Breast Augmentation
Breast augmentation, sometimes referred to as augmentation mammoplasty, is a surgical procedure to enlarge the breasts. Under breast tissue or chest muscles, breast implants are inserted.
Breast augmentation is a strategy to boost confidence for some ladies. Others use it as a component of reconstructing the breast to treat various problems.
Speak to a plastic surgeon about breast augmentation if you’re thinking about it. Make sure you are aware of all the potential risks, complications, and aftercare associated with surgery.
You might benefit from breast augmentation if:
If you perceive your breasts to be little or that one is smaller than the other, and this influences how you dress or the sort of bra required to address the asymmetry, improve your look.
Make adjustments for a decrease in breast size following pregnancy or a major weight loss.
Breast Lift With Implant
Following a mastectomy, which involves removing your breast to treat or prevent breast cancer, breast reconstruction is a surgical treatment that gives your breast its original shape.
Breast implants, silicone devices filled with silicone gel or salt water (saline), are used in one type of breast reconstruction to reshape your breasts. A plastic surgeon must execute a complicated surgery known as breast reconstruction with breast implants.
Breast reconstruction might begin immediately after your mastectomy (immediate reconstruction) or at a later period (delayed reconstruction). Usually two or more procedures are necessary for breast reconstruction. The skin on your chest will need to be stretched and expanded over the course of numerous appointments scheduled two to three months following your initial surgery in order to prepare it for the implant.
Breast reconstruction won’t perfectly replicate your natural breast’s appearance and feel. A silhouette resembling your pre-mastectomy one could be restored by the shape of your new breast.
A breast implant is a silicone shell with a teardrop or spherical shape that is filled with silicone gel or saline solution. Implants made of silicone gel, which were formerly prohibited due to safety worries, are now regarded as safe.
The implant is positioned beneath or in front of the muscle in your chest by a plastic surgeon (pectoral muscle). A specific tissue termed acellular dermal matrix is used to hold implants that are placed in front of the muscle in place. Collagen is gradually used by your body to replace this tissue.
At the time of the mastectomy, some women are able to have the permanent breast implant implanted (direct-to-implant reconstruction). Many women, however, need a two-stage procedure that involves utilizing a tissue expander before the permanent implant is put in.
How you get ready
Your doctor could advise scheduling a consultation with a plastic surgeon before a mastectomy. Consult a board-certified plastic surgeon with experience in breast reconstruction after mastectomy. To create the most effective surgical plan and breast reconstruction technique for your case, the breast surgeon and the plastic surgeon should ideally collaborate.
Your plastic surgeon will discuss the pros and cons of implant-based reconstruction with you, go through your surgical alternatives, and perhaps even show you pictures of women who have undergone various forms of breast reconstruction. The ideal type of reconstruction depends on your body type, health situation, and cancer therapy. The plastic surgeon informs the patient about the anesthesia, the surgical site, and any potential after treatments.
Even if your opposite breast is healthy, your plastic surgeon may explore the benefits and drawbacks of having surgery on it so that it more nearly resembles the size and shape of your reconstructed breast. Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, a surgical procedure that involves removing your healthy breast, can increase your risk of bleeding and infection by double. After surgery, there could also be reduced satisfaction with the cosmetic results.
Follow your doctor’s detailed instructions for getting ready for the surgery before having it. This might include suggestions for what to eat and drink, how to change your medication, and how to stop smoking.
After the procedure
Your remaining chest skin and soft tissues are stretched during the tissue expansion procedure to make space for the breast implant. During your mastectomy, your surgeon will put a tissue expander that resembles a balloon under or over your pectoral muscle. Your doctor or nurse will gradually inflate the balloon with saline over the course of a few months by inserting a needle through a tiny valve under your skin.
The skin can stretch over time because to this slow process. Every week or two, you’ll visit your doctor to have the saline injection. As the implant swells, you can feel some pressure or discomfort.
Carbon dioxide is used in a more modern type of tissue expander. The gas is released from an internal reservoir by this expander that is controlled remotely. The progressive expansion utilizing carbon dioxide may make you feel less uncomfortable than the expansion using saline.
Your physician performs a second procedure to remove the tissue expander and replace it with a permanent implant that is positioned in the same location as the tissue expander after the tissue has been sufficiently expanded.
After surgery, there may be some swelling and pain for a few weeks. Bruising is also conceivable. Scars should lighten with time but not totally vanish.
Wearing a compression bandage or sports bra could be beneficial for further support and alignment of the breast implants while you’re recuperating. Additionally, your surgeon might recommend painkillers.
Follow your surgeon’s recommendations for when to resume your normal activities. You might be able to go back to work in a few weeks if you don’t have a physically demanding job. For at least two weeks, refrain from engaging in any demanding activities that could increase your heart rate or blood pressure. While you’re recovering, keep in mind that your breasts will be delicate to abrupt movements or physical contact.
You will require a follow-up consultation to have the sutures removed if your surgeon used sutures that won’t dissolve on their own or if they inserted drainage tubes close to your breasts.
You may have an infection if you have warmth and redness in your breasts or if you’re feverish. As soon as you can, get in touch with your surgeon. If you experience chest pain or shortness of breath, you should also call your surgeon.
Results
Your breasts’ size and shape can alter after breast augmentation. Your self-esteem and body image may improve as a result of the operation. However, don’t demand perfection and keep your expectations in check.
After breast augmentation, your breasts will also keep aging. The way your breasts look may also change depending on your weight. You may require more surgery to address these problems if you grow to be unsatisfied with the way your breasts look.
Who is good candidate
Breast augmentation is a very private surgery, so even if someone else has volunteered to pay for it, it’s crucial that you are doing it for yourself. Especially when they request the operation themselves, patients are more satisfied.
If any of the following applies to you:
You have reasonable expectations and are in good physical health. You are not expecting or nursing.
Your breasts are completely formed.
Your breasts seem too tiny to you, which bothers you.
You dislike how your breasts have changed in size and shape as a result of pregnancy, weight loss, or aging.
You dislike how your upper breast appears to be “empty.”
Your breasts are uneven in size.
Inadequate or elongated breast development in one or both breasts
