Breast Enhancement Surgery
For the women who, for personal reasons, feel that her breast size is too small or not properly contoured, cosmetic breast surgery can be the answer. Breast augmentation surgery, or augmentation mammoplasty, restores or adds volume to a woman’s breasts to give her a more proportional figure. This can be used to balance out an uneven “pear-shaped” body or to fill out and lift deflated breasts. Breast augmentation may also help women who have lost a significant amount of weight or who have experienced stretching of the breast skin after pregnancy and breast feeding to achieve fullness again. Breast implants may also be used to reconstruct the breasts of women who have undergone a mastectomy or lumpectomy for breast cancer, or who have suffered from other traumatic injuries to the breasts.
In women who have sagging of the breasts, from breast feeding or weight loss, breast augmentation can be combined with a breast lift to create a larger, lifted, fuller and more youthful appearing breast.
There are many other benefits of breast augmentation surgery that you may experience. Not only can it increase the size breasts, but it can balance out your figure making you appear slimmer, taller, and more confident. That increase in confidence can make you seem more approachable to others and make you appear more attractive to the opposite sex, including your spouse. Many patients who have breast implants report increased self-confidence and a better outlook on life, thus enjoying more positive experiences in their day-to-day lives. Consider also, that balancing out the top half of your body can help you feel and look better in form-fitting clothing and allow you more opportunities to look good in the types of outfits you’ve always wanted to wear.
Breast Augmentation before & after
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What is Breast Augmentation Surgery?
Breast augmentation increases the fullness, size, and/or projection of a woman’s breasts. To achieve this, implants filled with either silicone gel or saline are implanted either under the breast tissue or under the pectoral muscle. There are many choices involved with breast augmentation, everything from the incision location to the implant type. Dr. Rosenthal will provide you with the information you need and help you with these decisions before proceeding with the procedure.
Candidacy for Breast Augmentation
Different women have different reasons for wanting to augment their breasts. The one common theme should be this — the decision is being made for her, not for a partner, spouse, or anyone else. Whether you’ve felt your breasts were never proportional with the rest of your body; whether you feel as if your breasts have lost volume and fullness after pregnancy and subsequent breastfeeding; whether your breasts are asymmetrical; or whether you’d simply like to have larger, rounder breasts — there are plenty of great candidates for this popular procedure.
Risk factors of a Breast Augmentation
Many research studies have been performed on both silicone and saline breast implants. These studies have yet to find a link between breast implants and autoimmune or other systemic diseases.
Still there are risks involved with augmentation:
• Capsular contracture
• Change or loss of nipple sensation
• Scarring
• Bleeding
• Infection
• Problems with the implant position
• Implant rupture
• Implant rippling
• Breast milk production
Dr. Rosenthal will discuss these risks with you during your consultation.
Is Breast Augmentation Surgery Painful?
Breast augmentation is surgery, but your recovery is not as difficult as you might assume. For the first few days, you will have some discomfort, but it doesn’t usually require serious pain medication. Your chest will likely feel tight, but this is perfectly normal as the tissue needs to stretch and the implants need to settle into place. When you first look at your new breasts, they may appear too high on the chest. But this is also normal, as settling will bring the implants down somewhat.
Most patients can return to work in just four or five days. You can begin non-impact activity in a week or so, but impact exercise needs to wait for at least one month. Specific upper body exercises can resume in six weeks.
Recovery from a Breast Augmentation
After your surgery, your breasts will be wrapped in gauze dressings and you’ll be in a support bra to minimize swelling and provide support. You’ll need to take it easy for the first several days. Any acute pain typically subsides after from one to five days, but you may have some occasional soreness and swelling for a few weeks. Early one, your chest will feel tight, but this is perfectly normal as the tissue needs to stretch and the implants need to settle into place. When you first look at your breasts, they will appear to be too high on the chest. This is also normal, as the implants will settle downward into the pockets created for them.
Most patients can return to work in four or five days. You can begin non-impact activity in a week or so, but impact exercise or activity needs to wait at least one month and maybe longer. Specific upper body exercises can resume in six weeks.
Breast Augmentation FAQs
How Long Does Breast Augmentation Take?
The procedure takes one to two hours. This doesn’t include prep time before and time after to come out of the anesthesia.
What anesthesia is used for breast augmentation?
Breast augmentation is performed with the patient under general anesthesia.
How will breast augmentation affect pregnancy?
Implants are made of medical grade silicone outer shells filled with either saline or medical grade silicone gel. These materials are non-reactive in the body, and they pose no risk to normal pregnancy in any way. On the flip side, the body changes caused by pregnancy do not affect the actual implants either. The woman’s breasts will grow with pregnancy, but this doesn’t involve or affect the implants themselves.
In most cases, breastfeeding is not affected by augmentation. This is especially true if the implants are placed under the chest muscle because this provides an extra layer of separation between the implants and the milk ducts. Breast lifts with augmentation are more likely to cause disruption of the milk ducts because the nipple/areola complex usually is moved.
Augmented breasts are actually more resistant to the loss of volume and shape that occurs in most non-augmented breasts after pregnancy and breastfeeding. Augmented breasts maintain more of their volume because the implant volume does not decrease.
How long before I can shower after my augmentation surgery?
Dr. Rosenthal asks patients to wait for 48 hours before showering after this surgery. However, baths and submerging the incisions should be avoided for about one month.
Preparing for your Breast Augmentation Consultation with Dr. Rosenthal
Congratulations on deciding to move forward with your breast augmentation with Dr. Rosenthal! Now, with the help of her staff, you will select a date for your surgery and schedule a preoperative appointment at our office in greater San Jose. At that time, you will be given all your pre and postoperative instructions, and prescriptions for necessary postoperative medications. You will also have a “sizing” appointment (which can be done at the same visit) to make a final decision on the type and size of breast implants to be used.
Before coming in for your initial consultation, be sure that you are healthy and in good physical condition. It is best to be about the weight you want to maintain since a large weight gain or weight loss may change the size and shape of your breasts, even after surgery. If you are a smoker, try to stop at least two weeks before your breast augmentation, since surgery is safest for non-smokers. You will also want to avoid aspirin, NSaids (advil, motrin), and herbal supplements two weeks before and after surgery since they may increase the chance of postoperative bleeding. If you are 35 or older, or have breast abnormalities, Dr. Rosenthal may request that you obtain a mammogram before your surgery.
Read what our patients are saying!
Dearest Dr. Rosenthal,
I wanted to start off by giving you my sincerest THANK YOU! The breast augmentation (BA) I recently had done this past June has enhanced my self-confidence. As I mentioned at one of my post-op check ups, they’ve become second nature.
Never did I think I would ever opt to have the BA done. My mind set was one of: One should be happy with the body God gave you. But after my second child, I became depressed with how my body looked … Especially my breasts. I was even embarrassed being intimate with my husband – who obviously didn’t care. But to me it did matter and I cared. Soon after is when I decided to have the procedure … And since then, I’ve never looked back and would do it all over again!
I am so pleased with the results, the care of your office staff: Cate and Ashley, the care of the surgical staff, and your genuine sincerity and warmth as a doctor.
So, to any woman thinking of having this procedure done and considering which doctor is right for you – your search has ended here! I highly recommend Dr. Rosenthal.
Thank you,
V.R.
Click here to read more reviews.
Your Breast Augmentation Surgery – The Big Day!
The night before or the morning of your surgery, you will speak with your anesthesiologist. Most commonly, you will have “General Anesthesia” , meaning you are asleep during your procedure. Your breast enlargement surgery will be performed at an accredited San Jose area outpatient surgical center.
After your surgery is completed by Dr. Rosenthal (which takes about 1 ¼ – 1 ¾ hrs.), you are monitored in the “recovery unit” for about an hour until you are medically stable and ready for release to your designated caretaker (friend, family member, or nurse) who will take you home.
View Dr. Rosenthal’s before and after gallery.
