Breast Augmentation

How Long Is Recovery Time After Breast Implant Surgery?

Mon, 08/19/2013 - 21:50 -- admin

An important concern women have about breast augmentation is how long it will take them to recover from breast implant surgery. The answer to this varies depending on a woman’s natural recovery rate, and can be affected by some procedural variables, which we’ll talk about in your consultation, but here are some general guidelines.

Complete Rest: 2 Days

You don’t require strict bed rest after breast augmentation. In fact, it’s important for you to get up and walk around to help blood circulation and expand your lungs. Our patients generally feel better than they’d expected in the first few days: still, it’s important to not overdo your activities, even if you are feeling like you could. Your body needs the time to recover from surgery, so plan to relax with no responsibilities at all (other than your good recovery) for the first 2 days!

Pain Medication: About 5 Days

Most women will take their prescription pain medication for about five days after surgery. With our use of the local anesthetic pain pump, we have many patients who take little or no narcotic pain medication by the second day after breast augmentation. Some patients may still be using the narcotic pain medicine a week after breast implant surgery. While taking narcotic pain medication you must be diligent about the usual safety precautions, such as avoiding alcohol, driving, or operating machinery.

Back to Work: 1-2 Weeks

When you go back to work depends on the nature of your work. Most likely, you’ll feel ready to get back to non-strenuous work a few days after surgery, but it’s best to wait a week to give your body a little more time to recover. Even just sitting at your desk all day may be surprisingly fatiguing in the first week or two after breast augmentation. Giving your body a little more time to recover will make your return that much more comfortable. Let’s be sure to discuss your specific work responsibilities so we may give you good guidelines to plan well for your return to work.

Full Activities: 6 Weeks

We will give you some specific guidelines about how to ease back into your routine, for the days and weeks after your breast augmentation operation. At 6 weeks after breast implant surgery, you should be able to return to all your normal daily activities and to return to work without restrictions. After the 6 week post-op visit, you should be able to ease back into your full exercise routine.

If you have more detailed questions about breast implants or the breast augmentation procedure, please contact the Zwiebel Center for Plastic Surgery in the Denver area.

Catagories: 
Breast Augmentation

The Difference between High, Mid, and Low-Profile Breast Implants

Wed, 06/26/2013 - 15:13 -- admin

If you’ve been researching your breast augmentation options, you understand there are many ways for you to customize your results with different options, like placing your breast implants above or below the muscle, choosing your incision site, and selecting saline or silicone breast implants. The profile of your breast implants is another option you can use to customize your breast augmentation results by changing the shape of your breast implants.

Understanding Breast Implant Profile

These days, almost all breast implants used for breast augmentation are round—circular—though once placed in the breast gravity helps the achieve an anatomic teardrop shape when you are standing or sitting, and flattens them when you lie down, just as it does with natural breast tissue.

Normal, low-profile breast implants lie the flattest. For the same volume, a mid-profile implant will be narrower and taller. High profile implants will be even narrower and taller. For example, three implants, all 125 cc in volume (about half a measuring cup, but about enough to increase your bra size by a cup). The low profile breast implant is 10 cm (4 inches) in diameter and 2.2 cm (a little less than an inch) tall. The mid profile is 8.9 cm wide and 2.8 cm tall. The high profile is 8.3 cm wide and 3.5 cm tall.

When Breast Implant Profile Matters

Breast implant profile is useful when you are trying to get a breast shape that fits your frame. If, for example, you want to achieve a certain amount of forward projection, but if you have a narrow rib cage, you can use high-profile breast implants to get the projection you want without having breast implants that spill off the sides of your chest.

Do They Look Natural?

When properly used, all breast implant profiles can be used to create attractive, natural-looking results. Natural breasts are as varied in shape as they are in size, so it’s actually more natural to have different shapes for breast implants. Using mid- or high-profile breast implants to achieve your results certainly looks more natural than trying to achieve the results with breast implants that are just too wide for your body.

Want to learn more about getting the right breast augmentation results for you? Please contact Paul C. Zwiebel today for a consultation at our office in Highlands Ranch.

Catagories: 
Breast Augmentation

Best Time to Get Breast Augmentation Done to Be Ready for Summer

Fri, 06/21/2013 - 15:13 -- admin

Do you always flip to the article about “Swimsuits for Every Body Type” and check out their advice about the best swimsuits for small busts? Have you tried all their advice and still been unhappy with your look in a swimsuit? Do you wish you could feel a little more feminine in a sundress? Are you happy with all the results of your beach body workout, except for what it did to your breasts? If so, you may be wondering when is the best time to get breast augmentation so your results will be beach ready for the summer.

The answer depends on what exactly you mean by “beach ready.”

Minimum Recovery: Two Weeks

In general you should not count on any travel or activities less than two weeks after surgery. Some of our patients feel fine a few days after their procedure, but others are still feeling discomfort for more than a week after their surgery. By two weeks, you can begin gradually getting back to your normal exercise routine. Your incisions may also be healed (though this may take longer in some cases), which means you can swim.

Beach Blanket Bingo: Four to Six Weeks

If you are looking to engage in any strenuous activities on your beach vacation, such as beach volleyball, running along the waterline, vigorous dancing, or sexual activity, you should wait a little longer. The delicate blood vessels in the breasts can sometimes be damaged during breast augmentation. Sometimes they take a little longer to heal, and before they’re healed, any activity that really gets your heart going or causes a flushing response in your breasts can lead to superficial bleeding called a hematoma (kind of like a bruise). This isn’t a serious problem on its own, but it does increase your risk of capsular contracture.

Best Results: Up to Six Months

Although inserting breast implants immediately increases the size of your breasts, it can take time for the breast implants to be fully incorporated into your breasts. During this recovery time, your breasts will look good under most clothes, but may not look their best in a swimsuit. How long this takes depends on the exact composition of your breasts, your activity level, and more. It may take up to 3-6 months.

During your free consultation with Dr. Zwiebel, you can talk about your goals for breast augmentation and find out the best time for your procedure. Please contact us today to schedule a consultation at our office in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

Catagories: 
Breast Augmentation

Breast Implants or Breast Lift?

Wed, 05/29/2013 - 15:00 -- admin

“How do I know if I need a breast lift or just implants?”

I hear this question every consultation day.

There are some ways you may be able to determine for yourself, even before consultation with a plastic surgeon.

Perhaps the most important principle to know: breast implants do not lift the breast.

Breast Implants:

  • Breast implants provide volume to make the breast larger;

  • Breast implants provide volume to fill out a deflated breast (for example, it’s common for many women to lose volume from their natural breast, after pregnancy and nursing);

  • Breast implants can contribute to shaping a breast :

    • More fullness to the upper breast/chest;

    • Add projection (the amount the breast sticks out beyond the ribs);

  • Breast implants do not lift a nipple position;

    • If the nipple is below the height of the breast crease or if the nipple points downward, a breast lift is needed to elevate nipple position;

  • Breast implants do not change the height of the bottom of the breast.

    • If the bottom of the breast appears too low to you, a lift is the only way to raise its position.

Many differences between the left and right breast (asymmetries) can be corrected with implants alone; other shape differences may require additional shaping or lifting techniques to give an optimal result.

Catagories: 
Breast Augmentation

Plastic Surgery Denver: Summer Time is The Right Time!

Sat, 05/25/2013 - 20:39 -- Jessica

Many young adults are curious and inquire about the benefits of Plastic Surgery, but student life is demanding, offering little time for activities outside the pressures of the academic world.

So many of my patients are full time students; some have the further pressures of athletic commitments. Finding the right time for an elective cosmetic procedure such as breast augmentation (breast enhancement), rhinoplasty (nose surgery), reduction of excess breast tissue (“man boobs” or gynecomastia), or ear reduction surgery (otoplasty) can be challenging.

We know that your time and budgets are tight! Student Special!

To respond to your special needs, Dr. Zwiebel has initiated a special summer time program to assist you to make affordable and find the time in your busy lives for the procedures that boost self-image and self confidence.

Call or e-mail today to learn more about this limited opportunity.

Catagories: 
Rhinoplasty
Cosmetic Surgery
Breast Augmentation

FDA Safety Information on ALCL and Breast Implants

Sat, 01/26/2013 - 18:37 -- Paul

I want to give you a summary of what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) communicated to healthcare practitioners and the public. The information given was that there is a possible association between breast implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). ALCL in the breast is extremely rare; 3 in 100 million women are diagnosed per year in the U.S. However, the FDA is investigating if women with (silicone and saline-filled) breast implants may have a slightly increased risk of developing the condition. The FDA have identified between 30 and 60 women who have breast implants who have developed ALCL worldwide, out of an estimated global population of 10 million women with breast implants.

There is no need for women with breast implants to change their routine care and follow-up.

The FDA published its literature review in a document posted on FDA’s website titled “Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (ALCL) In Women with Breast Implants: Preliminary FDA Findings and Analyses.”

If you have any questions or concerns, please call me at (303) 586-3931.

Catagories: 
Cosmetic Surgery
Breast Augmentation

FDA Safety Information on ALCL: Breast Implants Still Safe and Effective

Fri, 01/28/2011 - 22:36 -- Jessica

Littleton, CO — January 28, 2011 — On Wednesday, January 26, 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) communicated to practitioners and the public about the possible association between breast implants and anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL).

ALCL is very rare affecting approximately 1 in 500,000 people. ALCL of the breast is even less common affecting 3 in100 million people.

More recently the FDA identified 36-60 women out of an estimated 10 million women with breast implants worldwide with either silicone or saline-filled breast implants who have developed ALCL.

When associated with breast implants the ALCL tumor seems less aggressive and appears to be resolved by removing the breast implant capsule and replacing the implant.

The cases have presented with sudden onset of painful swelling of the breast due to accumulation of fluid around the implant. A lump may be felt or can be seen with a mammogram or scan. It is important to stress this is not a form of breast cancer; in all cases the lump was attached to the implant capsule. The occurrence has averaged between 8-24 years after the initial breast augmentation surgery.

A registry is being set up in cooperation between the FDA and plastic surgeons working together with epidemiologists, toxicologists, and pathologists to diligently gather accurate information.

The FDA continues to consider breast implants safe and effective. There is no need for women with breast implants to change their routine care and follow-up. It is recommended that women continue to perform self-examination, check their implants, and obtain routine mammograms.

[Editor’s Note: This new information was obtained from an official FDA news release and white paper, and information presented at a plastic surgery conference in Las Vegas, Friday, January 28, 2011]

# # #

Catagories: 
Cosmetic Surgery
Breast Augmentation

Breast Implants: Looking Real, Part 4: Motion

Mon, 11/08/2010 - 20:33 -- caketeam

In previous blogs, I wrote about size, shape and position as all being important elements of an attractive natural appearing result from breast augmentation. In this blog, I’ll talk about the importance of motion of the implant.

For an augmented breast to have a natural appearance, it must move with the woman’s natural breast. If the implant is in a fixed position, it creates “an obvious augmented look.”

At the time of breast augmentation, I create a space for the implant behind the breast tissue (subglandular or prepectoral) or behind the chest muscle (subpectoral). The space I create must be big enough for the size ands shape of the implant. The size and shape of the space must be sufficient to allow the implant to follow the motion of the breast as the woman moves.

Imagine lying back next to the pool on a hot summer day: your breast will flatten and move up on the chest, and a little to the side, as a result of the change in your position. Now imagine lying back after your breast augmentation: if the implants stay fixed on the chest and don’t move well, they will remain too round and point at the sky. This abnormal shape will be obvious to even a casual observer. You may well have already seen exactly what I’ve described in someone who has had poor results from breast enhancement.

On the other hand, if the space for the implant is too big, the implants may flop too far to the side of the chest!

Either situation is bound to make a woman feel self-conscious, rather than feel good about the way she looks.

So, the correct motion of a breast implant is important to get an attractive and natural appearing result from yourbreast augmentation Denver procedure.

Catagories: 
Cosmetic Surgery
Breast Augmentation

Breast Implants: Looking Real, Part 3: Position

Wed, 10/13/2010 - 13:58 -- caketeam

In my private practice, the most frequent procedure I perform is breast augmentation; I perform well over one hundred procedures of breast enhancement in Denver every year! Women who consult with me about breast enhancement in my Denver practice, which specializes in breast augmentation, uniformly express the concern that they do not want results that look “fake.” This blog is the third in a series in which I talk about what goes into avoiding the “fake look.”

In my previous blogs, I have written about the importance of size and shape in achieving a natural appearance with breast implants. In this blog, I will write about the importance of breast implant position to getting attractive results from breast augmentation.

Most women undergoing breast augmentation will benefit from placing the implant underneath the chest muscle (subpectoral), rather than on top of the muscle (prepectoral) and beneath the breast tissue. This technique produces softer breast contours (see Blog: Breast Implants: Looking Real, Part 2: Shape), and the subpectoral implant position results in significantly fewer capsule contractures, the hardening of the breast from scarring or tightness of the space for the implant.

The implant position must be centered behind the nipple. If the implant is too far to the center, the nipple will appear to point too far to the side. If the implant is placed too high on the chest, the nipple appears to point downward; if the implant is placed too low behind the breast, the nipple will point too high.

Here, symmetry becomes very important: the nipples must point the same way on each side.

Further, if the implants are placed too high on the chest, there will be excessive fullness and roundness to the top of the chest, like an exaggerated push-up bra, creating a fake appearance to the breast enhancement.

A common misconception is that implants will lift or support drooping breasts. This is not the case. If a woman is seeing drooping, a breast lift may be desirable, perhaps adding implants for size and enhanced shape. On the other hand, we commonly place breast implants to correct the deflation of the breast or loss of volume after pregnancy.

Catagories: 
Cosmetic Surgery
Breast Augmentation

Breast Implants: Looking Real, Part 2: Shape

Wed, 10/13/2010 - 13:57 -- caketeam

On my last blog on Breast Implants: Looking Real: Part 1, I discussed the importance of the choosing the right size of breast implants, in order to avoid a fake appearance. In this blog, I will discuss how shape plays a big role in creating a “fake look.”

Perhaps the most noticeable characteristic of “the fake look” is a noticeable edge of the upper breast. A natural breast slopes gently from the chest wall, without a distinct demarcation from the curve of the upper chest. This upper part of the breast normally slopes gently, with a soft transition from the rib cage in the upper chest.

Because it isn’t normal to see a distinct line or edge to the top of the breast, our eye is distracted by seeing a line where it shouldn’t be. When we notice an edge to the top of the breast we conclude it must be “fake.”

The presence of an edge and too full or too round a breast makes the breasts look “hard,” like “pasted-on boobs,” or “grapefruits (substitute your favorite fruit here!) under the skin.”

How do you avoid the “paste-on look?”

First, the breast implant itself makes a big difference: if it is too large in size in proportion to your natural breast tissue, or if it is the wrong shape, the edge may be noticeable.

Your skin tone and thickness affects how well the edge of the implant is covered and camouflaged. Very thin skin in a slender woman will not hide the edges of the implant well.

The surgical technique can make a difference. Placing the implant beneath the pectoralis muscle provides more tissue coverage over the implant and the drape of the muscle over the implant smoothens the transition onto the implant in the upper part of the breast.

Capsule contracture can distort the shape of the breast: the tightening of the capsule around the implant can cause the “hard look” with the edges of the implant becoming too noticeable. (Please see my blog on avoiding capsule contracture).

How can you avoid an unnatural appearing result from breast implants? That guidance has to come from consultation with an experienced plastic surgeon in Denver. Breast implants need a specialist’s consideration—particularly from someone with a reputation for producing natural results.

Catagories: 
Cosmetic Surgery
Breast Augmentation

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