Many patients find themselves wanting to feel more confident about the appearance of their breasts. At Boulder Plastic Surgery in Boulder, CO, we are pleased to offer a range of treatment options, including breast augmentation. This surgery can either help correct uneven breasts or enlarge breasts while maintaining a natural appearance.
How Does a Breast Augmentation Work?
Surgical Enhancement
If you want to increase the size of your breasts by one or two cup sizes, breast augmentation could be right for you. We can surgically place breast implants beneath either the chest muscle or natural breast tissue. This allows our patients to not only enlarge their breasts but also helps to shape them. If shaping your breasts is a concern of yours, we could offer a breast lift at the same time.
The most common type of breast implants uses either saline or silicone gel, both of which are considered safe by the FDA. Breast implants can help many patients feel more confident in their bodies and improve their self-image.
Various Options
In addition to offering several types of breast implants, there are also different shapes to help our patients achieve the look they want. When it comes to the material of your breast implants, we would be happy to offer our recommendations based on your needs. You can rest assured that the silicone gel and saline-filled implants we offer are FDA-approved for cosmetic enhancement, so choosing the right material is a matter of preference.
Implant shape can either be round or anatomic. Round implants are an excellent option for patients who are already happy with the shape of their breasts but want to increase the cup size. On the other hand, anatomic implants can help change the volume and shape of your breasts at the same time. These implants can be especially helpful for patients who are having their breasts reconstructed.
What Can I Expect From Different Implant Options?
Saline Implants
Saline implants have the unique benefit of only requiring a small incision. This is because the implant shell can be put in place while it’s still empty. Then, we can use the small incision to fill the shell to its desired fullness.
The saline approach also offers a lot of flexibility since the amount of liquid used can be customized for the patient’s needs. These implants are often pleasantly firm, which helps to create a youthful appearance.
Silicone Gel Implants
Silicone gel implants can closely match the feel of natural breast tissue. They are considered semi-solid, which helps them be firm enough to keep their shape but soft enough to feel authentic.
Fat Transfer Implants
Opting for a fat transfer instead of silicone or saline allows us to use some of the fat from other areas of your body to augment your breasts. A bonus is this allows us to slim and contour some areas of the patient’s body when we harvest fat for the augmentation process. It also encourages a very natural feel.
Your Consultation
A consultation is crucial so you can talk about what you want from this experience. We will help you better understand the process and can craft a customized treatment plan to help meet your expectations.
The goal of this treatment is to improve the appearance of the breasts while maintaining their natural allure. We can help you choose the right implant size, shape, style, and type depending on your needs. We can also answer any questions you have about the implant material, position, and incision sites.
What Are the Benefits?
Improve Asymmetry
Some patients only want to have one breast adjusted so it can match their other breasts. Having uneven breasts is very common, but it can make a patient feel self-conscious. Having one breast that’s a different size than the other can impact how bras fit and how clothing looks while having matching breasts can make bra fittings easier and more comfortable.
Combat Life Changes
Achieving healthy weight loss can be very exciting, but one of the less exciting parts is how weight loss may affect the appearance of the breasts. A significant loss of fat tissue and loose skin can cause breasts to “deflate” somewhat, which can make an otherwise exciting occasion discouraging. Breast augmentation can help you celebrate your victory with improved confidence.
There are other life events that can also alter the structure of the breasts. Whether you want to correct breast appearance after pregnancy, weight loss, or simply the effects of time, our team is happy to help.
Improve Confidence
Sometimes patients are looking to be more confident as they date, but many times patients simply want to feel more confident in themselves. This treatment can help patients feel amazing in their favorite outfits and be more pleased with their silhouette.
What Are My Other Treatment Options?
Breast Lift
We’d be happy to help you determine whether breast augmentation, a breast lift, or a combination of both approaches has the best chance of meeting your expectations. A breast lift is also referred to as a mastopexy and can help breasts look more youthful and firm. Breasts can go through many changes in life due to weight fluctuations, childbirth, breastfeeding, gravity, and more. A breast lift can help combat some of these changes.
During a breast lift, we can tighten the skin around your breasts to reduce sagging. We can also reduce the size of the areola to help them be more proportionate to the adjusted shape of your breasts. Finally, nipples can be moved higher to create a more “perky” appearance.
Breast Lift Options
It’s important to note that a breast lift isn’t designed to change the size of your breasts, so if you have suffered from a loss of breast tissue, you may want to combine a lift with augmentation. Similarly, a breast lift can also be combined with breast reduction surgery.
Breast Reduction
This surgery is also called reduction mammaplasty, and it specializes in the removal of excess skin, glandular tissue, and fat. Sometimes a breast reduction can help a patient achieve the breast shape and appearance they want by making their breasts more proportionate to their body. Sometimes overly large breasts can also cause back and neck discomfort, which this process can help to alleviate.
If a patient is having trouble finding clothes they are comfortable in, is suffering pressure pain or rashes from their breasts weighing down their bra straps, or is finding that large breasts get in the way of their exercise goals and comfort, this could be a good solution for them.
Breast Reduction Options
We are proud to offer our extensive experience and training. This experience will help us determine the best approach for your breast reduction. During a breast reduction, we will keep our patient’s goals in mind as we adjust the skin and tissue to improve the shape, size, and firmness of the breasts.
There are two common incision patterns that can be used for breast reduction. A racquet-shaped or keyhole pattern involves an incision that’s hidden around the areola and extends down to the breast’s crease. An anchor-shaped or an inverted T incision pattern can also be used. Deciding on the right incision pattern will depend on the patient’s needs.
Top Surgery
We offer both transmasculine top surgery and transfeminine top surgery. When it comes to transmasculine top surgery, we can remove fat and breast tissue from the chest. We can also resize the nipple-areolar complex. When combined, both of these steps help the chest achieve a more masculine appearance.
Transfeminine top surgery can include either silicone or saline breast implants. Autologous fat grafting can also be used to enhance the results further. The entire treatment process can be tailored to best suit each patient and their unique needs.
Breast Reconstruction
Patients who have gone through a mastectomy or lumpectomy may want to reconstruct their breasts as a way to “reclaim” what was taken from them. A variety of approaches can be combined to give these patients the best possible results. Smaller defects can be improved by reshaping the underlying breast tissue or adding some additional material to smooth out the affected breast.
Multi-stage reconstruction can be used when an entire breast has been removed; we will be able to gently stretch out a tissue and fill in the breast with fat, silicone, or saline implants. We can also reconstruct the nipple and areola.
How Can I Learn More?
We’d be happy to meet with you and go over your questions. If you’re interested in breast augmentation or one of our other treatments, we can help you determine if you’re a good candidate. Contact us at Boulder Plastic Surgery in Boulder, CO, today to set up your consultation and learn more about your options.