Many patients come to us at the Centre for Surgery requesting breast augmentation, and one of the most common questions they ask is whether the breast augmentation procedure will enhance the cleavage, which is seen as a highly desirable feature in many women. It is a common misconception that breast enlargement surgery leads to an immediate improvement in cleavage. This is not the case, and read on to learn more.
What is Breast Cleavage?
When we say cleavage, we are referring to the defined area located between the breasts, which often takes on a hollow or depressed area of skin. The term cleavage itself means a clear demarcation or area of division. In practice, most people think of cleavage as the upper part of breasts that may look more prominent when the breasts are supported by a supportive bra and combined with a low-cut top. Despite the widespread understanding that it is the top half of the breasts that are seen as desirable, this is not the precise definition of what cleavage is. The actual area between the breasts overlying the breast bone can be described as cleavage.
For many people, achieving an improvement in cleavage is one of the treatment goals along with having larger breasts. The degree of cleavage which women have is also related to several factors, including the anatomy of your chest wall as well as the distance between both breasts and how they are positioned on the chest. The width of the chest also plays a factor. Breast augmentation with implants can enhance volume, but whether cleavage can be improved is much less predictable.
Breast implants may not improve cleavage
Many women believe that breast implant surgery can improve their cleavage without any requirement for any other treatment, but as explained above, this depends on the anatomy of the chest wall and also what exactly this means by desiring an improvement in cleavage. In many cases, improvements sought relate to the upper portion of the breasts, and this is most commonly described as upper pole fullness. Breast implants are an excellent treatment for improving upper pole fullness with an appropriately selected breast implant size and positioning. The sub glandular position may improve cleavage to a great extent when compared with the dual-plane approach. In other cases, women are keen to target the area between their breasts deliberately and commonly prefer the breasts to be positioned closer to one another, which makes the hollow area appear more prominent. Women with a particularly long distance between both breasts will not generally be able to improve the cleavage area with breast implants on their own. The addition of breast implants in these cases will optimise the volume of the breasts in the outer aspect but is unable to change the anatomy of the chest to facilitate the breasts to sit nearer one another.
Fortunately, there have been a number of important developments in augmentation surgery that now permit surgeons to enhance cleavage, and an ideal technique is the use of fat transfer surgery. Fat transfer to the breasts is a commonly performed procedure at Centre for Surgery in London.
Enhancing cleavage with fat transfer to breasts
For appropriately selected patients and when carried out by surgeons with expertise in fat transfer surgery, fat transfer breast augmentation can be a powerful technique for enhancing cleavage and is an effective treatment even if women have breasts that are positioned more laterally and with a wider area between the breasts.
The fat transfer to breasts procedure first involves the removal of fat from areas of excess using liposuction, and the most common areas include the abdomen and thighs for fat harvest. The fat is then purified before being injected into marked areas of the breasts, followed by the surgical placement of breast implants. When both breast implants and fat transfer to the breast are combined in one procedure, this is known as a hybrid breast augmentation.
Patients have very high satisfaction rates from fat transfer to breasts as it significantly improves the cleavage as well as enhances the volume of the breasts naturally without the need for silicone breast implants in patients who are not keen on the idea of having artificial substances in their body. Although breast fat transfer may not be a suitable treatment for every patient, if you are interested in enhancing your cleavage, we would definitely recommend that you ask your surgeon about the benefits of fat transfer to the breasts at your consultation.
