Over time, our breasts sag. It’s a natural process and a fact of life. In fact, scientists at UCLA even found that healthy breast tissue ages two to three years faster than the rest of our body. But just because you can’t stop your breasts from sagging entirely doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do to slow the process down. Here are a few common habits that make your breasts sag more and more quickly. Avoid these to avoid sagging, and if that doesn’t work, call us to schedule a consult with Dr. Wooten.
Sudden Changes in Weight
We all know that crash diets are bad for our health. The body isn’t made to handle dramatic shifts in weight. But what many women don’t know is that sudden weight changes can also affect the perkiness of their breasts. Gaining and losing weight causes breast tissue to lose elasticity that no diet or exercise, only a surgical procedure, can bring back.
Smoking
Lighting up a cigarette can also cause your breasts to droop prematurely. Smoking decreases the blood that flows to the surface of your skin and can also destroy the proteins that give skin its elasticity.
Sun Exposure
Too much tanning, not enough sunscreen: a recipe for disaster. The UV rays of the sun can wreak havoc on the skin by destroying collagen.
The Wrong Bra
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that properly supporting your breasts keeps them from drooping more than they have to. Surprisingly, wearing no bra may be better than wearing the wrong bra for your shape. According to research from the University of Franche-Comte, unsupportive bras may actually weaken breast tissue over time.
High-Impact Exercise
While your run-of-the-mill bra won’t eliminate sagging, a good sports bra can make your aerobic routine much easier on your breasts. Bouncing can break down connective tissue, so anything you can do to limit it will help.
Pregnancy
Getting pregnant, though not a ‘common habit,’ causes your body to change in myriad ways. Between the weight gain and the hormonal changes, it should come as no surprise that your breast tissue gets put under a good amount of stress. As we’ve already mentioned, even if you lose the weight after pregnancy, you can’t totally restore your skin’s elasticity.
The good news is that, despite myths to the contrary, breastfeeding does not contribute to sagging breasts. Researchers published a study in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal which found no objective data to show that nursing children contributes negatively to the appearance of the breasts.
So what can you do to slow sagging?
While we can’t stop the passing of time, or the effects of gravity, plastic surgery offers a variety of options for women who wish to enhance the appearance of their breasts. The most common: breast lifts, which tighten the breast tissue, and breast augmentation, which can be performed using either implants or the patient’s own fat tissue.
If you’re unhappy with the appearance of your breasts, call Dr. Anna Wooten at (724) 759-7777 to schedule your personal consultation in our Pittsburgh office.