Breast Augmentation

Breast Augmentation (also known as: breast contouring, breast enlargement, mammoplasty enlargement, augmentation mammoplasty, or boob job) is the most commonly performed cosmetic surgical procedure in the United States. Today, nearly 350,000 women undergo this procedure in a year. At the Bay Area Laser Surgery Center we offer three treatments for breast augmentation: Saline implants, Silicone gel implants and body fat transfers.

Saline implants are made of a silicone elastomer shell filled with sterile saline liquid. Silicone gel implants made of a silicone shell filled with a viscous silicone gel.

Candidates for breast augmentation are most often women who are dissatisfied with small, sagging, or asymmetrical breasts and seek the treatment for cosmetic purposes to achieve a more youthful or fuller figure. Some seek it as a reconstructive procedure, after a mastectomy, for example. Patients who seek breast augmentation for cosmetic purposes must be at least 18, in good health and not currently pregnant or breast-feeding.

Pectoral Implants

Increasingly, men are also seeking breast augmentation for cosmetic as well as for reconstructive treatments of the chest. The same treatment options are available to men as to women.

Procedure

Breast augmentation procedures require general anesthesia; , the plastic surgeon makes an incision, creates a pocket for the implant, positions the implant, and then closes the skin where the incision was made. The breast augmentation patient goes home in a special compression bra. This bra helps to reduce swelling and hold the breasts in the correct position.

Recovery

Recovery time for breast augmentation patients is usually between 5-7 days, during which time patients are advised to rest and keep activity to a very minimal level. Some pain, bruising and swelling is usually experienced after surgery. Initially there may be slight bleeding around the incision. Heavy exercise should be avoided for several weeks, but usually a patient can return to work by the second week after surgery.