If you have been told you need a Free Nipple Graft

If you have been told you need a Free Nipple Graft

There are a few things that BreastHealthOnline recommends you do if you have been told that you are a candidate for the Free Nipple Graft procedure.

First and foremost, please find out your exact notch to nipple and fold to nipple measurements If your N2N measurement is below 40 centimeters or your F2N is below 20cm, please question your plastic surgeon extensively and get a second and even third opinion if necessary. Women with notch to nipple measurements below 40 centimeters and/or F2N measurements below 20cm should not need to have this procedure.

Consult with a minimum of three board certified plastic surgeons. As mentioned in the post on BreastHealthOnline's Position of Free Nipple Grafts, there are many plastic surgeons who are not highly skilled in the area of breast reduction. The next surgeon you consult with could say that you are not a candidate for a Free Nipple Graft. Depending on where you live, you may require more than three consultations to find the right surgeon for you. We have had members have over five consultations before finally finding the right surgeon for them. This is time well spent and we will fully support you through your journey.

If you are financially able to travel, please consider using one of the plastic surgeons that BreastHealthOnline recommends. In many cases, these doctors have performed breast reduction using the pedicle method on women who had been told they would need a free nipple graft.  While you will have to pay for your travel, in many cases insurance has covered the procedures for those who have chosen this option for themselves. If your insurance does not cover an out-of-area or out-of-network procedure, you will have to decide if you wish to pay out of pocket for your surgery with one of these physicians. Please see our Find a Surgeon section, and seek help for referrals to surgeons we have found who may be able to perform a pedicle procedure on N2N measurements longer than 40cm on our forums.

Consider your final size. Perhaps you would be willing to go up a cup size to forgo a free nipple graft. We have had several members who elected to take a larger cup size so that they could have a pedicle technique.

Conversely, some women may choose to have a free nipple graft in order to achieve a smaller size than would be possible with a pedicle technique.

If, after considering all of the above, you elect to have breast reduction with the free nipple graft procedure, be at peace with your decision. After all, the final decision is yours. At BreastHealthOnline one of our main goals is to give you all the information we can to help you make an informed decision regarding your breast health.