How Much Does Breast Reduction Cost?

Mammaplasty, often known as breast reduction surgery, is a surgical treatment in which a cosmetic surgeon removes excess fat, tissue, and skin from a patient’s breasts to reduce their overall size.

Individuals with large breasts who would benefit from breast reduction surgery not only to relieve discomfort but also to attain a breast size that is proportionate to the rest of the body can profit from this procedure.

Mammoplasty can also boost a woman’s self-esteem while also improving her physical health. In this post, we’ll look at what this surgery comprises as well as the steps needed in getting it covered by health insurance.

Who Should Consier Breast Reduction Surgery?

Although resolving pain and achieving a more proportionate breast size are the main reasons why most women opt to undergo mammoplasty, there are several other factors including

Nerve pain
Ill-fitting bras and other clothing
An inability to engage in certain activities
Skin irritation underneath the breast
Neck, back, and shoulder pain

Is Breast Reduction Surgery Safe?

While all surgical procedures include some risk, mammoplasty is mostly risk-free, with the majority of risks originating from an adverse reaction to anesthesia, bleeding, and infection at the incision site.

However, not all women with enormous breasts are candidates for breast reduction surgery. Young ladies under the age of 16 are advised to avoid the operation because their breasts are typically not fully grown. Breast reduction surgery may sometimes be ruled out due to other considerations.

Smoking
Not wanting scars on your breasts
Obesity
Diabetes

Heart disease and cardiovascular disease
In discussing safety, it is also worth noting that breast reduction surgery is not recommended for women who are trying to conceive in that breastfeeding can be difficult following surgery.

Will Losing Weight Result in a Smaller Breast?

Women who are actively trying to lose weight are also urged to postpone the treatment because decreasing weight can help to reduce breast size indirectly. Breasts are primarily made up of fat tissue, which grows in size as fat cells develop.

These cells, on the other hand, shrink as they shrink. As you lose weight, you’ll notice a significant drop in the size of your breasts, especially if you’re naturally prone to storing a lot of fatty tissue in the breast area.

It’s crucial to keep in mind that the extent to which breasts shrink as a result of reducing weight varies. Some women, for example, have breasts with less fatty tissue, resulting in a less visible decline in breast size.

The amount of fat tissue deposited in the breasts, as well as their size as you gain or lose weight, is influenced by genetics. Scheduling a consultation with your potential surgeon is the best approach to determine how much smaller your breast will become as a result of reducing weight.

Most of the time, he or she will counsel you to reduce weight before surgery and will tell you how much smaller your breasts will be once you lose weight.

What to Expect During Surgery

As you might imagine, breast reduction surgery is almost always performed under general anesthesia in an outpatient facility or hospital, as you might imagine.

Surgical incision or liposuction will be used by the surgeon to remove extra fat and lower the overall size of the patient’s breasts during the treatment.

Before removing fat, tissue, and skin, the surgeon will create an incision around the areola, which is the pigmented ring encircling the nipple, and down the length of each breast. This minimizes the overall size of the breast.

Finally, the areola is relocated on the newly resized breast before the breasts are sculpted. Finally, the areola is adjusted to fit the increased size of the breasts, and the breasts are contoured.

Is Breast Reconstruction Covered By Health Insurance?

Breast reconstruction surgery is generally only reimbursed by insurance if the procedure is deemed medically essential, but this isn’t always the case.

Unless the patient can demonstrate that they have an underlying health concern that can only be resolved by undergoing the corrective operation, breast reduction surgery will be considered a cosmetic procedure. Patients must also satisfy a predefined insurance threshold before their insurance policy will cover the surgery.

How To Get Insurance To Cover Your Breast Reconstruction Surgery

While the process varies by the insurance carrier, people who want their insurance to pay for breast reconstruction surgery must typically present a letter of medical necessity, which says that the procedure is required to address an underlying health concern.

Before sanctioning surgery, most insurance carriers would want 6 to 12 months of documentation, as well as treatment from a physical therapist, chiropractor, dermatologist, or orthopedist, to ensure that other treatments have been ruled out.

Requesting a letter indicating what is required for approval from your insurance provider well in advance of breast reconstruction surgery is the best approach to speed up the approval procedure with your health insurance provider.

This is significant because each insurance company’s acceptance standards vary. The usual turnaround time after submitting the required documentation is between 3 and 6 months.

This time span allows the insurance company to consult with the treating physician and get second views from other healthcare professionals, such as chiropractors, to ensure the surgery is medically necessary.

In order to ensure that letters of medical necessity and other paperwork are immediately forwarded to your insurance carrier, it is best to advise your physician of your intention to have the treatment covered under insurance.

How Much Is Breast Reduction Surgery Without Insurance?

Although the process of getting breast reduction surgery covered by insurance can be challenging, it can save you a considerable amount of money, provided your claim is approved.

According to data compiled by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the average cost of a breast reduction surgery is $5,482, which includes the following additional fees:

Facility costs
Anesthesia
Surgeon fees
Post-surgery prescription medications

Medical tests

Obviously, the cost of breast reduction surgery can be cost-prohibitive for some people. However, it is important to note that some cosmetic surgeons do offer financing plans that can make paying for a much-needed surgery more manageable.

That said, if having the procedure covered by insurance is not an option, it may be a good idea to speak with your physician about possible financing options.

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