Nerves that supply sensation to the nipple and surrounding (areolar) skin may be cut or stretched during surgery. Most often this is not the case, and if sensation is lost, it generally due o stretching of the nerves, and will eventually recover. Permanent loss of nipple sensation, however, is always a possibility. Sometimes the nipple skin will become more sensitive to any form of stimulation, which may be due to nerve involvement, or to the stretching of the skin by the breast implant. This, too, is normally temporary. Usually, it is not the nipple that loses sensation, but the nerves to the skin of the lower part of the breast, especially on its outside edge. This is because the nerves giving sensation to that part are most frequently encountered, and manipulated in some way. As with nipple sensation, this usually returns, but not always.
Jacob Gerzenshtein, MD, FACS,
A Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
