Breast Augmentation

Breasts are one of the most important visual elements of the feminine image. Although the ideal breast size and shape may vary according to the person’s body structure and cultural differences, the deficiency, insufficiency or deformities in the breast structure lower self-confidence in women in terms of physical body perception and femininity.

Patients who have undeveloped breasts, or have breasts that have shrunk after post partum or due to aging and have a little sagginess and therefore have severe symmetry problems, may have breast augmentation surgery. The most important question here is that whether the patient is happy with her breasts or not.

Breast augmentation surgery can now be performed via liquid or silicone prostheses and also with fat transfer. However, ideal, long-lasting and satisfactory results are obtained with silicone implants almost always.

Silicone-based prostheses are used in breast augmentation surgeries in all European countries and in our country. However, the breast implants have different shapes, sizes, densities and surfaces. Anatomical (drop-shaped) or round, high, medium or low profile, flat or rough surface implant are the types of prostheses used in breast augmentation surgery. The type of implant to be used in the surgery is a very confusing topic for the patients. Your surgeon will guide you together with your desires, body and breast structure. Please keep in mind that the type and size of the implants that will provide a natural and satisfying appearance depends from one patient to other.

Together with the developing technology, the new generation breast implants produced by licensed brands are guaranteed for at least 10 years. Breast implants used for breast augmentation surgery would not need to be changed for a lifetime unless there is a need. If sagging occurs again due to post-operative weight changes, pregnancy and breastfeeding, revision may be required.

With the fifth generation prostheses manufactured since 1993, problems such as gel leakage, prosthesis bursting, deformation of the prostheses, which were frequently encountered in previous models, are not encountered anymore. The characteristics of these prostheses are that they contain a cohesive gel, which is a non-fluid gel, the implants’ surfaces being rough, and their shapes being anatomical or round helps the implants to maintain their shape in the body.

Breast implants are special materials that do not harm the body and do not show tissue reaction. Another important point here is that these licensed prostheses comply with global health standards. Before the operation, do not forget to find out about your implant brand, and make sure to get the implant’s ID which will be used in your specific breast augmentation surgery.

As breast development is not completed before the age of 18, breast augmentation surgery cannot be performed before the patient reaches 18 years old (except in cases such as Poland’s syndrome). It will be best to wait for the patient’s breast development to be finalized.

Since breast implants are not placed in the breast tissue, they definitely do not affect breastfeeding. As the breast implant is almost always placed under the breast tissue, so the implant does not damage the milk ducts. The myth that the silicone material in the prosthesis flows into milk is completely wrong. For this reason, the used implants have licenses that meets global health standards.

There is no single correct answer for this question. The patient’s current breast tissue, anterior chest wall anatomy, the type, shape and size of the prosthesis planned to be placed are important factors while making this decision. Breast implants can be placed on the muscle in the anterior chest wall, between the muscle and its membrane or under the breast tissue. These different surface areas where the breast implant is planned to be inserted, have their own pros and cons. The person who will make this decision best will be your surgeon, who takes all these factors about your specific case into account.

Breast implants are inserted through small surgical incisions via the sub-breast fold, the dark colored skin border of the nipple, or the armpit. All these regions hide the scar that will occur very well. In order to place the prosthesis in my breast augmentation operations, I usually place it in the sub-breast fold, which is about an 3-4 cm incision. Therefore, this incision remains in the sub-breast fold and does not really catch the eye. Within a year after the operation, there is a scar fades away mostly.

Breast augmentation operations can take around 1-2 hours. If necessary, a drain can be placed in the surgery to be removed the next day. Patients are discharged on the same day in the evening or the next day.

Pain and limitation of arm movements, tension and sensitivity are normal and expected, especially after the operations where we insert the prosthesis under the muscle. Most of the pain decreases on the 2nd and 3rd days after the operation. For this reason, it does not take very long to return to daily life after surgery. Between 4 to 7 days after the operation, the patients can return to their daily life and start working. It will be best to avoid activities that require arm strength for about 4 weeks.

Breast augmentation surgeries are short in terms of duration of the surgery, that generally make the patient and the surgeon happy with the results. Although the risk of complications is less compared to many other aesthetic procedures, post-operative bleeding into the breast tissue (hematoma), healing and scar problems in the suture areas, capsule formation around the prosthesis and related shrinkage, shifts in the position of the prosthesis and related fluctuations can be seen very rarely. All these complications can be resolved through revision surgeries.

Especially in the first three days after surgery, the breasts may appear very swollen and too perky due to edema. In the first week, as the swelling disappears to a great extent, the breast will begin to shift into its natural appearance and will have its final appearance within 4 months to 1 year.

 Although breast augmentation with fat injections in addition to breast prosthesis is a technique that has been used recently, its superiority over prostheses in terms of permanence of results is vague. This technique has its own advantages and disadvantages. The most important issue here is its the permanence rate of the injected fat to the breast. Although the rate of the endurance of the fat can go of up to 80% by using the stem cell techniques during fat transfer to the breast, this stem cell enriched fat injection procedure increases the cost a lot and extends the operation time as well. Also, if the patient is thin and does not really have a good fat reserve, it makes it difficult to achieve satisfactory results in the long term after surgery.

However, it is a very frequently used method in the correction of significant breast asymmetries and correction of deformity in patients with rippling that may occur after the breast implant surgery. It is a method we do use for breast augmentation to be combined with body contour shaping surgeries in patients with sufficient breast tissue. This method can be an advantage to patients who do not want foreign material in their body.

as the incision point through cannulas is smaller compared to implants.

Another problem with fat injection to the breast is the risk of calcifications (calcification that may occur) which might affect future mammograms.