It sounds like your quality of life is definitely impacted by the size of your chest. Youre definitely not alone. It is always complicated when trying to find the ideal time for surgery. On the one hand, it is clear that you are on the younger side to consider breast reduction. On the other hand, it is not unusual for women to describe that their chest continues to grow even into their early 20s. That does not mean that one necessarily needs to wait until their 20s to perform surgery. Many factors weigh in on the ideal time for surgery. Part of it is having the maturity and understanding that surgery is permanent and the tradeoff for a breast reduction is scarring on the chest. I think it pays for you to meet with more Plastic Surgeons to review all of your options, what your goals are, and the ideal time to consider surgery. Elie Levine MD FACS Diplomate, American Board of Plastic Surgery Plastic Surgery Dermatology of NYC PLLC 35A East 84th Street between Park Madison Ave New York, NY 10028 Tel 212 988 1800 plasticsandderm.com www.plasticsandderm.comhttpwww.plasticsandderm.com DrElieLevineplasticsandderm.com www.plasticsandderm.comhttpwww.plasticsandderm.com This email including any attachments is intended only for the exclusive use of the individual to whom it is addressed. The information contained herein or attached hereto may be confidential and constitute Protected Health Information and is exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this email is not the intended recipient, or the agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, the reader is hereby put on notice that any use, dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If the reader has received this communication in error, please immediately notify the sender by telephone or by email and delete all copies of this message and any attachments. Thank you for your cooperation.

Yes you may Dr Gi

My personal rule of thumb for performing breast reduction in a young adult is not before the age of 16 due to not just physical maturity put mental maturity as well. You would have to discuss this on individual basis with the physician you’re working with.

I have performed breast reductions from the age of 15 on. It all depends on the individual.

Frankly, you are lucky (and should be careful) that you found a surgeon that told you that they would do a reduction at 16. There is chronologic age (the number of years you have been alive), there is physical age or maturity (often assessed by growth plate closure and secondary physical characteristics), and there is emotional maturity (how will a person be able to deal with the normal and sometimes abnormal recovery and outcomes of a surgical procedure like breast reduction. I typically find that patients are not quite ready for this surgery until they are at least 18 and I would still have them come in with their parents or significant other to help best assess the later.

Wait until after 16

I have seen a number of young teenage patients like you with similar symptoms and I personally have operated on patients as young as 13-14 in rare cases. Unfortunately, in my experience Insurance Companies these days are very reluctant to even consider coverage of this procedure in patients younger than 18.

Hello, I am so sorry to hear that you are having such complications from large breasts, so early in life. Unfortunately, your breasts may still continue to grow despite your bone growth plates having been closed. This is the reason we wait until the age of sixteen. If you undergo breasts reduction right now, your breasts may continue to grow and you may then need a second surgery, with higher rate of risks and complications.

Hi,

This is truly a challenging question. Certainly, breast reductions are some of the most gratifying operations I perform, and I have even done these on older women in their 70's who regret having waited so long. In your case, I believe that if you are fully aware of the scarring and the risks that your breasts MAY (not for certain) continue to grow as you continue aging, and especially many years from now once you choose to become pregnant, and as long as your parents are supportive (since you are a minor and need their consent), then I wouldn't have a problem performing breast reduction surgery on someone your age. Especially knowing how much it could help you. All this being said, we would have to ensure that such a patient wouldn't need to lose a lot of weight. The information given gives the height, but not the weight. So, if the BMI is too high, then this would need to be addressed first, before proceeding to breast reduction.

This situation is one that I do not have experience with. However, under the circumstances, I would do a breast reduction now, and if there should be the circumstance that the growth continues, simply do it again. Three years, under these circumstances, is a long time. There is no guarantee that growth would continue if the reduction is done now.

There is no fixed age but growth plate closure indicates you are approaching max height. I would wait another year or so. You don’t want to have this done twice