Morphological anomalies of the breast in adolescent girls and their surgical correction.

Background, -Morphological anomalies of the breast in adolescent girls cause considerable psychological distress. Plastic and reconstructive surgery offer the possibility of improving such conditions. The aims of this work were to define and illustrate the various types of anomalies, clarify their distribution and present the repair methods than can be used and the results obtained. Population and methods, -A consecutive series of 33 girls under the age of legal majority, admitted over a 1-year period for surgical modifications of breast shape, was studied. The basic anomalies were classified as mammary hypertrophy, hypotrophy, assymmetry and abnormal shape, among which were Poland's syndrome, tuberous breasts, thelorism and pute ptosis. The basic techniques used were reduction, augmentation with placement of an implant and breast remodeling. Distribution anomalies anomalies was as follows: symmetrical bilateral hypertrophy, 33%; asymmetric bilateral hypertrophy, 30%; unilateral hypertrophy, 6%; combined hyper-and hypotrophy, 3%; unilateral hypotrophy with abnormal shape, 9%; abnormal shape with normal size, 15% and bilateral hypotrophy, 0.3%. Mean hospital slay was 3 days and there were no serious postoperative complications. Discussion. -Bilateral hypertrophy was the most frequent disorder and the main drawback was residual scaring. Bilateral hypotrophy was rarely seen since only congenital absence of mammary glands is surgically treated before legal coming of age. The main problem of implants was formulation and contraction of fibrous capsules around the implants in 5% of cases. Asymmetry and anomalies of shape were more difficult to heat because each breast requires a different procedure. At the present rime, because of the cost/benefit ratio of such procedures, they are reimbursed by health services. Conclusion. -Although the results are not perfect, the psychological impact of such treatment is highly positive, suggesting that the requests of adolecent girls for this type of surgery may be encouraged.