Many women decide to undergo a breast augmentation procedure in order to enhance the size and shape of their breasts. In some instances, however, a breast augmentation can actually help minimize deformities to the shape of the chest, depending upon the size, shape, and placement of the breast implants. Pectus carinatum is an excellent example of just this type of chest deformity. Dr. Paul Pin had performed many breast augmentations on women with this type of deformity with excellent results in terms of minimizing the appearance of the deformity.

What Is Pectus Carinatum Deformity?

Pectus carinatum, or pigeon chest, is a congenital deformity of the sternum and rib cage that affects approximately one in 400 women. The major hallmark of this condition is that the sternum protrudes outward, such that the entire chest wall is bowed out, giving it the appearance of a pigeon chest. There will also be depressions along the side of the chest. Although development of the heart and lungs are not affected in cases of Pectus carinatum, patients with this condition are often prone to asthma and other breathing difficulties due to the sternum being particularly rigid.

Can a Breast Augmentation Correct Pectus Carinatum?

In particularly severe cases of Pectus carinatum, surgical correction will be required, involving repositioning the sternum with wires or rods. Although a breast augmentation procedure cannot actually correct for the deformity, it can disguise its appearance by making it less noticeable.

Selecting the Right Size and Shape of Implants

Reducing the appearance of Pectus carinatum mainly relies on selecting implants of the correct profile and placing them in the optimal location. Because the sternum is particularly prominent, Dr. Pin will want to select implants with a high profile, meaning that they have more height than width. This provides two big advantages in terms of reducing the appearance of Pectus carinatum.

First, implants that have more height will stick out further from the sternum, thus minimizing the appearance of the protruding chest wall. Implants with a low profile would have more width than height, which would serve to emphasize the outward bowing of the chest wall. Second, the implants should be placed behind the chest muscles (subpectoral placement) rather than behind the mammary glands and ducts (subglandular). This will further draw attention away from the protrusion of the chest wall.

Cautions following Surgery

Due to the specific nature of the Pectus carinatum deformity, care is taken to provide natural looking cleavage while adequately disguising the protrusion of the chest wall. Nevertheless, due to the rigidity of the sternum, there may be instances in which the implants will become displaced laterally (horizontally) over time. Dr. Pin recommends that his patients wear properly supportive bras as much as possible, even at night when sleeping, in order to provide the breasts the correct amount of support to maintain the proper appearance to the cleavage.

Patients with a Pectus carinatum deformity may feel very self-conscious about the appearance of their breasts. Fortunately, a breast augmentation may help boost their confidence by minimizing the appearance of the prominent sternum.