There are no guarantees in life, or in plastic surgery, but I believe that meticulous pre-operative planning can make an ideal surgical result much more likely.
When it comes to breast augmentation, how can your surgeon develop a perfect pre-operative plan?
- Appropriately assess your tissue laxity. Everyone's skin quality and elasticity is different; the less elastic your skin, the younger and tighter it looks, while the more elastic your skin, the larger an implant it can accomodate.
- Make precise preoperative measurements. The essential pre-operative measurements for breast augmentation are skin pinch, sternal notch to nipple distance, nipple to inframammary fold distance, breast base width, intramammary distance, and areolar diameter.
- Correct for any asymmetries or anatomical irregularities during surgery. This will make your breasts look more similar after surgery, even if they were not perfectly symmetric before surgery.
- Use appropriately sized breast implants that will adequately fill your tissue pocket, without putting undue strain on your skin and soft tissue. Not every patient can safely have every type of breast implant. Choosing the correct size for a given patient's anatomy and desires requires surgical judgment.
- Minimize handling of your tissues in the operating room. Tissue trauma increases swelling, bruising, tissue injury, and likelihood of a longer recovery.
- Minimize handling of the breast implants in the operating room. Excessive handling of breast implants risks contamination and may increase the risk of capsular contracture, infection, and implant-related failure.
- Listen to your goals and expectations for surgery. Good communication is key in delivering a result that will make both the surgeon and the patient happy.
For questions about breast implants (breast augmentation), or to make an appointment to see me in my New York City based practice, please call (212) 452-2400.
