Cut half aureola? Really needed?

[outofshape]

I went to a plastic surgeon last month, he's been recommended by a few members on this board.
The consultation went well and it seems like i have quite a bit of glandular tissue that needs to be removed. Once that's removed he also wants to do some liposuction to sculp the fat around the nipples to avoid any indents.

He's upfront and told me the incision will be made right along the lining of my aureola and will approx. be half size. Isn't that too much? I've seen post-op pictures where the incision only covered 1/5 of the aureola.
I'm scared to death for big permanent scars under my aureola's so if it wasn't for the half aureola comment he made i would have signed up for the surgery right away.

Should i be worried?

Are there any post and pre-op treatments to minimize scarring? I'm willing to pay a lot to avoid scarring.

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

My usual incision is about 2 cm, or 2/3 of an inch.  Sometimes it is longer, depending upon need.  Sometimes a longer incision is necessary in order to be able to get several instruments in thru that one incision.

The resulting scar is more dependent upon how carefully the wound is sutured.  Remember, wounds heal side to side, not end to end.  If you have a long scar but it has healed well and is camouflaged, then the length really doesn't matter.

Each surgeon has his own comfort zone when deciding upon scar length.  In deciding upon your surgeon, look at post-op photos of scars and pay more attention to that than to the actual length of the scar.

There are no pre-op treatment to help with scars.  There are several types of  post-op treatments for scars, depending upon what type of problem is present.

Dr Jacobs

[hatemymoobs]

Remember, wounds heal side to side, not end to end. 

Dr Jacobs- can you elaborate on this statement? I'm not sure I understand what you mean.
I'm also concerned about the scar.

Also- when you say dependent upon how carefully it is sutured- is the stitching usually something the surgeon does himself or do some have the nurse close it up? Probably a question for my doctor- but I want to be sure when it's done all critical parts of the surgery are done by the surgeon, not the nurse... Any suggestions on how to be sure of this?

[outofshape]

Thank you dr. Jacobs, that's some good advice, i didn't think about it that way.

Are there any suture methods available that minimize scarring? I know about the trichoclosure method which is used to minimize scarring for traditional hairtransplants where a strip of skin is cut out from the back of the head.

Also, how important is the "size" of the surgical knife? I suppose the thinner the better?

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

If there is one thing that plastic surgeons are good at, it is closure of the skin to minimize a scar.

Placement of the incision at the edge of the areola, which tends to mask it very well, is also important.

Finally, if the scar doesn't heal well, there is always a second chance -- called scar revision.

Relax -- you are obsessing over something unnecessarily.

Dr Jacobs