F. Gonzalez et al., PREOPERATIVE AND POSTOPERATIVE NIPPLE-AREOLA SENSIBILITY IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING REDUCTION MAMMAPLASTY, Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 92(5), 1993, pp. 809-814
Objective data on nipple and areola sensibility are scarce. For women
with macromastia, there is little published information available indi
cating the incidence and intensity of postoperative nipple and areola
sensibility. This prospective study was undertaken to evaluate nipple
and areola sensibility in 'small-breasted' control subjects as well as
in patients with macromastia before and after reduction mammaplasty.
Preoperative and postoperative Semmes-Weinstein pressure threshold tes
ting was performed on 84 breasts in 43 patients and on 12 breasts of A
or B cup size in the control group. The patients underwent reduction
mammaplasty by the central parenchymal pedicle technique or the latera
lly based inferior pedicle technique. Nipple-areola sensibility was re
tained in 96 percent of breasts when the excision of breast tissue was
less than 550 gm and 85 percent of breasts when the excision was grea
ter than 550 gm. Overall, nipple-areola sensibility was retained in 90
.5 percent of the 84 breasts tested. In those breasts in which nipple-
areola sensibility was retained after surgery, there was no statistica
l difference in the preoperative and postoperative Semmes-Weinstein pr
essure threshold values. When pressure threshold values were compared
in patients who had less than 550 gm of tissue resected, patients who
had greater than 550 gm of tissue resected, and controls who had not u
ndergone surgery, the trend of decreasing nipple-areola sensibility wi
th increasing breast size was clearly seen.