Breast augmentation is one of the most effective and highly satisfying of all body contouring plastic surgery procedures. Making one’s breast instantly larger in just an hour of surgery is truly transformative for many women. Thousands of before and after photographs and advertisements for the procedure that can easily be found on the internet testify as to the benefits of getting breast implants.
But one of the realities of breast augmentation is that these instantaneous enlarging results are achieved through the use of an implantable medical device. Breast implants are composed of a containment bag or shell which is filled with either salt water or a silicone gel material. To get the desired results, the breast implant devices must be properly placed in the desired tissue pocket in as symmetrical fashion as possible. The short and long-term success of the breast augmentation procedure is thus controlled by three factors, the initial placement of the implants, how one’s body responds to them and the stability of the implant devices over one’s lifetime.
When it comes to breast augmentation surgery, here are five things you may not have known about it but should be aware.
Breast Implants Enlarge The Natural Features Of The Breasts. While the breast implants make have round or anatomical (tear drop) shapes, the final breast shape result will also be influenced by the breast tissues that lies on top of them. How much breast skin and glandular tissue one has, how it hangs or sags (or doesn’t) and the differences or similarities between them will affect how the final breast augmentation result will look. In short, all breast implants do is take what you have and make it bigger.
Breast Implants Magnify Existing Breast Features and Characteristics. When the breasts are small or deflated after pregnancy or weight loss, women often are not aware of differences between their two breasts. These differences are often subtle and seemingly insignificant. But when breast implants are placed, the size of the breasts may be increased anywhere form 100% to 500% in volume. (and two or three cup sizes) Such a magnitude of size increase can take very small differences between the breasts and make them much bigger and very obvious.
The Body’s Healing Response To Breast Implants Can Affect How They Look. Every synthetic implant that is placed in the body generates a healing response. This healing response is a layer of scar tissue which is known as a capsule. It is the body’s natural way to separate the implant from itself. Because a breast implant is round and needs to move freely to feel soft and natural, its encasement in this layer of scar can affect how it looks and feels. If abnormally thick scar tissue develop around a breast implant, known as a capsular contracture, the breast can feel firmer and be asymmetrically positioned compared to the other side. Whether and why capsular contracture may form is both unpredictableand not well understood.
Breast Augmentation Rarely Produces Perfect Breast Symmetry. Between the natural breast asymmetry that almost all women have and how the body heals around newly placed implants, ideal breast symmetry should not be expected after breast augmentation no matter how well the surgery is performed.
The Revision Rate in Breast Augmentation Surgery Is Not Insignificant. Because it is a medical device being placed in the body, there are a wide variety of short and long-term issues that can develop that may affect the breast augmentation result. Some of the issues may require additional surgery to correct. The breast implant manufacturers, who have studied their breast implants for decades, state that there is a rate of over 30% of patients requiring revisional surgery within the first three years after breast augmentation surgery. While in my practice this revision rate is closer to 10% or less, suffice it to say that these numbers indicate that the need for revisional breast augmentation surgery is not rare.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana