Breast Augmentation

Breast augmentation, also known as augmentation mammoplasty, enhances breast size and shape using implants placed over or under the chest muscle, depending on your anatomy. Patients choose it to increase size, to restore volume after pregnancy or weight loss, or to even out asymmetry.

The plan is made with you rather than for you. Your goals and expectations are talked through in detail first, because the size, the type of implant, where it sits and where the incision goes are all decisions that follow from what you want and what your own anatomy allows.

Saline implants are filled once they are in place; silicone implants arrive pre-filled. Either can be positioned over or under the chest muscle. The incision is most often made in the crease under the breast; in select cases it can be placed around the areola, an approach more typical when augmentation is combined with a lift, and Dr. Mafi will explain what each option means for your result.

Surgery is typically performed under general anesthesia. Recovery is generally well tolerated, although swelling, soreness and mild bruising are expected for a couple of weeks afterward. You wear a supportive bra or compression bandage as directed and avoid strenuous activity for at least two weeks, and anything that looks like infection or a complication is a reason to call the office rather than wait for your next visit.

Implants are not lifetime devices. Your result evolves with age and weight change, and further surgery may be needed at some point to maintain or replace them.