Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 November 2023
Breast ptosis is one of the most common conditions treated by plastic surgeons. Inferomedial muscle fibers of the pectoralis major originate on the medial aspect of the sternum and rib cartilage and extend upward and laterally to insert onto the bicipital groove of the humerus. Targeting these fibers with botulinum toxin therefore results in unopposed muscular contraction upwards and toward the shoulder, with consequent elevation of the superior portion of the ptotic breast. Treatment induces breast elevation at one week and persist for 3–4 months.
This chapter details the anatomy of the breast and underlying musculature, using detailed cutaway illustrations, discusses the different degrees of breast ptosis along with patient selection and illustrates the injection sites for botulinum toxin, listing recommended doses for the different toxin preparations. Additional uses for botulinum toxin, including treatment of pectoral muscle spasm, postmastectomy pain syndrome, facilitation of breast reconstruction, pseudo-gynecomastia, and anterior mid-chest wrinkles, are discussed.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.