BACKGROUND: There are multitudes of procedures in plastic surgery used to correct hypertrophic and pendulous breasts in patients with heavy and ptotic breasts who need great resections of breast tissue, where the suprasternal notch-to-nipple distance is long and the use of nipple-areola transposition techniques is a challenge for the plastic surgeon. The purpose of this study is to present a technique of reduction mammaplasty that could solve these problems based on the following principles: mammary reduction utilizing a thin superior medial pedicle (0.8-1.5 cm thick) and the resection performed in two steps: (1) the base excess at a plane perpendicular to the breast (this determines the cone's height) and (2) central half keel (this determines the breast diameter reduction). METHODS: Ninety patients with mammary hypertrophy were operated on at the "Hospital das Clínicas," São Paulo University Medical School, between January 2000 and November 2005. Inclusion in this study required a minimum of 12-cm change in nipple position and a 750-g breast resection. RESULTS: The mean change in nipple position was 16 cm (range = 12-21 cm). The mean weight of each breast was 1400 (range = 750-3000 g). Considering the great amount of volume removed and the size of the operated breasts, few complications were observed and were similar to those reported following other techniques described in the literature. Patient satisfaction following this procedure was high. CONCLUSION: The results of this study clearly demonstrate that thin superior medial pedicle reduction mammaplasty is a safe and reliable technique in cases of severe mammary hypertrophy.