CASE STUDY – BREAST AUGMENTATION

This 44 year old lady had always had breasts that she felt were too small. She felt self-conscience about her small breasts and wanted to have larger breasts.

She had very good breast tissues with little or no sagginess. Her skin tone was good, and her breasts were fairly symmetric. Many patients want natural appearing, proportional breasts; and others want a lot of fullness and to be bigger than proportional. She decided she wanted to be proportional or a little bigger than proportional, but no “Dolly Parton” stuff.

She underwent Breast Augmentation surgery in our office operating room under general anesthesia (she was asleep for the surgery). There are several locations in or near the breast to insert the implants. She and I had chosen an incision in the fold under the breast since it would be hidden well and allow good access for placing the implant. A pocket was made under the breast tissue. Sometimes the pocket is made under the muscle (pectoralis). She worked out frequently and wanted to avoid an animation defect. An animation defect occurs when the implant is placed under the muscle and the muscle is flexed. It causes the breast and implant to visibly “squeeze” down. For patients who work out a lot, this can be quite noticeable. She had also decided that she wanted silicone implants, but saline implants could have also been used. The implants were placed and the incision was closed. There were no drains. She went home after an hour or two in the recovery room.

Recovery can be variable depending on whether the implant was placed under the breast tissue or under the muscle, and the patients pain tolerance. She was given a long-acting numbing medication and oral pain medication. Her recovery was well tolerated. We limited her activities for two weeks and let her ease back into her workouts after that.