WEDNESDAY, April 25 (HealthDay News) -- An increase in breast size can occur after liposuction of the abdominal wall and/or flanks and is often accompanied by weight gain, according to a report in the April 15 issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Berend van der Lei, M.D., Ph.D., from Medical Center Leeuwarden in the Netherlands, and colleagues compared the incidence of breast enlargement in 48 women who had undergone tumescent liposuction of the abdominal wall and/or flanks and 53 women who had undergone abdominoplasty. Data were gathered from medical records, patient interviews and patient examination.
Forty percent of women in the liposuction group had an objective increase in breast size, as judged by an increase of at least one bra cup size. Weight gain of at least 4 percent of body mass index was observed in 47 percent of such patients compared with only 3 percent of those without an increase in breast size. In contrast, only 11 percent of the abdominoplasty group had an objective increase in breast size. Weight gain was seen in 67 percent of those patients compared with 19 percent of those who did not have an increase in breast size.
"Liposuction of the abdominal wall and/or flanks is followed by breast enlargement in a significant number of patients (40 percent), a risk that is significantly higher when compared with patients who have undergone abdominoplasty only," van der Lei and colleagues conclude.
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