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Women who're unhappy with the shape of their twin assets post-pregnancy can now forget about breast implants, for an innovative procedure to correct severely deflated, sagging breasts left looking like "pancakes" has been developed.

Very often, age, pregnancy, or weight loss takes a toll on women's breasts, prompting them to go for silicon implants to get a fuller look But now, the new procedure corrects misshapen breasts by lifting and restoring them to a more natural, full shape and position without the use of breast implants.

"In the past several years I've seen more women in their 50s who are unhappy with their breasts. These women have had numerous pregnancies, waited later in life to have children, lost a lot of weight, or simply haven't aged well and want to restore their figure. The breast irregularities these patients share are unique. These are extreme cases - not your 'run of the mill' augmentation patients who simply want to enlarge their breasts from an A to C cup," said Dennis Hurwitz, MD, ASPS Member Surgeon and course instructor.

The new method makes use of unwanted tissue and fat from the patient's tummy, along the bra line, or beneath the upper arm, and then shapes it into a breast mound and secures it with absorbable sutures into a tissue sheet that acts like a sling to hold the flap into position. The "spiral flap" can move as much as to permit artistry in shaping, positioning and enlarging the breast.

Hurwitz said that the breasts are not only enlarged and better shaped; they are soft and shift naturally with changes in body position. Patients also get the dual benefit of body contouring. Right now, the majority of these patients are treated with conventional breast surgery, generally with less patient satisfaction. But, the "spiral flap" technique cannot be swapped for standard breast implant augmentation, augmentation with breast lift, or breast reduction in all patients.

Though the procedure may also help a small percentage of women (post-pregnancy or as a result of aging) with extremely flattened chests who have ample excess skin around their mid torso, the majority of the women treated with this technique are those who have lost a lot of weight.

For these women, so much volume and skin elasticity is gone that a basic breast augmentation or lift just doesn't produce optimal results. By using the patients own tissue, they get a more natural augmentation with the dual benefit of body contouring," said Hurwitz. The study will be presented at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) Plastic Surgery 2008 conference.