Breast Augmentation

Breasts are complementary parts of beauty in women, besides their functions in breastfeeding and symbolizing femininity. Therefore, lack of self-confidence may arise in women who are not satisfied with the appearance of their breasts and who do not find them beautiful. Breast augmentation surgery is one of the methods providing permanent results to solve this problem.

When To Perform Breast Enlargement Surgery?

For women believing that they have small breasts; breast augmentation surgery can be performed to improve the disproportionate appearance of body lines, especially to correct the hip to breast proportion.

This surgery can be performed to restore the volume lost after pregnancy. If the issue is saggy breasts, breast lift surgery can be performed in combination with breast augmentation.

Breast augmentation can be performed to achieve symmetrical breasts; as well as, to reconstruct breasts if the breasts are congenitally absent or if they have been removed due to cancer.

Breast prostheses already been placed in the breast tissue may need to be replaced due to ageing or loss of their properties. Sometimes they may need to be replaced because they have become problematic. Breast augmentation can be performed in these cases, too.

How Is Breast Enlargement Surgery Performed?

Breast augmentation surgery is a procedure that allows increasing the breast volume to a desirable size, either via fat injection or by placing silicone prostheses in the breast tissue.

Surgery is performed under general anesthesia in hospital conditions, and it lasts for 1-2 hours. A bandage and bra are applied to the breast. Postoperative pain is minimal. Since absorbable sutures are used, there is no need for suture removal. Early swelling and bruising may occur, but they disappear spontaneously in 10 days. Drains are placed based on surgeon’s discretion. If they are placed, they are usually removed in 1-2 days.

The patient can return to work in 3-5 days. The patient will be advised not to engage in strenuous physical activity or workouts for 1-2 months. It is not recommended for patients to lie in the face down position for 2 months. There may occur some minor deformations in the postoperative period; however, these can usually be corrected by massaging.

Having breast implants placed is not an obstacle to engage in air travelling and deep diving like activities.

Are the prostheses used in breast augmentation surgery safe?

According to the FDA clinical studies, it has been determined that silicone breast prostheses do not cause cancer or any other diseases. Therefore, the use of silicone prostheses for aesthetic procedures has been approved since 17 November 2006. This is a major source of confidence for individuals wishing to undergo breast augmentation.

In women with breast prosthesis, all kinds of lesions can be identified by examining the breast tissue with magnetic resonance imaging and breast ultrasonography without the need for mammography. As the use of breast prostheses became widespread, radiology clinics have started to implement mammography tests for silicone breasts in their routine practice.

Silicone breast prostheses:

These breast prostheses, called silicone in short colloquially, are  of various types in terms of their content, shape, and surface structure.

These prostheses are classified into two types based on their shape. These are as follows:

Teardrop implants (Anatomical)

Round implants

The horizontal and vertical base diameters are equal in round implants. In droplet implants, the vertical diameter is longer than the horizontal diameter and the lower pole is longer than the upper one vertically. Teardrop implants are described as anatomical because of their proximity to the natural breast shape.

Breast prostheses can also be classified into two based on their content. These are as follows:

Saline filled breast implants

Silicone gel breast implants

The implants used in breast augmentation surgery contain either physiological saline or silicone gel. The silicone layer of implants consists of physiological serum or silicone gel.

According to the surface structure, the breast implants can be classified into two. These are as follows:

Smooth surfaced breast implants

Textured breast implants with rough surfaces

Capsule formation occurs less around the textured implants compared to the smooth ones.

Where is a breast prosthesis placed?

There are 4 different areas to place the implants in breast augmentation surgery. Prostheses can be placed through the incisions made around the areola, in the armpits, and below the breasts, or they can be placed through a small incision in the belly button (navel or umbilicus). These incisions have their advantages and disadvantages over each other.

The incision around the areola recovers well; however, it is associated with a risk of injury to the milk ducts because of the surgical technique.

When the prosthesis is inserted through an inframammary incision, the milk channels are not affected. With this technique, the incision will be inconspicuous because it will be hidden under the breast. Furthermore, any problem that may occur in the breast or the chest wall can readily be restored during the intervention.

With the incisions in the armpits, there will be no scar marks in the breasts because the intervention is made through the incisions in the under-arm area. Endoscopy is used in interventions, in which implants are placed through the navel or the incisions made in the armpits. Although the incision marks will be slightly reddish in the early days, they will fade away and become unnoticeable over time. Breast prostheses can be easily inserted into prepared pockets during the surgery.

Recovery after breast augmentation surgery

Breast augmentation operations are usually completed within 1 hour. Patients may be discharged from the hospital on the same day or the day after. Patients should spend 2 days resting after the surgery. The pain will not be severe during this period. Only a feeling of fullness in the breasts can prevail. This latter feeling will diminish significantly after 3 days.

Edema is anticipated to occur after breast augmentation surgery. The severity of pain after the surgery increases with arm movements in case of breast implants placed through the armpits. However, the pain severity will start diminishing after the early days. The movements of the arms and body will be relieved after 3 days following the surgery. A skin-colored bandage is placed over the implant on the day after the surgery. Other than that, no further dressing will be needed.

Patients wear sports bra on that bandage. It is not inappropriate for the patients to take a bath every 3 days without removing that bandage. Your specialist surgeon who has performed the intervention will remove the bandage after 14 days. Putting on a sports bra for a month helps shaping the breasts.

Frequently Asked Questions

I have tubular breast deformity, can it be corrected?

his problem can be named as “goat breast”, “tubular breasts” or “tuberous breasts”, and it is characterized by the herniation of the nipples causing them to look like a pacifier. Three different types of surgeries can be performed to treat this deformity. Depending on the condition of the breasts; breast augmentation, breast reduction, breast aesthetics or a combination of types may be performed. We have been equipped with all means as The Swedish Clinic to correct this problem.

Which Incision Causes The Most Inconspicuous Scar Marks After Breast Augmentation Aesthetics ?

The incision made around the areola causes the least noticeable scar. The scar mark fades away over time and becomes more inconspicuous by evening out with the skin tone.

Can implants to be placed be of any size?

It is recommended to augment the breasts proportionally with the sizes of other body parts; placing an optimally sized implant. Excessively large prostheses may cause problems such as back pain in the long term.

What is Breast Reconstruction?

It is a breast restoration surgery performed to eliminate the deformities developing due to various reasons.

Does Breast Augmentation Aesthetics Cause Saggy Breasts Over Time?

The prostheses used in breast augmentation aesthetics are extremely light in weight. No sagging effects occur due to placed silicone prostheses. However, sagging of the breast may develop with natural skin ageing processes.

Is Breast Augmentation Performed Only With Silicone Prostheses?

No. Breast augmentation can also be performed by fat injection.

When can I get back to work after Breast Augmentation Aesthetics?

The patient can get back to work one week after the surgery. However, it takes a 4-week period to return to work, which demand strenuous physical activities.

When Can I Take A Shower After Breast Augmentation Aesthetics?

Unless otherwise indicated by the physician, the patients can take a shower after 3 days following the operation.

What Is The Minimum Age That Can Breast Augmentation Aesthetics Be Performed?

Breast augmentation is not recommended to be performed in individuals younger than 17 years old because the development of the breasts continues until that age. Breast augmentation can be performed at any age after 17 years of age.

Is Mammography Possible After Breast Augmentation Surgery?

With the use of devices developed after the year 2000, people with silicone implants may undergo mammography.

How is the size of breast prosthesis selected?

The size of the breast prosthesis is selected before the surgery according to the patient’s shoulder width and length, the extent of breast sagging, and the breadth of the rib cage based on patient preferences. Breast augmentation surgery requires selection of the optimally sized implant among different sizes. The most important of these criteria is the patient’s preferences. Because breast augmentation is an aesthetic intervention performed upon the patient’s request.

Does breast prosthesis prevent breastfeeding?

The prosthesis is placed under the breast tissue during the augmentation surgery. Therefore, it is not possible that the prosthesis will injure neither the breast tissue and nor the milk ducts. Clinical studies investigating the passage of silicone gel into the breast milk found silicone in higher concentrations in commercially available baby food and cow’s milk.

Can placed prostheses help raise saggy breasts?

Breast prostheses may alleviate the saggy look of the breasts to some degree based on the extent of sagging. The effect is more pronounced when the extent of sagging is low. Because the extent of sagging will be high after loss of breast tissue, for example, due to previous breastfeeding; breast lift will be necessary to perform in combination with placing breast prostheses in these patients.

How does pregnancy affect previously placed silicone prostheses?

Silicone has no effects on pregnancy. Breasts will be enlarged by the effect of pregnancy. The extent of the enlargement is higher in breasts with silicone implants. The extent of breast enlargement is not the same in all women. The size of silicones, too, affects the extent of enlargement. After the pregnancy, the breasts restore their previous shape.

Are silicone prostheses noticeable to the touch; do they rupture or deform when compressed?

Selection of optimally sized silicone prostheses of today will help them to be unnoticeable to touch. The consistency of the silicone gel-filling is soft in these silicone prostheses. Once they are placed under the muscle tissue, it is almost impossible to notice them by touching. Rupture of silicone prosthesis may be a risk in traumatic conditions like severe traffic accidents or stabbing.

Does silicone implants cause breast cancer?

Although the relationship between silicone implants and breast cancer is widely discussed, no scientific associations have been established between them. However, this does not mean that silicone will not cause cancer. This is very difficult to prove. However, it should be recognized that silicone has not been proven to cause cancer. Therefore, you can safely have silicone implants.

Can I get the silicone implants removed at any time?

You can get them removed at any time. However; no such cases have been reported, getting their implants removed. Patients only replace their old implants with newer ones.

Does silicone implants help correct the drooping and hollow breasts deformed after giving birth?

For women, giving birth is perhaps the most beautiful act of her life. Every woman is pleased becoming a mother. However, this happens at a price. Deformation in breasts is one of them. In women experiencing saggy and hollow breasts, placing silicone implants can correct the deformities. This way, the previous shape and firmness of the breasts are restored. In case of sagging breasts, breast lift surgery can be combined with the breast implant surgery. The decision whether to perform these procedures will be the discretion of our surgeons specialized in plastic and reconstructive surgery based on patient preferences.