Robert Whitfield MD explains how to position the nipple-areolar complex during breast augmentation. He covers the factors that matter: skin type, existing ptosis, implant size, and breast volume. The key measurement: the distance from the collarbone notch to the areolar edge should typically be 17 to 20 centimeters.
This will help give you a guide if, once again, you can't tell due to the distortion of the anatomy. Well, when we're trying to reshape the breast, it depends on how much breast tissue each patient has. We're trying to get the areolar nipple complex positioned on the chest so that it's higher. That's done a certain way. So depending on each patient's skin, where the nipple areolar complex sits, how much sag there is, how much volume there is, how big the implant is, we have to discern what combination of procedures will help that patient. If we're taking, for instance, a patient has really low set nipple areolar complex, you want the nipple areolar complex to actually line up to where the breast fold should be. If you can't actually tell where that is because it was arbitrarily lowered during the breast augmentation procedure, you can make measurements and give an estimate of typically between 17 and 20 centimeters, depending on the patient, from the notch to the edge of the ruler complex. This will help give you a guide if, once again, you can't tell due to the distortion of the anatomy.
