The promising claims of breast firming creams to lift the breasts and return them to their youthful firmness may seem too good to be true. While these creams offer moisturizing benefits, whether they actually provide permanent firming benefits is questionable. So, do breast firming creams work? They may temporarily improve the skin’s appearance and texture, but they cannot lift breast tissue or permanently reverse sagging. The bottom line is that, short of surgery, there’s little a topical cream will do to firm sagging breasts.
Promises
Many brands of breast-firming cream exist, each with specific promises. Super Firm: Breast Firming Cream promises a “natural breast lift” by tightening the skin and improving tone and texture. Dermory ST cream claims to stimulate metabolism. Godiva breast-firming cream claims to prevent sagging. These promises are worded very carefully, including vague phrases about the “appearance of firmness.” Qualifying phrases buried in the fine print, such as “results not typical,” tend to discount these claims. These products range from $30 to $150.
When evaluating these claims, pay particular attention to words such as “appearance,” “smoother,” “tighter,” and “firmer-looking.” Improving how the skin looks is very different from physically lifting or reshaping the breast itself.
Considerations
Just what causes breasts to lose their firmness in the first place? Breasts are composed of ligaments and fatty tissue. Factors such as genetics, age, gravity and even cigarette smoking can cause breasts to lose firmness and begin to droop over time. Pregnancy causes changes in breast tissue that can result in a loss of firmness. While the appearance of the skin covering the breasts can be improved with a topical cream, no topical product will change the breast’s inner tissue.
Weight fluctuations can also affect breast appearance by stretching the skin as breast volume changes. Because so many of the factors responsible for sagging involve tissue beneath the skin, a product applied only to the skin’s surface has obvious limitations.
Do Breast Firming Creams Work?
Breast firming creams work primarily as skin-care products rather than as breast-lifting treatments. Moisturizers can make dry skin look smoother and plumper, while certain ingredients may temporarily make the skin’s surface feel tighter. This can create the appearance of slightly firmer breasts, particularly when the skin was previously dry or lacking elasticity.
What these creams cannot do is reposition breast tissue, tighten stretched internal ligaments or restore lost breast volume. A cream also cannot permanently counteract changes caused by age, pregnancy, weight loss or gravity.
That distinction is important when deciding whether an expensive breast firming cream is worth buying. If your goal is softer, smoother or better-hydrated skin on the chest and breasts, you may be pleased with the results. If your goal is a noticeable breast lift or permanent correction of sagging, however, a topical cream is unlikely to provide the result you’re looking for.
Function
What these creams actually do is cause the skin to tighten and contract, creating a temporary illusion of firmness, similar to the effects of a quick cold shower. These breast-firming products often claim that, since they tighten the skin that supports the breasts, the breasts will stop sagging. Skin loses elasticity with age, and nothing short of surgery permanently reverses this natural trend.
Some products may also make the breasts appear firmer simply because well-moisturized skin reflects light differently and looks smoother. The effect can be cosmetically appealing, but it shouldn’t be confused with a permanent change in breast shape.
Active Ingredients
Breast-firming creams often contain ingredients such as Retin-A and phytoestrogens. Retin-A is a popular wrinkle cream that reduces the appearance of fine lines by promoting collagen formation in the skin. Phytoestrogen is a plant-derived estrogen. The logic behind using this ingredient is that estrogen is what makes breasts grow during pregnancy; therefore, artificial estrogen applied topically can make the breasts more firm. These ingredients can improve skin texture.
Consumers should also remember that the presence of an ingredient associated with healthier-looking skin does not necessarily mean a product can lift the breasts. Skin-care benefits and actual changes to breast structure are two very different things.
Benefits
Since most breast firming creams include ingredients such as lanolin, aloe vera, and vitamins E and ester C, they moisturize the skin and improve the skin’s appearance. However, other moisturizing products come with a much lower price tag than breast-firming creams.
For someone primarily interested in improving the appearance of the skin on the breasts and décolletage, a good-quality body moisturizer may therefore provide many of the same cosmetic benefits without the premium price associated with a specialized “firming” product.
Warning
Pregnant or breastfeeding women should not use these creams. In fact, manufacturers advise anyone who is dealing with a medical condition that impacts the breasts not to use breast firming creams. The nipple is particularly sensitive and may react to the active ingredients in many breast firming creams.
