Breast implant sizing is individualized and based on a scientific approach to determine proportion. During your consultation, I will take multiple precise measurements of your natural chest anatomy, then I will provide a recommendation for the correct implant size based on a combination of these measurements, which type is safest for you and which implant will decrease the chance for post-op complication.

You will then try on implant sizers during the consultation, allowing you to see the shape/size that best fits your desired results.  This will give you the best idea of how you will look with a particular size implant.

Yes.  The location of your breast implant scars will be determined by the placement of the incisions that I will make in order to place your implants inside the breast pocket.  The most common incision I use is the inframammary incision. This technique creates an incision that follows the natural curve underneath your breasts. Thus, scarring can be easily hidden beneath a bikini top.

The periareolar incision creates a semi-circular incision tracing the lower half of your areolas, but I usually only use this site when I am doing a simultaneous breast left since a scar is necessary there anyway.  Another site, which I rarely use because increased problems with implant positioning is the transaxillary incision, placed in your underarm area.  This technique, however, is less accurate when it comes to the placement of your implants.

Yes.  The implant is placed outside the milk producing tissue.

Breast implants are not considered to be “lifetime devices,” but they are designed to be long lasting and safe. Patients can expect today’s breast implants—the products of decades of research into stronger shells and more stable fillers—to last more than a decade, with the chance of rupture increasing about one percent each year. That means after a decade, there is a 95% chance that the breast implants will still be fully intact.

Women who choose breast augmentation with implants should be prepared to keep up with their regular annual checkups, as well as perform self-checks to ensure the devices are still intact.

A ruptured saline implant, for instance, should deflate relatively quickly—over several days, at most. While saline is sterile, a loss of fluid into the breast tissue is obviously not ideal. In this case, women can expect the implant—and breast—to noticeably change size and shape.

A leaking silicone gel-filled implant is more difficult to detect at home, which has led to the coining of the term “silent rupture.” While a change in breast shape or size might be evident in this situation, patients may also experience a shift in sensation in the area or notice the formation of small lumps.

Yes, a technique is used to minimize the risk to the breast implants and improve the quality of the mammogram.

MRIs are recommended when you or the surgeon are suspicious because something has changed, or the implants have been in for over 10 years.   The FDA recommended that women who choose breast augmentation with gel-filled implants get MRI three years after their surgery, then every two years after that, but most surgeons consider this excessive.

Magnetic resonance imaging can detect leaks that would go undetected even during a doctor’s physical examination.

There is a type of breast implants that can cause cancer.  These implants are no longer available for surgery, but some women may have a “textured implant” and so you must contact your plastic surgeon to determine what you should do if you have one of these types of implants.

Years ago, breast implants were viewed as a way to get very dramatic and eye-catching results.  Nowadays, the goal of breast augmentation is to increase breast volume and improve asymmetry but to do so subtly for a very smooth and natural-looking result.

Saline and silicone breast implants are still the two types of implants, with silicone being the most popular. But within this category, women have a few newer options to choose from.

“Gummy bear” breast implants, for example, are shaped like a teardrop. This sloped shape mimics the contours of your natural breasts, with more fullness at the bottom and a tapering effect towards the top. Round implants, on the other hand, can usually create a fuller, more projected look than anatomical implants.

In general, silicone implants feel more natural than saline implants.

15% of breast augmentation patients lose sensation to a nipple.  This is not completely unavoidable.

No.

All of the sutures are dissolvable and under the skin.

Less than 1 week unless you use your chest muscles a lot (like waiting tables) and then you should wait 2 weeks.

Light exercise in 1 week.  Strenuous exercise after 3 weeks.

You will not hurt something by moving.  If fact, if you keep your chest muscles with range of motion excercises of your arms, you will be more comfortable.

After breast enlargement surgery, you can wear whatever garments and clothing you find comfortable.  Women often prefer a camisole or sport bra.

Most patients choose to be completely asleep for surgery.  A few patients prefer “sedation anesthesia” where they are drowsy.  You can choose whichever anesthesia you prefer.

While breast augmentation recovery is not extremely difficult, but you will have just undergone major surgery. You will need someone to stay with you for the night of surgery.  For the first few days, you will be sore and tired. For three weeks, you should not do any heavy lifting, and this includes picking up children under 20 pounds. Plus, no driving until you are finished with all narcotic pain medications. It is recommended that you schedule assistance with household chores and with childcare for the first 24 to 72 hours. Even just having a friend stop by each day to check in on you will be helpful.

After doing some online research, many women think that they’ll need breast implant removal or replacement of their breast implants every 10 years.  This is wrong and is due in large part the Food and Drug Administration report on the safety of silicone implants that noted one out of five patients needed a replacement or revision after 10 years.

However, it is important to note that while one in five women may need another procedure, that means four in five are still enjoying the benefits of their breast implants 10 years after receiving them.

Most of those additional procedures aren’t due to deflation or a rupture of the implant, which only affect 3% of breast implants.  Most revisions are by choice, when women decide they want to change their size or have further refinement.