Tips for Achieving the Best Results

There are a number of things that can be done before, during, and after breast augmentation surgery to ensure the lowest complication rate, the speediest recovery, and the best results. Explained below are a number of the steps we take for a long time. Ask your doctor if he or she takes these extra steps. If the answer is no, ask why.

Getting the Most out of Your breast enlargement Consultation

Evaluating your breasts carefully:  

During your initial breast enhancement consultation, we will examine your breasts and make careful measurements which will guide our doctors in advising you about your breast augmentation options. We will make special note of nipple position, breast volume, breast width, distance between your breasts, breast shape and projection, and height of the fold beneath each breast. We will point out asymmetries (no two breasts are symmetric), and will explain which of your breast features we can improve and how. If your doctor does not evaluate your breasts carefully and make careful measurements before your breast augmentation surgery, you should question him or her.

Using sizers to get the results you want:  

We recommends bringing two tight sports bras to your breast enhancement consultation session so that you can use implant sizers to determine the volume of breast implants that will give you your desired result. This is extremely useful in determining your final breast size and helps eliminate uncertainty and anxiety for you. We will offer guidance on implant size, but you will make the final decision.

Customizing Your Surgical Plan:

Each woman differs in their physical features and goals. Therefore each woman deserves a surgical plan tailored to her needs. We will explain all the breast augmentation options and will design a plan that is best suited to your needs.

Reducing Your Risk of Complications

Reducing Infection:

To reduce the risk of infection, we will give you two different antibiotics (Ciprofloxacin and Kefzol) at the time of breast augmentation surgery (most doctors prescribe only one antibiotic). Together, they cover virtually every possible bacteria. Additionally, they EACH provide combined coverage for the most common cause of infection, which is Staph. Next, we recommend that you have your breast enhancement operation in our state-of-the-art surgery suite (which is known for exceptional demand, comfort, and safety), where the risk of infection is substantially lower Next, our staff will sterilize the instruments doctor will use during your breast augmentation surgery upon your arrival, rather than days or weeks ahead of time. This ensures the highest degree of sterility, as the instruments will be brought directly from the autoclave onto the operating room table, as opposed to being stored between the time they are sterilized and used (which is done in other operating rooms). our nurses will then carefully perform the "prep," which is where the operating room nurse scrubs your skin prior to surgery with bacteria-killing solution. Finally, during your breast augmentation operation, doctor will be the only person who handles your implants, thereby reducing the possibility of contamination. All of these steps have enabled our docters to have a zero rate of infection (so far). Given that we performs hundreds of breast augmentations each year, this is a very impressive record.

Reducing Capsular Contracture:

No one knows exactly why capsular contractures form around breast implants, but most plastic surgeons think that they are related to bacterial contamination that occurred at the time of surgery. Therefore, every step taken to reduce the risk of infection (see above) should translate into reduced risk of capsular contracture. We have found that, indeed, all of the efforts we have made to reduce infection have resulted in a reduced risk of capsular contractures. In fact, although the national risk for capsular contracture is 10-50% (depending on which study you read), we own rate of capsular contracture is less than 1%. We also thinks that breast implant displacement exercises are important for keeping your breasts soft and natural.

Reducing Nipple Numbness:

Permanent nipple numbness occurs in 15% (national average) of all women who have breast augmentation, due to damage to the nerve which provides sensation to the nipple (the 4th intercostal nerve). As this nerve is small, it is often not visible during the operation, hence making damage more likely. To minimize the possibility of damage to the nerve, we avoids "cutting" or "cauterizing" anything in the area of the nerve, which is on the side of the breast nearest the armpit. Instead, we gently stretches tissues apart to make room for the implant. By stretching rather than cutting, we are more likely to stretch rather than cut the nerve. Because stretched nerves are unlikely to develop permanent numbness, whereas cut nerves are likely to develop permanent numbness, we have a less than 2% rate of permanent nipple numbness in our practice. Be certain to ask your doctor about this issue.

Reducing Asymmetry:

Even though we look at breasts all day long, we have never seen a pair of symmetric breasts. Our doctors will point out to you where your asymmetries exist so that she or he can help you understand which asymmetries can fix and which ones cannot. Regardless of the degree of your asymmetries, we will strive to attain the best result for you and the highest degree of symmetry possible. Toward this end,we will actually sit you up during surgery to see how your breasts look while you are in an upright position (we all know that breasts appear quite different when one is lying down versus standing or sitting up). This enables us to make final adjustments to ensure the closest degree of symmetry possible and the best result for you.

Speeding Your Recovery Following Breast Augmentation

Reducing Pain:

Breast implant placement under the muscle can be very painful with an unpleasant recovery period....OR it can be minimally painful with a much faster recovery. After you are asleep, we inject long-lasting numbing medicine (similar to Novocain, but much longer lasting) on all sides of each breast. This "blocks" the nerves from sending pain signals to your brain after surgery. Before doctor closes your skin, she or he puts a large dose of the same numbing medicine directly into the area where the implant is sitting. This essentially "marinates" the tissue surrounding the implant with numbing medicine. For a variety of reasons, the body is very slow in absorbing the numbing medicine around the implant, and it therefore can last for several days. Don't worry, though, because once it wears off, you do not suddenly feel pain. In fact, most do not even notice when it wears off. It has been shown in multiple medical studies that blocking the initial pain a patient feels after surgery markedly reduces their overall pain and speeds their recovery. Some plastic surgeons advocate placing a pump in the surgical site to infuse numbing medicine for a few days following surgery. Although this is effective in controlling pain, it is no more effective than placing a large single dose into the pocket at the time of surgery. Further, it introduces a much higher risk of infection, as the pump tubing communicates the outside world with your implants for as long as the pump is in place.

Reducing Nausea:

One of the most common causes of nausea is pain. We have found that taking the above steps to reduce pain has markedly reduced the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting, even in those who are prone to it. Further, we advocates a number of simple medications which are very effective in reducing nausea. All of our patients receive decadron (a steroid which reduces nausea), Zofran (an anti-nausea medication that is so effective that it is routinely prescribed for cancer patients), Scopalamine (a medication which helps motion sickness), and Pepcid AC (this over-the-counter medication is a fabulous drug which further inhibits nausea in surgical patients). By taking all of these steps, we have effectively reduced the rate of nausea and vomiting in our surgery center. In fact, although the national average for postoperative nausea and vomiting is 33% and 22%, respectively, the incidence of nausea and vomiting at our cosmetic center is less than 7%.

Prev: Breast complications - Shanghai East Hospital Plastic Surgery

News List

Next: Breast Enlargement with Breast Implants