3 Expert Tips You Should Know About Breast Augmentation

You probably know a friend or a family member who had breast augmentation. It’s a super common procedure, after all—it was the second most performed procedure after liposuction last year. If you’ve been considering it for yourself, you’re most likely overwhelmed with the endless floods of information on the procedure.

While friends and family may mean well with their advice and opinions, it’s more reassuring to have expert advice of a plastic surgeon when it comes to breast implants. Dr. Mulholland, a Toronto plastic surgeon, answers 3 common breast augmentation questions below.

Q: How many minutes on a daily basis should I be spend massaging my breasts after breast augmentation? Should I continue doing this for months, years or forever?

A: There’s a great deal of surgeon variability and the lack of consensus when it comes to the value of breast massage following breast augmentation surgery.  Some surgeons feel quite strongly that breast massage will help soften breast tissues around the breast more quickly, allowing the breast implant to drop into the pocket more quickly and minimize the risk of capsular contracture hardening.  Other physicians feel the breast implant will adapt to shape and breast massage will have little influence on that shape nor on the degree of softness or capsular contracture formation.

In general it’s been my experience that most patients find breast massage to relieve early swelling in the breast tissue and allow the breast implant and breast to more rapidly adopt a more natural position and shape.  Massaging your breasts on a daily basis while performing a home breast self examination for breast cancer is a harmless and logical step.  Breast massage can be like touching your toes and straightening your knee and elongating fibrous tissue.  Elongating this tissue may minimize the risk of some degree of capsular contracture, but will not probably prevent strong capsule formations if they’re destined to occur.

Always seek the advice of your operative surgeon as their specific technique may or may not lend itself to a breast massage, but do not forget that they have home breast self examination for the detection of breast cancer.

Source: YouTube. Dr. Mulholland discusses Vectra 3D and breast augmentation in this video.

Q: How long do I have to wait until I can have a revision? I was told 425cc was the largest I could go, but I'd like them significantly larger. Is it possible to go larger and what size cc would get the results I'm looking for? Aside from size, the lack of cleavage is really irritating me, I want them to look “WOW!” I can barely force them together right now.

A: Eight weeks is still very early following breast surgery and there’s still too much swelling and edema to consider re-operation.  Most plastic surgeons will advise that you allow your breast implants time to settle and stretch out the soft tissue and have time to truly appreciate the breast enhancement size and breast waist tip ratio prior to entertaining any revision or enhancement augmentation procedure. 

The ability to go bigger than your current 425 cc implants will depend upon your soft tissue elasticity and chest wall characteristics.  In general you can increase in size, but large breast implants come with a whole host of other potential complications over time, such as loss of support, droopiness or ptosis of the breast implants as they will stretch out your soft tissue.

If you do decide to increase your size of your breast implant most surgeons would recommend you wait between 6 and 12 months prior to entertaining such a procedure.

Q: I am 33 years old with 3 children (including eight-month old twins) and I will be having the mommy makeover. I am between 5'1" and 5'2" and weigh 125 lbs. I was 115lbs pre-pregnancy. I am currently a size 32B. I wanted to know how many cc's would be good for me?

A: Your question is a common one and is excellent.  Your frame seems quite slight at 5’1” or 5’2” inches and 125 pounds.  In general, it is more important to match the breast contour shape and width to the shoulder waist hip ratio to achieve natural proportions.  If the breast implants that are selected are too big, it will lead to a very heavy artificial look to the breast, which may lead to some dissatisfaction.

I have found over the past 20 years of performing cosmetic aesthetic plastic surgery that the use of the Vectra 3D, a 3D imaging system, allows patients to pick different sizes and shapes of implants and very accurately assess the simulated post-operative result.  This “try before you buy” option has rendered the uncertainty that many patients have almost obsolete as patients can actually see their figure, shape and form before they go out and create it.

I would recommend seeking out the office of a plastic surgeon in the Toronto Area that uses the Vectra 3D so you can again validate the contour shape and form that you think would work best for you.

If you have more questions, feel free to book an appointment online.