Cooper's Ligaments - Relationship To Sagging

Relationship To Sagging

Many women have held the mistaken belief that sagging is caused by the failure of the Cooper's ligaments to support the breast tissue. In fact, sagging is partly determined by genetic factors, but cigarette smoking, a woman's body mass index, her number of pregnancies, the size of her breasts before pregnancy, and age are all influencing factors.

Many women also believe that wearing a brassiere will prevent their breasts from sagging later in life and that breasts cannot anatomically support themselves. Health professionals have, however, found no evidence to suggest that wearing a bra for any amount of time slows ptosis of breasts. Bra manufacturers will only claim that bras only affect the shape of breasts while they are being worn. A bra only provides support to women's breasts while they are wearing the bra.

Dr. Christine Haycock, a respected surgeon at the New Jersey Medical School and an expert in sports medicine, said that "Cooper's ligaments have nothing to do with supporting breast tissue... They just serve to divide the breast into compartments." She noted that most women's breasts begin to droop with age and that extremely large-breasted women are generally more affected. However, sagging is not related to ligaments or dependent on breast size.

Pare away the fiction and fears, and the pros and cons of the bra come down to this: If a woman chooses to wear one because it makes her feel good-more supported, more under control or just prettier-more power to her... Haycock suggests that women let pain be their guide when deciding whether to wear a bra during exercise, and when choosing a particular style.

Pathologically heavy breasts may cause pain in the woman's upper thoracic area, but this may be due to a poorly-fitting bra. A number of reports state the 80–85% of women are wearing the wrong bra size. While large-breasted women may be uncomfortable exercising without a bra, Dr. Haycock said that “It’s not doing any lasting damage to chest muscles or breast tissue.” Her research found that small-breasted women, “those who wore an A cup were frequently most comfortable with no bra at all."

In middle-aged women, breast ptosis is caused by a combination of factors. If the woman has had children, postpartum hormonal changes will cause the depleted milk glands to atrophy. Women who experience multiple pregnancies repeatedly stretch the skin envelope during engorgement while lactating. In addition, after the birth of each child, the voluminous milk glands diminish in size, contributing further to sagging. As a woman's breasts grow in size during repeated pregnancies, the Cooper's ligaments that maintain the position of the mammary glands against the chest, are stretched and gradually lose strength. Breast tissue and suspensory ligaments may also be stretched if the woman is overweight or loses and gains weight.