The Study And Significance Of The Aesthetical Ideal Position Of The Nipple-areola Complex On The Chinese Female Breast

Objective : To explore the aesthetical preferred position of the nipple–areola complex(NAC)on the Chinese female breast by sendng a questionnaire to the general population.Methods:1.Using the ruler function in Photoshop CS5 to manufacture a series of breast images of women with different NAC positions.Those images showed breasts from two different angles: 9 frontal images and 3 profile images.All of the breasts had equal dimensions,shape and proportions,with the same areola size,the unique difference of those images is the NAC positions.A questionnaire was sent by street interviews and regular mail to 365 Participants(189men and 176 women)aged between 19 and 58 years..They were asked to rank the attractiveness of those images with different NAC positions and the age and gender of the participants were recorded.2.At the same time,selecting 10 patients who has received silicone breast augmentation in Shanghai Elikeme Medical Cosmetology Hospital in 2005.In total of45 volunteers(25male and 20female)were asked to evaluate the postoperative effect of these 10 patients by the third-party scoring method.Geometric analysis of postoperative NAC location was performed on patients with different scores.3.The data were collected with Microsoft excel 2007 and Statistical analysis of data was carried out using SPSS17.0.We use the Chi-Square exact test for the responses from female and male participants to determine gender-related preferences.The Chi-Square exact test was used to study the relationship between breast preferences and age.Results: 1.A total of 365 participants have completed the questionnaire.Frontal image number 5(lift X=-1,right X= 1 and Y= 0)and profile image 2(Y=0)was the most frequently chosen regardless of the gender of the responder.Frontal images number 2 lift X=-1,right X= 1 and Y= 1)and 8(lift X=-1,right X= 1and Y=-1)were the second and third most frequently chosen images.A significantly greater proportion of men than women ranked frontal image number 3(lift X=-2,right X= 2 and Y= 1)and 6(lift X=-2,right X= 2 and Y= 0)as their preferred type of breast(P<0.05).There was a greater proportion of women than men chose profile image number 3(Y=-1)as their preferred type of breast(P<0.05).We can found a greater proportion of younger participants than older participants ranked frontal image number 3(lift X=-2,right X=2 and Y= 1)and 6(lift X=-2,right X= 2 and Y= 0)as their preferred type of breast(P<0.05).There was a greater proportion of younger participants than older participants ranked profile image number 1(Y=1)(P<0.05).2.The first and second highest score of the postoperative result evalution are patient number 3 and 7,the first and second lowest score of the postoperative result evalution are patient number 2 and 5.The patients with higher score of the postoperative result evalution,the postoperative position of the NAC are close to the results of questionnaire.On the contrary,the patients with lower score of postoperative result evalution whose postoperative position of the NAC are likely to deviate from the results of questionnaire.Conclusion: This study may identified the preferred position of the nipple–areola complex on the Chinese female breast in the general population,which means that it was best situated in the middle of the breast gland vertically and slightly lateral to the midpoint horizontally.To provide the theoretical basis for the formulation of the template of the preferred position of the nipple–areola complex on the Chinese female breast.This template can provide guidience for the preoperative design and postoperative evaluation of breast reconstructive and cosmetic surgery.