J Korean Soc Aesthetic Plast Surg.  2009 Mar;15(1):8-17.

Surgical Anatomy of the Breast for Mammaplasty Using Breast Implants

• Nagumo Y
• Um SC
• Kang SG

Abstract

The surgical anatomy of the breast for mammaplasty using breast implants has not yet been fully described. The mammary gland is one of the pilo-sebaceus tissues, which is located between anterior and lateral cutaneous branches of the intercostal nerve and between the superficial and deep layer of the subcutaneous fascias, and fed by the perforating cutaneous branch of the internal thoracic artery and mammary branch of lateral thoracic artery. In augmentation mammaplasty, surgeons must understand that implantation is the procedure to form a thin and wide capsule around the implant. Therefore, the implant should be inserted into the pocket surrounded by fascias between the deep layer of the subcutaneous fascia and the superficial layer of the superficial thoracic fascia or between the deep layer of the superficial thoracic fascia and the superficial layer of the deep thoracic fascia. In immediate reconstruction mammaplasty, the lower-lateral part of the superficial thoracic fascia should be preserved in order to separate the layers of the mastectomy and implantation, and the dissection of the interpectoral lymph nodes must be abbreviated to keep the fascias beneath the pectoralis major.

Keyword

Mammaplasty; Mastectomy; Mammary gland