Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

You can do two things to help expedite the removal of your drain if your surgery requires them. The first is eating a balanced, high-protein diet with a goal of 100 grams of protein per day for one month before and one month after surgery. The second, if approved by your team, is the use of compression on the surgical site.

• Headaches
• Neck, shoulder or upper back pain
• Indentations or grooving in the shoulders from bra straps
• Rashes/skin breakdown/ulcers at the inframammary folds
• Upper extremity numbness/nerve symptoms

You must have attempted at least three months of conservative treatment of your symptoms with at least one of the following:

• Use of NSAIDs or muscle relaxants
• Antifungal or steroid treatment of ulceration/maceration (for skin breakdown)
• Physical therapy/exercise
• Wide strap support bra
• Chiropractic treatment
• Medically supervised weight loss program

Lastly, there is typically objective criteria that most insurance companies use to determine whether a breast reduction is functional (and covered by insurance) or cosmetic:

• Your surgeon will calculate your Body Surface Area (BSA) based on your height and your weight
• For each BSA, a certain minimum gram amount of tissue is required to be removed for the reduction to be covered by insurance – this is determined by a tool called the Schnur scale
• Breast tissue density (and therefore the weight of the tissue that would be removed) varies from patient to patient and can only be assessed in person by your surgeon, which is why determination of whether the procedure would be covered by insurance usually cannot be determined prior to the consultation

Your surgeon should be able to give you guidance by the end of the consultation on whether the procedure is likely to be covered by insurance or not (there are exceptions to this as not all insurances use this scale, and some policies have specific exclusions for breast reductions)