you should:

  • Check for board certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (there are many other boards, some legitimate, some not, but there is only one American Board of Plastic Surgery, established in 1931)
  • Ensure that the physician attends a major hospital in your community, and is in good standing with that hospital
  • Confirm that he or she has a fine reputation amongst other medical professionals in your community
  • Speak to the surgeon’s patients who have undergone similar procedures

Remember, this is your surgery, and you are interviewing the doctor as much as he’s interviewing you. Do not hesitate to bring a list of questions with you on your breast reduction consultation. And remember: a good surgeon is someone who not only has the skill to perform the surgery, but is someone who understands what your specific needs and desires are. A good surgeon should listen, listen, and listen!

Have no fear during your consultation. This is a time to speak, to be heard, to learn, and to develop a trusting relationship. Questions can be answered, and fears allayed. And while Dr. Weintraub is at the cutting edge of his field in terms of technique and medical developments, you will find his office environment to be comforting, personable, and inviting. He and his New York staff truly care about each and every patient, and take great pride in making themselves available to help with every step of the process.

How Breast Reduction is Performed

Safety comes first. Plastic surgery is surgery, and should therefore be taken seriously.

Dr. Weintraub prefers his breast reduction patients to be in a comfortable state of twilight sleep, where the patient is unarousable and is awakened only after the procedure is over. Due to advancements in anesthesia and new medications possessing a shorter half-life, no longer do breast reduction patients have to contend with nausea, vomiting or grogginess; rather, the emergence from anesthesia is crisp and clear.

Dr. Weintraub insists on the most sterile conditions in the New York City operating room, with board-certified anesthesiologists and state-of-the-art monitoring equipment commensurate with the highest hospital standards. The only person performing the surgery is Dr. Weintraub himself. Every intraoperative maneuver is executed with precision and care, and all wounds are sewn in multiple layers by his own hand.

Breast reduction surgery should never be rushed, and Dr. Weintraub always strives for the best, as he understands that patients will live with the result for the rest of their lives. His aesthetic is sophisticated and reflective of understated elegance. In his own words, “Cosmetic surgery is nothing less than artwork on the human form.”

Where is the Breast Reduction Performed?

Though once limited to a hospital setting, the more modern approach to breast-reduction surgery is to perform such procedures in a safe, secure and completely private operating room. Although Dr. Weintraub has privileges at Lenox Hill Hospital, Manhattan Eye Ear and Throat Hospital, and The Center for Specialty Care (outpatient limb of Weill-Cornell Hospital), he prefers the privacy of his hospital-grade, state-of-the-art surgical center attached to his office at 800A Fifth Avenue. This facility is attended by Dr. Weintraub’s team of board-certified anesthesiologists, certified registered nurses, and fully licensed operating-room staff. With its private entrance, its standards are of the highest quality, and offer Dr. Weintraub’s patients the utmost in medical and plastic-surgical care.

The Best Candidates for Breast Reduction

The best candidates for breast-reduction surgery are well balanced, in good general health, and possess realistic expectations. You are an excellent candidate if you’ve done your homework, have had your consultation, and the following three things are present:

  • You are highly motivated to make the change
  • You have the ability to pause your daily responsibilities (work, family, school etc.) in order to undergo the procedure
  • You have the financial wherewithal to make an elective cosmetic surgery come to fruition.

Preparing for Breast Reduction

Once you have decided to make this exciting new change and undergo breast reduction in NYC, you will need to provide medical clearance from your family physician. You will be given instructions as to how to prepare for breast reduction, and will be given prescriptions to be filled in advance. A custom-made post-surgical garment will be ordered for you by Dr. Weintraub’s office, eliminating unnecessary bother or fuss. For those patients who live beyond a 50-mile radius of New York City, Dr. Weintraub advises a two-night post-operative stay at The Pierre, The St. Regis, The Surrey, The Mark or The Carlyle Hotel, where his patients are given a special reduced rate, and where he will visit you after your procedure. A private nurse can also be provided.

The Cost

Each patient is individual in his own makeup and anatomical configuration. Therefore, in order to give an accurate quote for breast reduction, it is best to schedule a consultation that will allow Dr. Weintraub to appropriately judge what is involved. For those patients who live overseas or outside New York City or the Hamptons, photographs can be emailed or sent to the office, and a phone consultation can then take place.

After Surgery

There can occasionally be a short period of minimal swelling and sometimes bruising after breast reduction. You must carefully follow all instructions provided by Dr. Weintraub in order to achieve the best results possible. He is a firm believer in early showering, because, in his own words, “Clean wounds make for narrower incisions.” He will advise you as to when you can return to your normal lifestyle and exercise routine after your breast reduction in NYC.

What Sets Dr. Weintraub Apart

Dr. Weintraub has always been blessed with a strong aesthetic sense. He possesses a unique blend of medical science and artwork, as it truly is artwork that he performs on the human form. His attention to detail ensures that he gets the best results possible, and he is meticulous about everything he does, from pre-op to post-op care and beyond.*

He studied medicine at Cornell during a time when core values were emphasized, and it is on these values that he bases his practice. He believes that physicians should be humble and respectful, and should never lose sight that the person they are operating on is exactly that: a person possessing real-life issues and concerns. The chairmen of the department of general surgery at Cornell at the time, Dr. Tom Shires, along with another luminary, Dr. Leon Morgenstern of Cedars-Sinai, taught Dr. Weintraub that “The operating room is a sacred place. It’s a very serious place. Never be cavalier about surgery.”

During his surgical residency training, Dr. Weintraub regularly visited Mexico to donate his time operating on deformed children and adults who couldn’t afford proper healthcare. In less-than-optimal conditions, he learned how to perform surgery with the basics, and received great satisfaction in making profound differences in people’s lives by restoring their faces and bodies. Similarly, when he was Chief Resident at the New York Hospital – Cornell Medical Center, and later when he was Chief Resident at the Reconstructive Unit at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, he found that his compassion for patients, along with his skill and precision as a surgeon, could change lives and bring people joy they never thought possible.

Dr. Weintraub believes that surgery is never a race. The patient is always number one. He keeps in his wallet a piece of paper that is his motto in the operating room: “Always demand what is right, and never accept second best.” He likes to consider himself a “thinking surgeon,” and does not enter the operating room with a mechanical series of steps to execute robotically, but likes to remain alert and ready for whatever intraoperative challenges might spontaneously arise. Although many notable surgeons openly listen to music while performing surgery, Dr. Weintraub does not, preferring the mood of the operating room to remain serious and focused.

Over 60% of Dr. Weintraub’s practice is comprised of complex redos of surgeries performed by other offices. Such procedures always involve difficult issues, since there exist not only the limitations of a patient’s own anatomy, but also the limitations of another surgeon’s aesthetic, and the scar tissue that has developed as a result. Patients seek Dr. Weintraub from all over the world to correct their aesthetic problems. He takes great pride in getting the best results, and always enjoys the challenges of such procedures.

Last, Dr. Weintraub will not hesitate to turn patients away if he feels they are not good candidates for surgery. If a surgery is not in someone’s best interest, he will be the first to say so. However, when a patient is a good candidate, the results produced by Dr. Weintraub can be magical, and he feels that it is an honor to give patients a gift they can enjoy for the rest of their lives.

How To Get Started

Dr. Weintraub and his staff will be happy to discuss breast reduction or another breast procedure, such as the breast lift, with you. Please call our office for a private consultation. We hope you look forward to our warm welcome and the opportunity for us to help you make an educated and confident decision.

Contact our office today to set up your consultation for breast reduction.