Salvage by tattooing of areolar complications following breast reduction.

Abstract

Even partial areolar loss following breast reduction must be considered an aesthetic disaster for which there are few surgical options for correction. Tattooing, as directly borrowed from postmastectomy techniques for nipple-areola creation, permits reconstitution of a reasonable facsimile of the areola. Discoloration or loss of nipple contour as may also occur in composite nipple-areola grafts may be enhanced and/or an illusion of nipple projection achieved by appropriate regional micropigmentation. Tattooing provides another simple method that can be repeated with virtually no morbidity for salvage of an unacceptable result following breast reduction.