An Ideal Female Breast Shape in Balance with the Body Proportions of Asians

Background:

Defining an ideal breast shape is one of the most fundamental and essential parts for a breast surgery. To propose a set of criteria for determining an ideal breast shape of Asians, the authors performed a survey using a questionnaire based on important esthetic elements of a breast.

Methods:

The authors created a 11-item questionnaire, asking breast shape preference in the frontal and the lateral views. Each question had multiple options, each of which was accompanied by adequate illustrations.

Results:

A total of 1,012 Asian responses were collected. In the frontal view, preferences converged for position of the nipple to be at 45% of the SU (distance from the sternal notch to the umbilicus) and the inframammary fold at 60% of the SU. For lateral bulging of the breast, the respondents preferred it to be 100% of the upper buttock, and 100% of the interacromion width. As for the lower pole height, breast width ratio of 50% was the most preferred. In the lateral view, straight slope of the upper breast was the most preferred, along with a 1.0 projection ratio and a front-facing nipple. The most ideal vertical proportion of the breast footprint was selected as 65:35, and for the anterior breast as 55:45.

Conclusion:

The authors used a questionnaire analysis, which considers a proportional balance between the breast and the whole body shape, and proposed that an ideal breast shape can be used effectively in planning for and assessing the outcomes of breast surgery