The effect on the preoperative symptoms and the late results of Skoog's reduction mammaplasty. A follow-up study on 149 patients.

A retrospective study has been carried out on 149 patients with hypertrophic breasts operated on during the period 1977 to 1979 using Skoog's technique of reduction mammaplasty. Both physical and psychological symptoms were investigated as well as the follow-up results of the operation as a whole, as judged by the patient herself. The observation time was 5 years and the average age of the patients was 39 years. 75% of the women were overweight or obese. The symptoms the middle-aged women indicated preoperatively to be caused by the hypertrophic breasts were pain in the neck, shoulders and back regions, and indenting bra straps, while psychological and cosmetic reasons were more common in younger women. The average reduction per breast was 1,100 g with 3,800 g as the largest total reduction. There was a positive correlation between the age of the patient and the tissue reduction, and a significant correlation between overweight and the amount of tissue reduced. Complications were more often seen when more than 1,500 g mammary tissue were removed or when the operation time exceeded 3.5 h. Infections, nipple necroses and pronounced scars were also positively correlated to overweight. The preoperative symptoms were cured or improved to 80-100%. 95.3% of the women were very satisfied (65.1%) or satisfied (30.2%) with the follow-up results while only 4.7% considered the results to be less satisfactory.