Plastic Surgery Case Study - Breast Implants and Their Effects on Stretch Marks

Background: Changes to the breasts are common with pregnancy and weight loss. The most common aesthetic breast deformities from these bodily changes include loss of beast tissue, stretch marks and breast sagging. While there are surgical corrections for loss of breast volumes and breast sagging, stretch marks remain resistant to any known treatment.

Many women that present for breast augmentation have stretchmarks on their breasts. Most are fairly minor and are not a major aesthetic distraction to the breasts. But occasionally some women appear that have a large number of stretch marks that are also wide. They appear as long stretch marks that radiate outward onto the breast mound in a circumferential pattern.

For women so afflicted with such stretch marks on their breasts the question is whether breast augmentation surgery will make them look better or worse?

Case Study: This 28 year-old female presented for breast augmentation surgery. Her breast mounds were small due to involution but she had a lot of stretch marks in a radiating pattern from her nipples.

Under general anesthesia, breast augmentation surgery was performed through an inframammary incisional approach. Gummy bear silicone breast implants of 325cc size were placed in the partial submuscular position. (dual plane pocket) Her postoperative results six weeks after the surgery shows that her stretch marks became ‘bigger’ by being elongated as they were expanded over the enlarged breast mounds. The stretch marks did become elongated by the pressure of the underlying implants although the stretch marks did not technically become worse. (further damage of the skin)