Surgery for a woman with a chest half a meter long

The Hanoi Green Hospital has performed plastic surgery for a 26-year-old woman with two breasts that are too long. Her breasts were normally normal, only beginning to grow from birth.

Although the chest is very large, the patient does not have breast milk.Photos provided by a doctor.

Dr. Tran Thiet Son, Head of Pon's Hospital for Plastic Surgery, said that within 6 months, the woman's mammary gland has developed hypertrophy to reach a size of half a meter, weighs more than 4 kg. . Although this department developed after birth, she did not have milk. The weight in the chest makes it difficult for the patient to move, it is difficult to change posture and cannot do anything. When sleeping, she always had to lie on her side to avoid suffocation.

Doctors believe that the cause of breast enlargement in this woman is systemic lupus erythematosus (a disease of the immune system). Normally, mammary gland size is controlled by sex hormones. When immunity is disturbed, this hormone receptor can increase the sensitivity many times, causing the mammary gland to develop too much, even if the amount of hormone commanding this process is normal.

The heavy chest pulled the center of the body forward, in the long run it could cause distortion and spinal distortion, especially the neck vertebrae, reduce blood flow to the brain, causing other serious problems. Because when walking, the patient has to bend his shoulders so as not to expose his chest, so the chest can also deform, become narrower, causing compression and reducing the function of the internal organs. On the other hand, the contact between the two mammary glands and other skin areas is susceptible to inflammation and sores.

Therefore, on August 30, Dr. Tran Thiet Son and his colleagues performed plastic surgery for patients. Thoreck technique first applied in Vietnam, they cut the breast weighs more than 3 kg, reshaped the chest and put the halo part and nipple joint up to restore aesthetics. To avoid recurrence, the doctor has cut the entire mammary gland. Therefore, patients will no longer be able to breastfeed their babies. Currently, the patient's health is stable and can be discharged in the hospital tomorrow.

Dr. Son said, the case of mammary gland is too large and developing too fast as above is very rare (other cases only reach this size after 7-8 years). In Vietnam, mammary gland hypertrophy has a very low rate, accounting for only 1/20 compared with low glandular breast production (no breast development). Common disease at age 18-20 or after childbirth is caused by hormonal disorders (usually family).

The weight of mammary glands in these cases is usually only 1.2-1.5 kg (in normal people is about 500-600 grams). The treatment is a compact surgery that preserves the mammary gland so that the patient can still nurse the baby with breast milk. Therefore, the too long breast will not be cut off completely like in the operation. Doctors will keep the halo and nipple part and move upwards when reshaping the chest.

Thanh Nhan