What factors should I consider before having breast augmentation?

Thinking of having surgery to enlarge your breasts? Plastic surgeon Stuart Linder, MD, discusses if it could make sense for you.

Transcript

00:00

Patients need to realize that if they have silicone gel implants placed, that they are going to have to have

00:06

MRIs every two to three years. And that's not always covered by insurance and that can be expensive. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:19

A lot of patients come to me not knowing what they should know before they undergo breast augmentation. Well, first of all, the patient needs

00:27

to realize that once they do a breast enhancement surgery, it's not a lifetime device, that those implants

00:34

are going to have to be replaced somewhere down the line. So once you have your first augmentation, realize that you will have to have another surgery down

00:42

the road. Reasons to have to re-operate will mostly include scar tissue formation or capsular contracture

00:48

around the implant or secondly, rupture or deflation of the implants. Again, these are not lifetime devices.

00:55

They don't last forever. They can last anywhere between 8 and 15 years and you need to realize that they're going to rupture

01:02

or that they're going to crack with time. Patients need to realize that if they have silicone gel implants placed, that they are going to have to have

01:12

MRIs every two to three years. And that's not always covered by insurance and that can be expensive. The reason for the MRI is when the silicone implant ruptures,

01:21

it's called a silent rupture, which means you don't know that it's broken because it just sits there. And the shell can be cracked without anybody

01:29

knowing that there's actually a broken implant. And another interesting fact is that mammography, when you have silicone implants, is often

01:36

presented with false negative results, meaning that they'll say this woman's implants are intact with silicone and it's actually ruptured.

01:43

With respect to other things that a woman should know, the larger the implant, the more gravitational descent,

01:50

the greater the chance that the skin is going to stretch out. And with time, you may end up needing a breast lift. So be careful about going too large

01:59

on your first augmentation. My biggest concerns after surgery are prevention of bleeding and infection. To prevent bleeding, I do not allow my patients

02:07

to raise their arm above their shoulder for four weeks. My concern is that the patients can tear small branches of the arteries that

02:15

are within the pocket that is created and that could cause a hematoma, which is bleeding, which may require another surgery.

02:22

Second problem is infection. My patients are instructed that they may not get the incisions wet for 14 days. Patients ask, when can I start exercising again?

02:30

So it's usually four to six weeks before our patients who have had subpectoral implants can go back to working out.

02:38

Our patients ask to go back to work. If they don't do any type of labor intensive work, we allow our patients go back in five working days.