Breast Augmentation: Its Many Elements
Breast Implants, Risks, Techniques, breast augmentation
It was not for nothing that breast surgery lead the list of plastic surgery procedures in 2007 with 437,400 patients. It’s extremely popular!
However, there are many elements to breast augmentation, meaning many decisions to make. Among them are:
Many patients report that silicone is softer and has a more natural feel. However silicone implants cost more. Patients must also decide if the implant goes over or under the chest muscle.
- Motivation
Plastic surgeons report that women who ask for breast augmentation often have uneven or different size breasts. Some women have lost breast shape because of normal aging while others have gained a lot of weight and then lost it all. In many cases, breast size is lost through nursing and pregnancy.
- Cost
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the average surgeon’s fee is about $3800. But additional fees are necessary: one each for the operating room, the implants and an anesthesiologist, all of which can add another $1800 to $3000 onto the total cost.
A typical total cost of breast augmentation in the U.S. averages between $6000 and $8000.
- Future procedures
Breast enhancement is rarely a one-time event. Most women with breast implants should plan on having at least one more procedure within about ten years. Sometimes, the patient wants a smaller bust line or time takes its toll on the implant.
- Incision
Breast augmentation offers four possible routes for putting an implant under a breast.
Three involve three to four inch incisions and scarring :
- Under the breast where the gland meets the chest wall
- Through the armpit
- Through the areola
The scars almost always are well hidden, heal well and lighten over time. The fourth approach is the TUBA through the belly button; that method requires the smallest incision of all.
- Complications
Even in the best of hands, complications happen.
Possible — but rare — complications include:
- Infection
- The breast hardening due to a type of internal scarring known as capsular contracture.
- Rupture and leakage
- “Bottoming out:” the implant falls out of its pocket
Your best bet? See a board certified plastic surgeon. With five to seven years extra training, he or she has seen it all and immediately knows what to do.
How would you decide on breast surgery?
California Surgical Institute @ January 6, 2009