The breast consists of two elements, the skin envelope and the fill volume or "stuffing". Breast augmentation addresses the fill volume by adding an implant. If there has been a great deal of weight loss or if the skin is very loose as a result of breast feeding, a reduction of the skin envelope or breast lift (also called mastopexy) may be necessary. In many cases, lifting the breast alone could result in a breast that has adequate volume for the patient. If lift alone results in a breast that does not have enough volume for the patient's desires, an augmentation can be done at the same time as the lift.

Many surgeons recommend doing the two procedures at different times due to the difficulty in controlling all of the variables that are necessary when doing them together. My recommendation is usually to do them at the same time as long as the patient understands that there is a higher chance of needing a revision when the two procedures are done together. My revision rate is about 5% for this combined operation.