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What You Should Know About Choosing the Size of Your Breast Implants

May 2, 2022

3 Minute Read:

When you are contemplating a breast augmentation, there are some important issues to consider when choosing the size of your breast implants. These include your exact ultimate aesthetic goals, your physical frame, lifestyle and, if relevant, future plans for pregnancy and breastfeeding. 

The Most Common Complaint About Breast Implants

The most common complaint about breast augmentation results is that the implants were too small. If the singular goal is to increase breast size, then be sure not to be too conservative when choosing the size of your breast implant.

However, there are also other factors that need to be taken into consideration.

Your Physical Frame in Relation to Your Desired Breast Size

On the other side of the coin, you want to avoid choosing an implant that is too large for your anatomy. A disproportionately large and/or wide implant can disrupt your tissues, resulting in tearing of important support structures, shape deformities, accelerated breast drooping and thinning of tissues including the skin. 

This can lead to the need for additional and, otherwise, unnecessary surgery to address these problems. 

Keep in mind that some women seek breast reduction surgery because their breasts are too heavy for their frame. 

The Quality of Your Skin – Thinness and Elasticity

Those women with thin skin and poor elasticity will have their skin stretch out and become even thinner at a faster rate with larger implants. 

This will occur even quicker when the implants are placed above the muscle. The results are also accelerated drooping.

Personal Lifestyle Choices and Breast Augmentation

Impact on Athletic Ability

If you lead an active lifestyle that may include sports or any activity that requires physical strength and flexibility, you should weigh your desire for large breasts against the impact that very large breasts may have on your performance. 

While female athletes, amateur or professional, can still get and benefit from breast implants, size may become a more significant factor.

Pregnancy and Nursing With Breast Implants

Breast augmentation surgery should have little or no impact on the ability to breastfeed in the future. However, it would be wise to have the implants inserted through an inframammary incision (at the crease at the bottom of the breast) versus an infra-areolar approach where it is more likely that milk ducts will be disrupted. 

There is some evidence that very large breast implants can impede the flow of breast milk so be sure to discuss this with your surgeon.

Adding a Breast Lift to Your Breast Augmentation 

Breast lifts are often done concurrently with breast augmentation surgery in situations where there is also drooping of the breasts. This can lead to far more dramatic and desirable results.

Learn More About Breast Implants

If you would like to learn more about breast implants and how they can alter your results from a breast augmentation or mastopexy-augmentation, you can schedule a complimentary consultation with me, Dr. Steven Turkeltaub. To do so please call the Arizona Center for Breast Surgery at (480) 451-3000 or contact us by email. 

We offer a range of breast enhancement procedures for women in the Scottsdale and greater Phoenix area and elsewhere.