Gangnam Station Sagging Breasts: Exercise, Massage, or Lifting – What's Better?

Gangnam Station Sagging Breasts: Exercise, Massage, or Lifting – What's Better?

Hello. I'm Dr. Kim Joo-won, chief representative director of Melon Plastic Surgery, your breast specialist offering solutions for beauty.

Sagging breasts can be as stressful as small breasts. Sagging breasts gradually appear over time.

They begin to sag after pregnancy, breastfeeding, and dieting, and the degree of sagging worsens with repeated cycles. So, if you suddenly discover your breasts are sagging and think, ‘When did they start sagging?’, you might not remember.

‘Can I improve sagging breasts with exercise or massage?’‘Do I really need surgery?’

Since breasts sag slowly, their discovery is often late. While exercise and massage are often cited as ways to maintain elasticity, surgical approaches can also be considered if you desire visible improvement.

Are exercise and massage effective for sagging? What about lifting surgery? Today, I'll explain the criteria for choosing the direction of improvement.

Sagging Breasts | Why do breasts sag? About the occurrence of breast ptosis

Breast sagging occurs when skin elasticity decreases and breast tissue changes. Typical causes include pregnancy, breastfeeding, and dieting.

The aging of ‘Cooper's ligaments’, which support the breasts, is also cited as a cause of sagging. During pregnancy, breasts enlarge due to hormonal influences. Enlarged breasts return to their original size after childbirth and breastfeeding.

Breast enlargement means not only that breast tissue grows, but also that the skin stretches. If breast tissue returns to its former state, what happens to the significantly stretched skin? It will sag downwards. Sagging due to dieting follows a similar principle. Dieting is rarely a one-time event; it often involves repeated cycles of weight loss and gain.

Breast sagging occurs when a sudden weight loss is followed by a regain, and then another weight loss. And then there are Cooper's ligaments. Cooper's ligaments are responsible for fixing breast tissue to the chest wall, so if they stretch, the breasts can sag downwards.

Factors in daily life also influence breast sagging. Bras are a prime example. Wearing a bra with weak support for a long time can worsen sagging. A 'no-bra' lifestyle can also have an impact. Sometimes I hear people say that small breasts don't sag, but they do. There's only a difference in visual perception; sagging occurs regardless of size.

However, the degree of sagging can vary. The grade of sagging is determined by whether the nipple's position is below the ‘inframammary fold’ of the rounded, elongated breast, or if the nipple points downwards. Therefore, if you're concerned about sagging breasts, remember that you must first know ‘how much’ your breasts have sagged before deciding whether to exercise or undergo surgery.

Sagging Breasts | Can exercise and massage improve them?

‘Can I lift sagging breasts with exercise?’‘Will massage restore elasticity?’

It's true that exercise and massage play a complementary role. However, there are limitations to reversing breast sagging itself. Exercises that work the chest muscles, such as push-ups or dumbbell flies, which strengthen the pectoralis major, can develop the lower chest muscles and give a supportive feeling to the breasts.

However, this is a complementary role and does not restore stretched skin and ligaments. The same applies to massage. Massage helps lymphatic circulation and, to some extent, maintains skin elasticity, but it cannot affect structurally caused sagging.

Therefore, exercise and massage can be considered meaningful in maintaining the condition of the breasts or helping to prevent mild sagging from worsening. Bras also help to some extent in slowing down breast sagging.

If you're starting to worry about sagging, try wearing a supportive bra. It plays a practical role in slowing down sagging.

Sagging Breasts | Lifting Surgery, ‘Breast Augmentation with Lift’ – When is it necessary?

Surgical approaches to sagging breasts can broadly be divided into two categories: lifting (mastopexy) with implants and mastopexy alone. If you have breasts lacking volume with prominent sagging, or if you're considering shape and size correction, a noticeable lift can be achieved through augmentation with implants.

This is because implants not only fill the breast with volume, resulting in increased size, but also pull the skin taut, leading to an expected lifting effect. Meanwhile, if the nipple has descended below the inframammary fold, mastopexy may be necessary.

Mastopexy is a surgery that involves excising stretched skin and repositioning breast tissue. Whether improvement is possible with mastopexy alone, or if it should be combined with implant augmentation for better results, is determined by assessing the degree of sagging.

The incision method for a breast lift surgery varies depending on the degree of sagging. It is decided by observing whether the nipple is at a similar position to the inframammary fold, below it, or significantly lower. Since each person has different skin elasticity, tissue volume of the skin and breast, and direction of sagging, the surgical approach may differ even if the degree of sagging is the same.

At Melon Plastic Surgery, we thoroughly understand your current condition through pre-surgical communication with your doctor and decide together on the best approach after discussion.

Sagging Breasts | What to do before deciding on a course of improvement

Breast sagging progresses slowly, so it's discovered late, but the desire for improvement arises quickly.

People search YouTube for exercises or supportive underwear and put them into practice, or decide to have surgery and consult with friends. To know which method will bring about change for you, you must first assess your current condition.

This is because even with the same sagging breasts, the approach differs depending on the cause of the sagging and the current state. There are cases where exercise and management are meaningfully effective, and cases where surgical options are more realistic.

Therefore, please remember that ‘understanding your condition’ must precede any solution for sagging breasts. If you have concerns about your breasts, please talk to your doctor anytime. We will accompany you on your surgical journey with solutions to beautify your breasts.

Thank you.