What is the breast augmentation?

Breast augmentation, sometimes referred to as a "breast augmentation" or "boob job" by patients, involves using breast implants or fat transfer to increase the size of your breasts. This procedure can also restore breast volume lost after weight reduction or pregnancy, achieve a more rounded breast shape or improve natural breast size asymmetry.

What can breast augmentation surgery do?

Increase the fullness and projection of the breasts.

Improve the proportionality and symmetry of your breast and hips.

Improve self-esteem and self-confidence.

What breast augmentation surgery can't do ?

Breast augmentation surgery alone cannot fix sagging breasts. To make sagging breasts look fuller and proudly lifted, breast lift surgery is required along with breast augmentation.

A breast lift can often be done at the same time with breast augmentation surgery or may require separate surgery. Your plastic surgeon will help you make that decision.

Possible candidates for breast augmentation :

• You are physically healthy and you aren't pregnant or breastfeeding
• You have realistic expectations
• Your breasts are fully developed
• You are bothered by the feeling that your breasts are too small
• You are dissatisfied with your breasts losing shape and volume after pregnancy, weight loss or with aging
• You are unhappy with the upper part of your breast appearing "empty"
• Your breasts are asymmetrical
• One or both breasts failed to develop normally or have an elongated shape

How is breast augmentation performed?

To insert the breast implant, your plastic surgeon will make a single cut (incision) in one of four places:

• The crease under your breast (inframammary)
• Under your arm (axillary)
• Around your nipple (periareolar)
• Transumbilical

After making an incision, the surgeon will separate your breast tissue from the muscles and connective tissue of your chest. This creates a pocket either behind or in front of the outermost muscle of the chest wall (pectoral muscle). The surgeon will insert the implant into this pocket and center it behind your nipple.

Saline implants are inserted empty and then filled with sterile salt water once they're in place. Silicone implants are pre-filled with silicone gel.

When the implant is in place, the surgeon will close the incision — typically with stitches (sutures) — and bandage it with skin adhesive and surgical tape.

Breast Implant Choices :

• Filling type:Saline, Silicone Gel, or Highly Cohesive Silicone “Gummy Bear” Implants.
• Shape:Saline & Silicone Gel implants are typically round, while gummy bear implants come in shaped and round options. Round implants will typically achieve a fuller upper pole (the top portion of your breast), while shaped implants lend a gently sloping look to your breast profile.
• Profile:Your cosmetic surgeon will help you choose this based on your existing proportions and your goals. Generally, patients with a more petite frame will require a higher profile implant to achieve the desired size increase while ensuring the implants are not too wide at the base.
• Size:Breast implants range in size from about 150cc to 800cc or larger.

How much does a Facelift surgery cost?

It can vary significantly depending on multiple factors, including:

Country

Experience of the surgeon

Type of implants

Location of the procedure (office, surgery center, hospital)

Type of anesthesia used

*A low-cost facial rejuvenation surgery performed by an inexperienced surgeon who delivers poor results is not a good combination.

Recovery -

After surgery, you and your caregiver will receive detailed instructions about your post-op care, including information about:

• Drains, if they have been placed
• Normal symptoms you will experience
• Potential signs of complication

Immediately after breast augmentation surgery
After your breast augmentation procedure, you may be placed in a surgical dressing that can include a support bra or garment.

Breast augmentation surgery stretches the breast tissue and can be painful—especially when implants have been placed under the chest muscle. Typically, the most pain is experienced within the first 48 hours after breast augmentation surgery. Your level of pain will typically decrease each day and may be effectively treated with various pain medications.

Your breasts may feel tight and sensitive to the touch and your skin may feel warm or itchy. You may experience difficulty raising your arms.

Some discoloration and swelling will occur initially, but this will disappear quickly. Most residual swelling will resolve within a month.

When the anesthesia wears off, you may have some pain. If the pain is extreme or long-lasting, contact your physician. You will also have some redness and swelling after the surgery. Contact your surgeon to find out if your pain, redness and swelling is normal or a sign of a problem.

Possible breast augmentation surgery risks :

• Anesthesia risks
• Breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL)*
• Bleeding
• Changes in nipple or breast sensation
• Fluid accumulation (seroma)
• Formation of tight scar tissue around the implant (capsular contracture)
• Hematoma
• Implant leakage or rupture
• Infection
• Persistent pain
• Poor scarring
• Possibility of revision surgery
• Wrinkling of the skin over the implant
• Wrong or faulty position of the implant

What will my scars look like?

One common question that patients have before breast augmentation is, “What will my scars look like?” You’ll be glad to learn that an experienced, qualified surgeon will use a surgical technique that places breast augmentation incisions so the resulting scars are easily hidden and inconspicuous, even to the patient herself.

Results :

Breast augmentation can change the size and shape of your breasts. The surgery might improve your body image and self-esteem. But keep your expectations realistic, and don't expect perfection.

Also, your breasts will continue to age after augmentation. Weight gain or weight loss might change the way your breasts look, too. If you become dissatisfied with the appearance of your breasts, you might need more surgery to correct these issues.

When performed by a qualified cosmetic surgeon, breast augmentation is a safe surgery with long-lasting results, and the overwhelming number of patients are very glad they chose to have the procedure.

You’ll want to keep the following in mind:

It’s safe to have mammograms with breast implants, so be sure to maintain regular screening as prescribed by your doctor.

For silicone implants, it is recommended that patients undergo periodic monitoring (via mammogram, ultrasound or MRI) to screen for ruptures, which are rare.

Future pregnancies or weight fluctuations may affect your results, and a  secondary surgery may be needed to correct any changes you are unhappy with over time.

Breast implant replacement -

Breast implants are not considered to be lifetime devices, and they may need to be replaced. You can see your plastic surgeon for an annual examination to evaluate your breast health and implant integrity.

Over time, your breasts will change due to aging, weight fluctuations, hormonal factors and gravity. As the appearance of their breasts changes with time, some patients have a breast lift or an implant exchange to restore a more youthful contour.

* Implants and ALCL:
In January 2016, the United States FDA provided an update to the 2011 safety communication that identified a possible association between breast implants and the development of ALCL, a rare type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

According to the World Health Organization, BI-ALCL is not a breast cancer or cancer of the breast tissue; it is a lymphoma, a cancer of immune cells. Women with breast implants may have a very low, but increased risk of developing ALCL adjacent to a breast implant.

• Women with breast implants are encouraged to contact their plastic surgeon if they notice swelling, fluid collections, or unexpected changes in breast shape
• In symptomatic patients suspicious for BI-ALCL, the implant should be immediately removed.

Breast implant associated-ALCL is very rare, and if it occurs, is highly treatable in the majority of patients. The FDA, ASPS, and ASAPS recommend that all women, including those with breast implants, follow their normal routine in medical care and follow-up, including mammography when appropriate.

The FDA as well as the Institute of Medicine (IOM) maintain that breast implants do not impair breast health and scientific evidence continues to support that FDA-approved breast implants have a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness.