Breast Surgery
A breast shape that finally feels like yours.
Augmentation, lift, reduction, revision of a previous operation, reconstruction, or fat-only volume restoration. Breast surgery at Palazzo Manzoni in Brescia, planned around your proportions, your expectations, and the way you want to feel in your own body.
The breast surgery team at Palazzo Manzoni in Brescia, led by Dr. Enrico Motta with Dr. Stefano Di Nonno, performs breast augmentation, mastopexy (lift), reduction, mastoplasty revision, post-mastectomy reconstruction, and breast lipofilling — each procedure planned with a single rule: a result that fits you, that lasts, and that you would choose again.
6 procedures
Augmentation, lift, reduction, revision, reconstruction, lipofilling
One surgeon
From the first visit through follow-up
Long first visit
About an hour to an hour and a half
Day surgery
Or a single overnight stay, by procedure
Recognising Yourself Again
The breast is rarely just about size.
You may have lived with the same shape since adolescence and never quite made peace with it. Or pregnancy and breastfeeding changed the volume and the position in ways you weren’t prepared for. Or significant weight loss left you with a shape that doesn’t match the body you worked for. Or you had a previous operation, somewhere else, and the result wasn’t what you had been promised. Or — and this is the situation we treat with particular care — a mastectomy left you needing reconstruction.
Each of these is a different conversation. They share one thing: the wish to feel at home in your own body, in your clothes, in a swimsuit, in the morning, in the mirror. That wish is not a luxury. It is a normal human concern with a respectful surgical answer when the answer is right, and a respectful surgical no when it isn’t.
The breast is glandular tissue and fat held in a skin envelope, supported by ligaments. Pregnancy and breastfeeding remodel the gland and stretch the skin; significant weight loss deflates the upper pole; time alone, with gravity, lowers position and softens projection. Understanding which components have changed in your specific case is the first job of the consultation — and it commits you to nothing.
What Makes Our Approach Different
Honesty about candidacy, then the procedure that fits
Breast surgery suits patients whose anatomy can support the change they want, whose expectations are calibrated to what surgery can deliver, and whose general health permits surgery and anaesthesia. It does not suit everyone — and finding out honestly where you stand is what the first visit is for.
Revision and reconstruction patients are seen with particular care: prior operative reports and oncological correspondence are reviewed as part of the first visit.
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Measured, not requested
Implant and technique are chosen after a measured anatomical analysis — chest width, breast base, skin envelope, soft-tissue thickness — not on a default, and never as the largest implant the body will tolerate.
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A respectful no, when it’s right
A size disproportionate to your chest wall, or a procedure that won’t deliver what you want, gets an honest no. Most of these are pauses, not refusals — we re-evaluate when circumstances change.
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The right timing
If you are still gaining or losing weight, planning a pregnancy in the next year, or within six months of breastfeeding, we usually advise waiting — the result of surgery performed during physical change will itself change.
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One surgeon, one plan, one follow-up
The surgeon who plans your operation is the one who performs it and the one who reviews you afterwards, with direct access in between.
Your Journey
How a breast procedure is planned in Brescia
Step 01
The first visit
About an hour to an hour and a half: clinical examination, measurements, photographic documentation, an anatomical analysis, your goals in your own words, and an honest assessment. For augmentation, implant try-on with sized samples is part of the visit when relevant.
Step 02
A written plan to take home
You leave with a written plan and an itemised cost. There is no countdown. Implant choice in particular is rarely decided in the room; most patients take the plan home and return for a second short visit before scheduling.
Step 03
Pre-operative work-up
Standard blood tests, anaesthesiology review, imaging where indicated, and the informed-consent document, which lists procedure-specific risks in writing. Mammography or breast ultrasound is requested where it is not already current.
Step 04
The operation
Day surgery or a single overnight stay, depending on the procedure. The surgeon who planned the operation is the one who performs it.
Step 05
Recovery and follow-up
Most patients return to desk work within seven to ten days; sport and impact activity pause for about six weeks. Scheduled reviews at the intervals your procedure requires, with direct access to your surgeon in between.
Patient Stories
Patients who
took the time
Each story is a different conversation — augmentation, reduction, reconstruction. They share one thing: the wish to feel at home in your own body.
Real experiences from patients across augmentation, lift, reduction and reconstruction
They told me a smaller size than the one I’d asked for would suit me better and last better. I trusted them. Three years on, I look at the result every day and I would still choose the same.
I’d carried back pain for fifteen years. I’d carried the strap marks for longer. The reduction wasn’t an aesthetic procedure for me — it was the end of pain. The shape was the bonus.
The reconstruction took two stages and almost a year. I went into it ready for that. I came out the other side feeling, for the first time since the diagnosis, that the breast was mine again.
Who Leads the Department
Dr. Enrico Motta
Specialist in Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery. Lead of the plastic surgery department, with Dr. Stefano Di Nonno on the breast surgery team.
Specialist
in Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery
Department lead
leads the plastic surgery department at Palazzo Manzoni, with Dr. Stefano Di Nonno on the breast surgery team
Six procedure families
augmentation, mastopexy, reduction, revision, post-mastectomy reconstruction, breast lipofilling
One-surgeon continuity
the surgeon who plans your operation performs it and reviews you afterwards
5,000+
breast procedures performed
“A serious plastic surgeon is recognisable by the operations they choose not to perform. My job is to listen to what you actually want, study your anatomy carefully, and propose only what genuinely suits you — even when that means recommending less than you arrived asking for, or nothing at all.”
The Procedures
Breast procedures performed in Brescia
A breast that has descended on the chest wall (ptosis) needs a lift, not an augmentation. Lost upper-pole volume needs an augmentation or a fat-only restoration, not a lift. Excessive volume — back pain, shoulder grooves, skin maceration — needs a reduction.
The procedures are not interchangeable, and confusing one with another is the most common mistake in breast surgery as a discipline. Each of the procedures below is planned individually, around your anatomy.
→Augmentation & lift
Volume with a silicone-gel implant or, in selected cases, your own fat (lipofilling); repositioning of a breast that has descended — or both combined, when the anatomy genuinely calls for it. Implant choice is measured, never the largest the body will tolerate.
→Breast reduction
For breast volume that causes back, neck and shoulder pain, postural strain, skin maceration and limits on physical activity. Functional as much as aesthetic — one of the most reliably satisfying procedures in plastic surgery.
→Revision of a previous operation
Correction of an unsatisfactory previous result — capsular contracture, implant malposition, asymmetry, scar quality, or removing an implant entirely, with or without lipofilling. We discuss honestly what revision can and cannot achieve before we agree to operate.
→Post-mastectomy reconstruction
Immediate or delayed reconstruction after oncological mastectomy — with implants, autologous tissue, staged fat transfer, or a combination — planned with the oncological team and with you as a partner, on a timeline set by the cancer treatment, not by the surgical calendar.
We’ll examine, measure, listen, and tell you honestly which procedure — if any — fits.
Common Questions
Frequently asked questions
about breast surgery
Which breast procedures does the department perform?
The full range of breast surgery: augmentation (mastoplastica additiva), mastopexy (lift), reduction, revision of a previous operation, post-mastectomy reconstruction, and breast lipofilling. Each procedure is planned individually on your anatomy, not on a standard protocol.
How is implant size chosen?
By measurement and try-on, not by request. Chest width, breast base width, skin envelope thickness, and the position of the inframammary fold determine the range of implant volumes that will produce a natural, durable result. Within that range, sized samples are tried in a bra during the consultation. The largest implant your anatomy will accept is not the implant we recommend — we recommend the one that will look right at five years and at fifteen.
Are implants for life?
No. Implants are not lifetime devices. Most modern silicone-gel implants have warranties measured in decades, but a proportion of patients will need a revision or replacement at some point — for capsular contracture, for shape change of the surrounding tissue, for rupture, or for personal preference. This is discussed openly during consent.
Can I breastfeed after breast surgery?
After augmentation through an inframammary approach, breastfeeding is usually preserved. After reduction and after lift the answer depends on the technique and on individual anatomy, and is not guaranteed. Where future breastfeeding is a priority, we say so plainly during the consultation and let it shape the surgical plan.
Will I lose nipple sensation?
Transient altered nipple sensation is common in the first weeks after most breast operations. Persistent, permanent loss is uncommon with appropriate technique, but possible — particularly with larger reductions and with augmentations that use a peri-areolar approach. The risk is discussed, in numerical terms where possible, before consent.
What is capsular contracture, and how common is it?
The body forms a thin fibrous capsule around any implant; this is normal. In a small proportion of patients the capsule contracts, distorting and sometimes hardening the breast. Modern implants and modern surgical technique have reduced the rate substantially compared with earlier generations, but it is not zero, and it is the most common reason for revision after augmentation. Treatment ranges from observation in mild cases to capsulectomy with implant exchange in marked ones.
What about BIA-ALCL or “breast implant illness”?
BIA-ALCL is a rare lymphoma associated with specific textured implants; the highest-risk implant types have been withdrawn from the market in many countries, and the risk with currently used implants is very low. “Breast implant illness” is the lay term for a constellation of systemic symptoms reported by some patients with implants; the literature is still developing and the relationship to implants is uncertain. We discuss the current evidence honestly during consultation.
How long does recovery take?
Augmentation and lift: most patients return to desk work in seven to ten days, and to impact sport at six weeks. Reduction: a similar timeline, with a supportive garment for several weeks. Reconstruction: the timeline is procedure-specific and usually staged. Each plan includes a written recovery timeline, so you know what to expect at each stage.
Will the scars be visible?
Yes — every breast operation leaves a scar, and scar placement is a planning priority: in the inframammary fold, around the areola, or in the vertical limb between them; in reductions, the scar pattern is matched to the size of the breast. Scars mature over twelve months to become much paler and softer than they appear in the early weeks. Scar quality is partly biological. We give detailed scar-care instructions and review at follow-up.
Can fat transfer (lipofilling) replace an implant?
Sometimes — for smaller volume changes (typically a fraction of one cup size per session), in patients with sufficient donor fat, who accept the smaller magnitude and the partial reabsorption. It is a real option for patients who refuse implants on principle, and it is a useful adjunct to implants and to reconstruction. It is not a substitute for an implant in patients who want a marked volume change.
What does it cost?
Cost depends on the procedure, the implant model where one is used, the operating-room time, and case complexity. After your consultation, once a procedure has been recommended, you receive a written, itemised estimate with no hidden fees. The department does not negotiate on price and does not run surgical promotions.
Where is Palazzo Manzoni, and do I need a referral?
Istituto Chirurgico Palazzo Manzoni is at Via dei Mille 14 in central Brescia, easily reached from anywhere in Lombardy and from Milan (about an hour). No referral is required. You can book directly by phone, email, WhatsApp, or the online form.
Take the Next Step
Your next step starts
with a conversation
At Palazzo Manzoni in Brescia, every consultation is personal, unhurried, and designed to give you clarity about your next step.
Address
Via dei Mille 14, 25122 Brescia, Italia
Phone
Hours
Mon-Fri 8:30-18:30 · Sat 9:00-13:00
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Get in touch
Call, email, WhatsApp, or book online.
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Meet your specialist
A personal consultation to understand your situation.
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Your plan, your pace
Together you decide the best path forward.
Content reviewed by Dr. Enrico Motta, specialist in Plastic Surgery.