Breast Augmentation

Breast augmentation, this is sometimes called "breast aug" or "boob job" by patients. Breast augmentation involves the use of breast implants or fat transfer to increase the size of your breast. This procedure can also restore the loss of breast volume after losing weight or pregnancy, gaining more rounded breast shape or improving natural asymmetry of breast size.

Breast augmentation is also known as an increase in augmentation mammoplasty. When the fat of the second part of the patient's body is used to create an improved breast volume, the procedure is called a fat transfer breast augmentation.

The benefit you can derive from breast augmentation surgery

• Increase fullness and projection of your breasts
• breast augmentation has been found to enhance the balance of breast and hip contours
• Enhance your self-image and self-confidence

It has also been revealed that breast implants can be adopted in the use of breast reconstruction after mastectomy or injury.

Am I a good candidate for breast augmentation?

You can be a candidate for breast augmentation if, some can have breast augmentation, others not:

• You are in good physical health and you are not pregnant or a nursing mother
• You have realistic expectations
• Your breasts are fully developed
• It disturbs the feeling that your breasts are too small
• You are not satisfied with the loss of shape and volume of the breast after pregnancy, weight loss or aging
• You are not satisfied that the upper part of your breast appears "empty"
• Your breasts are asymmetrical
• One or both breasts have not developed normally or had an elongated shape

How should you prepare for breast augmentation?

As you prepare for breast augmentation, you may be asked to:

• Go for a blood test
• Take certain medicines or adjust your current medication
• Quit smoking
• Avoid taking medications such as aspirin and some anti-inflammatory drugs as they may increase bleeding
• Stop taking recreational drugs like cocaine

Breast augmentation should be performed in an outpatient or accredited outpatient center or in a hospital. This is for your safety. If your surgeon has many informal setting, he or she may not be a board-certified plastic surgeon.

 

There is always a need to make provisions for close friends or family member who will drive you to and from surgery and stay with you at least the first night after surgery. This is important if your breasts augmentation is carried out on an outpatient basis.

What types of breast implants are available?

Saline breast implants

This type of breast implants can be filled with sterile salt water. In the event that there is leakage in the implant shell, there is going to be a kind of breakage in the saline implant and the saline will be absorbed and it’s going to be removed from the body via a natural process.

The benefit obtained from saline breast implants is that it provides a uniform shape, firmness and feeling and FDA approved for augmentation in women who are 18years of age and older women.

Structured saline breast implants

Unlike saline breast implants, structured implants are filled with sterile salt water and contain an internal structure whose aim is to make the implant look more natural.

Silicone breast implants

Silicone breast implants are filled with silicone gel. The gel looks like natural breast tissue. In case there is leakage in the implant, the gel can remain in the implant's shell or can escape into the breast implant pocket. A leaking implant filled with silicone gel will not collapse.

Other types of breast implants are:

• Gummy bear breast implants
• Round breast implants
• Smooth breast implants
• Textured breast implants

   What does breast augmentation involve?

Breast implants surgery is performed under general anesthesia.

The operation includes:

• Making an incision that is a cut into the skin next to or below the breast
• Positioning of the implant. The implant is positioned either between your breast tissue and chest muscle or behind your chest muscle
• The last step which is stitching the incision and covering it with a dressing

The operation lasts between 60 and 90 minutes.

How long do breast implants last?

Breast implants will not last for a lifetime. They probably need to be replaced at some point. Some women might need an additional surgical procedure after about 10 years, whether due to implant problems or because their breast has changed around the implants.

 

How long will I recover after having breast implant surgery?

You should be able to go home on the day of the operation or the next day. The recovery period after this procedure varies from person to person. The time you can return to normal activities also depends on where you place your implants. However, most women continue normal activities in two or three weeks. You should be able to get back to work after the first week if you have a harder job. It usually takes several weeks to make your breasts to look and feel more natural.

 

Breast augmentation uses breast implant surgery performed by a plastic surgeon.

The surgery can be done under local anesthesia, where the patient remains awake and only the breast is numbed to block the pain, or under general anesthesia, where medicine is given to make the patient sleep.

Most women receive general anesthesia for this surgery.

Breast implant surgery can last from one to several hours depending on the procedure and personal circumstances.

Breast augmentation is by far the first plastic surgery procedure representing more than a million and a half procedure last year, about one plastic and cosmetic surgery out of six.

What is the History of Breast Augmentation?

• Both saline-filled and silicone-filled implants have been used since the 1960s to enhance and enlarge women's breasts. Initial silicone implants in the early 1960s had a thick elastomer shell and were filled with a relatively firm silicone gel.

• In the mid 1970s, silicone implants tended to have a thin elastomeric shell and a less viscous gel, though gel cohesiveness was varied. Over the years, modifications have been made to implant shape, shell texture and properties, and the substance with which the implant is filled.

• Currently, they are the preferred method for augmentation mammoplasty.

Why having a Breast Augmentation Performed?

• Restoring breast fullness lost after pregnancy & breastfeeding
• Feeling more confident in a swimsuit
• Adding balance to better complement curvy hips
• Enhancing self-image

What are the Breast Augmentation Choices?

• Filling type: Saline, Silicone Gel, or Highly Cohesive Silicone “Gummy Bear” Implants.  Silicone implants require a larger incision for placement than do saline implants. Silicone implants are prefilled and are, therefore, available in fixed volumes, in contrast to saline implants, which are filled after they are placed in the patient and may be adjusted to compensate for any difference in volume between the patient's two breasts.

• 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  breast), while shaped implants lend a gently sloping look to breast profile. Both can look very natural with a skilled cosmetic surgeon’s help.

• Profile: The cosmetic surgeon will help in this based on patient’s existing proportions and 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. Many patients require a different sized breast implant for each breast; this helps to achieve the best possible symmetry. The size depends on patient’s existing breast size, personal goals, and cosmetic surgeon’s recommendations.

What are the Breast Augmentation Surgical Techniques?

The Inframammary Breast Augmentation

• An inframammary incision is the most common approach for placement of a breast implant. This approach, which entails a 3- to 4-cm incision, attempts to place the incision in or adjacent to the inframammary crease. The inframammary approach provides the most direct route and generally requires the least operative time for placement of the implant.

Advantages of this Breast Augmentation Technique

• a wider access point, allowing a cosmetic surgeon to place larger silicone implants or gummy bear implants with precision.

• less impact to milk production with this technique as neither the glandular tissue nor innervation is affected.  However, if the implant is placed on top of the pectoral muscle, it can exert pressure on the ducts and glands, which may reduce milk production functionality.

Disadvantage

• a visible scar on the anterior surface of the breast.

• additional problems center on the difficulty in placing the incision in the inframammary crease; this difficulty is potentially exacerbated with low-profile implants.

TheTransaxillary Breast Augmentation Technique

Involves a small incision made within the armpit, through which cosmetic surgeon will place the breast implant using a specialized camera and instruments to ensure optimal placement. 

Implants are usually placed below the muscle.  As with the other incision techniques, placement of the implant above the muscle will result in greater impairment than placement underneath.

Advantage :

• leaves a small scar within the armpit but no scar on the breast itself.

• The impact to milk production is usually minimal because the glandular tissue and nerves are largely undisturbed. 

Disadvantage:

• provides the worst exposure for placement of the implant.

• increased incidence of paresthesia

• obtaining symmetric pockets is more difficult with this approach, and damage to the intercostal brachial nerve and subclavian venous thrombosis has been reported.

• if infection results, removal of the implant may require conversion of the transaxillary incision to one of the other incisions described. 

• hypertrophic scar formation also can occur in the axilla, and the incision may be visible when the patient elevates her arms while wearing a sleeveless shirt.

• because silicone implants are prefilled and, therefore, require a larger incision for placement, only smaller silicone implants are typically placed via this route.

The Trans-umbilical or Periumbilical Technique

It is s performed by inserting the implant through an incision in the umbilicus (navel) and moving it into place in the breast.

In this technique, no incisions are made on the breast or into the breast tissue, although the breast tissue is disrupted and sometimes damaged as the implant is brought into position. Insertion through the umbilicus makes it difficult to position the implant accurately, requiring the use of a camera scope.  It also permits placement only above the muscle. 

Advantage of this Breast Augmentation Technique

A single scar with no scarring on the breast itself.

It preserves glandular function and nerve response so that the impact to milk production is usually minimal. 

Disadvantage

Placement of the implant is restricted to a prepectoral plane, and this approach provides the worst control for dissection of the pockets. Superior dissection and symmetry of placement are difficult, even in the most experienced hands.

Complications of hematoma or infection require conversion to one of the other incisions for implant removal.

Additionally, placement of saline-filled implants through a periumbilical approach requires a special type of valvular mechanism, and the long-term reliability of the valvular mechanism in these implants has not been fully clarified.

Breast augmentation with fat injections

Breast augmentation using the patient’s own fat (autologous fat transfer or fat micrografting) is a procedure that involves removing fat from one or several areas of the body by liposuction and then injecting that fat into the breast tissue to achieve a cosmetic augmentation.

Modest augmentations are possible with current fat grafting techniques.

Limitations :

Results from injection of autogenous tissue have lacked predictability.

In addition to the risks of scarring and uneven texture that may be visible in patients who have undergone tissue injection into the breasts, microcalcifications may develop. This makes performing follow-up mammography on these women for early diagnosis of breast cancer difficult.

 

Despite the extensive list of potential complications, breast augmentation remains one of the safest and most predictable procedures performed.

The surgery provides a balance between the size and shape of the patient's breasts and the rest of her body.

The low incidence of complications and the predictability of surgical outcome have prompted an increasing number of individuals to undergo the procedure.

Details of each procedure, complication, recommendations, read more and download our Ultimate Breast Augmentation Techniques Guide.