Have you ever joked that if you could take fat from one part of the body and use it to make your breasts larger, you’d be all in? For women who want to increase their busts size, breast surgery has long remained a popular breast procedure among women over 18. The medical community has remained dedicated to researching and implementing new plastic surgery techniques to not only make procedures available to larger groups of men and women, but to also make patients happier. We do this by refining skills needed to safely achieve each patient’s goals and making results as natural-looking as possible. One of the latest innovations that some breast surgery candidates can consider is fat transfer breast augmentation.
In general terms, breast augmentations are when we use breast implants, in either saline or silicone options, to make the breasts bigger. During a patient consultation, you’re able to physically try on different types of breast implants to see which shape, texture, and size you will be happiest and most comfortable with. The procedure itself involves making small incisions that camouflage within the breast’s natural contours to reduce visible scarring as you heal (remember, there’s no such thing as scarless breast augmentation procedure – only skilled technique to make it less noticeable). A pocket is created to hold the implants within the breast cavity. Incisions are closed, you’re nicely bandaged up, and sent home the same day to start recovery. Most of my patients are back to work after the first week and report full recovery in as little as six weeks.
There are several distinct differences to how fat transfer breast augmentations are performed. For starters, implants aren’t used at all – just your own fat. What we do is remove fat, by way of liposuction, from a donor part of the body (like the abdomen, thighs, or flanks), purify the harvested fat, then inject it into the breasts. This type of breast augmentation tends to be more appealing to women who aren’t keen on introducing foreign objects (i.e. Implants) into their body or who just want a subtle increase in their breast size. With fat transfer breast augmentation, for many, the results are about as natural as it comes.
I must follow this up by adding not all women will make good fat transfer breast augmentation candidates. First, breast augmentations results with this type of procedure aren’t as significant as if we were to use implants – hence the notion that the increase is relatively conservative. Final fat transfers results are tough to gauge up front and is largely dependent on the survival of the fat once it’s been injected into the breasts. The fat needs the right conditions to thrive within its new environment and not all that we transfer will survive, it’s natural and just a part of the healing process. It can take several weeks for the swelling to subside and before we can see what your final results will look like.
These are just some of the things we would discuss during your complimentary breast surgery consultation as you decide which breast procedure is right for you. Whether you’re interested in incorporating breast augmentation into a Mommy Makeover procedure or combining it with a breast lift, we’d love to meet with you to get a better feel of your goals and how we can help. If you’d like to learn more about the breast procedures we perform at Southern Plastic Surgery, P.C., don’t hesitate to reach out to us at 770-622-9100.