We’ve had several patients recently undergo breast reduction surgery with a BMI of 40 or greater.
At least one had already been turned away by two large health systems in Kansas City because of her weight. Just in the past 6 months we’ve had at least 5 patients with a BMI greater than 40 undergo breast reduction surgery without a single significant complication.
It’s been established that high BMI patients have an increased risk for complications with breast reduction surgery, particularly for wound healing problems. We discuss this at length with our patients, as it’s always important to balance the potential risks against the benefit of any operation. In most cases, we proceed with surgery. Are these cases more challenging? Absolutely. We’ve done hundreds of breast reduction operations over the years and in doing so we’ve developed techniques which have really worked in reducing complications.
Our most recent patient (BMI 42) was seen the day after surgery, doing great, and said her back and neck pain were already better! We can’t guarantee zero problems after surgery but our complication rate remains low. We feel the tremendous benefit seen by our patients makes it worth the risk.
