Breast Augmentation, also known as Breast Enlargement is one of the most preferred plastic surgeries amongst women. Breast plays a big role in a females appearance although its main role is to breastfeed. For those who are not happy with the look of their breasts and feel insecure about it, breast augmentation is a good option to go.
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For women who think their breasts are small, breast enlargement surgery can be performed to correct the body proportion, especially hip-to-chest ratio. After pregnancy breast augmentation can be performed as the breasts shrink during the pregnancy. (In some cases sagging may occur and for those cases breast lift can be preferred.)
There are 2 main techniques to perform a Breast Augmentation surgery.
Breast enlargement with fat injection is widely preferred by those who do not want to have silicone protesis. In order to perform this technique, patient has to have excess body fat, which will be removed by Liposuction in order to be injected in the breasts. Once extracted the body fat with liposuction, it is centrifuged and separated. The useful part of the separated fat is injected into the breast. This centrifuged body fat is rich in mother cells and when it is injected, it has a positive effect in improving the skin quality.
As some part of injected fat is absorbed naturally, 50-60% of the injected part stays inside the breast and enlarges its proportion.
Within time, as injected fat can be absorbed, the effect of fat injection may decrease. It can not be performed for every type of breast. Patient needs to have excess fat to be extracted and if he/she wants to have elevated breasts, fat injection is not the most ideal technique. For this reason, implants are more popular for a solid breast enlargement.
Breast implants, also known as silicone protesis, are divided into a few categories according to their shapes, sizes and materials. Click here for more details about breast implants.
There are 4 different spots in terms of incisions for a placement of implants.
Each placement method has its own pros and cons. Your surgeon, after an examination, will inform you about the method that suits your body.
Breast implant procedure takes nearly 1-2 hours. Patient can be discharged on the surgery day or the day after. It is necessary to rest for 2 days. Patients do not have so much pain, but a rare feeling of having a filled breast may bother until the patient gets used to it. First two days patient can have slight swelling, but this swelling reduces within time. If the implant was placed beneath the muscle, movement can cause slight pain during the first few days. A small bandage is placed onto the incision and patient wears a sports bra onto this bandage to apply pressure. 3 Days after the surgery patient can take a shower without removing the bandage. Patient should wear the sports bra for a month. In 3-4 days patient can go back to normal life. Patient should keep away from physical activities for 2 months in order to avoid any possible damage caused by movement.
General
2-3 Hours
3-4 Weeks
8-12 Months
4 Days
1 Week
1 Night
0-1 **
*It is for informational purposes only, be sure to consult your doctor for diagnosis and treatment.
**Pain rating scale: from 0 = absence to 5 maximum pain.
There are a few important steps to keep in mind such as patient’s body proportion (shoulder width, weight, height), skin sagging, and patient’s preference. Before the procedure, patient can check sample implants to have a better idea about the sizes.
It is very hard to tell whether it is implant or not. Newest implants are very hard to notice as their material and stiffness are as close as to be natural. Majority of the patients are looking to get a natural sized implants, therefore it is very hard to notice unless the implant is too big to be natural.
If it is placed under the breast tissue, it does not damage breast milk ducts, nor breast tissue. According to the recent researches, silicone is not found in breastmilk.
Many plastic surgeries can be performed along with breast augmentation. Especially rhinoplasty, abdominal and leg operations, liposuction, genital operations are suitable for this. The biggest advantage of combined surgeries is that the satisfaction rate is high as it provides a solution for more than one problem. In addition, up to 50% price advantage is provided in combined surgeries.
All the scars become invisible in 6 months / 1 year.
It is recommended for those who are above the age of 18, as developmental period ends. If a patient above the age of 50 is healthy, it can be performed. If a patient is not happy with an asymmetry and is younger than 18 years old, it is possible to perform breast enlargement with the consent of his/her family.
The patient has certain volume of breast and small breast tissue, it is possible to perform both breast lifting and breast implants.
Body produces scar tissure for 3 months after the surgery. During this period underwire can prolong this healing process and increase the chance of having scars. Therefore, it is important to avoid wearing underwire bra in order to prevent any curvature due to scar under the breast.
Smoking tightens and compresses the veins, therefore blood circulation slows down. In the healing process, scarred area needs more blood than normal, for this reason it is important to not smoking so that enough oxygen can reach to the operated area.
Even though it is rare, patient can have numbness for a short period of time after the surgery. The cause of this numbness may be pressure from the implant and edema.
Silicone breast implants do not have any air bubbles inside, therefore they are not affected by high-pressure.
