Less Is More

A CBS 2 News Special Assignment

Special Assignment: Less Is More aired Thursday, June 25, 1998 at 11 p.m.

We live in the age of lasers. We've seen lasers used to get rid of unwanted hair, smooth out wrinkles and even change a person's eyesight.

Now there's one Southern California doctor who has pioneered a new use for the tiny beams of light.

Dr. Grant Stevens, of Marina Plastic Surgery Associates, is a plastic surgeon who has developed a technique to reduce and reshape breasts. According to CBS 2 News' Lonni Leavitt, he's already performed the procedure on about 100 women at his Laser Institute.

"I've never had a woman say to me that she wished she hadn't done it," Stevens said.

Tonia McCallop had breast-reduction surgery, and told CBS 2 News it changed her life. Before the surgery, she was a size 42DD.

"It was so uncomfortable for me working," McCallop said. "The pain in my neck and shoulders was very uncomfortable, and I knew that's why -- because my breasts were so large."

After the breast-reduction surgery, McCallop said she literally felt as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders, said Leavitt. She is now a size 36C.

Dr. Stevens said most women he sees with such large chests suffer from embarrassment, teasing and a host of physical problems.

"Back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, bra strap indentation, numbness of their fingers," Dr. Stevens said, just to name a few. "Many women are so affected by their large breasts that they actually roll their shoulders forward -- not just because of the physical weight of their breasts, but they're also self-conscious."

So how does the laser surgery work? In the laser breast-reduction surgery, Dr. Stevens keeps the nipple attached at all times, said Leavitt. He takes the section with the nipple and goes over it with the laser to remove the outside layer of the skin.

By using the laser, there's hardly any blood loss. Dr. Stevens then tucks the section up inside the breast and pulls the nipple through a small incision to create what he calls an "internal bra."

"This bra that we fabricate with the laser not only helps in terms of shaping and forming the breast, but it also helps in the longevity or how long the breast stays up and supportive and lifted," Dr. Stevens told Leavitt.

Dr. Stevens is the only doctor CBS 2 News could find performing the procedure, so there are no studies to report and there is no research. But he told CBS 2 News the difference is obvious.

To demonstrate, Dr. Stevens performed the traditional breast reduction on one of her breasts, and did the laser reduction on the other.

"When we compared the two clinically, we found that the laser breast reduction lasted longer," Dr. Stevens told CBS 2 News. "There was a more perky, youthful breast. We were able to mold the breast and keep it up."

"The difference is so obvious that I couldn't possibly bring myself now to doing the traditional unless for some reason I had to," he said.

"I'm comfortable within myself knowing that when someone is speaking to me -- particularly men -- they don't look down on me. They look straight at me now, and not just my breasts," McCallop told Leavitt.

McCallop said she only has one regret -- that she didn't have breast-reduction surgery done years ago.

Dr. Stevens' surgery fee alone costs $10,000, said Leavitt. For most women, though, the surgery is covered by insurance.

More information:

• Learn more by checking out Dr. Stevens' Web site.

RealVideo:

• Watch as Lonni Leavitt explains the procedure using graphics. (22 sec.)

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