The female breast can be reduced by a number of operative techniques. Their goal is to transform different deformities into a so-called ideal form. The ideal form is obtained by small changes such as fixing the nipple's position in relation to predetermined anatomical marks. Under certain conditions we have to deviate from the ideal form. In these cases the operative method used is not determined by the deformity but by the desired form. Reduction mammoplasty techniques are just variations of a single method whose principles still need to be defined.