Breast Implants – over 350,000 surgeries yearly

In the United States alone, over 350,000 women have breast augmentation surgery yearly, with an additional 90,000 breast implant procedures for breast reconstruction surgery following mastectomies.

The procedure of breast augmentation is considered one of the safer cosmetic procedures and offers patients a wide choice as to how their figure will look post surgery.

The first step is deciding what size and shape you want your new breasts to be. There are many ways you can choose the breasts you want and with digital computer imagery you can see how your new breasts will look on your body. To prevent you from choosing an implant that is smaller or larger than you wanted, plastic surgeons suggest patients try padding a bra with tissue to the size you think you want. Patients also recommend using  the rice test: Fill a plastic bag with rice to the weight of the implant you are considering. Mould the bag of rice inside your bra and try wearing it for a day or two to see how you feel.

There is no one size fits all technique to breast implants; an implant that will increase one woman’s breasts to a DD cup, can boost another patients breasts to a C or larger. Your plastic surgeon will guide you in choosing the implant size and shape that is going to give the best result.

Once the implant is chosen, your surgeon must decide where in the breast the implant will be placed.

The method of implant placement most frequently used is submuscular breast implant placement as it produces the most natural results. The implant is placed under the natural breast tissue. Once the breast implant is in place the implant can be covered with the pectoral muscle, using extra muscles from the chest wall to conceal it completely. Submuscular placement of implants is not suitable for every patient and surgeons may recommend subglandular placement instead, placing the implant on top of the chest muscle but below the mammary gland.

Implants can be placed through an incision around the areola, an incision underneath in the crease of the breast, through the armpit or, occasionally, through the navel. the placement of the incision site for implant placement depends on the individual patient, whether breast feeding is a consideration and the scarring that is likely. For more information about the incision site that may be suitable for you, please read further.