Liposuction and Plastic Surgery Information - Breast reduction can impair breast feeding ability

Breast reduction can impair breast feeding ability

Monday, 02 October 2006

Research by the University of Western Australia in Perth indicates that women who undergo breast reduction surgery can lose the capacity to breastfeed their children.

Using ultrasound technology, the University's human lactation research group found that milk ducts in the breast are more widespread and diverse than previously assumed, and the supply to ducts is often severed during breast reduction surgery.

One of the researchers, Donna Geddes, said that the milk ductal system was more complex than previously thought and had an arterial structure whereby fat stores used for the production of milk could not be separated from other parts of the breast tissue without severing the ducts.

“When surgeons perform a breast reduction they are careful to get a nice shape and they tend to remove tissue quite aggressively under the breast,” Dr Geddes said. “Because the ductal system resembles the roots of a tree, it’s difficult not to cut the network, interrupting outflow after women give birth.

“Looking at the breast using ultrasound in this way is a world-first because you are not distorting anything to look at the entire system, the environment is not interrupted. Research has told us that women who have a reduction are highly likely to only partially feed their babies, while some will not be able to breastfeed at all.”

Tags: breast feeding, breast reduction,