Yes, choosing the wrong implants can cause regret.
You spent quite a few months researching, trying on sizers, and stressing over the difference between 350cc and 375cc, and finally made your decision. You went through with the surgery and woke up feeling that your breasts were huge. However, when you look in the mirror after six months, you tell yourself, “I wish I had gone bigger.”
Such a predicament among the plastic surgery community is so widespread that it has been given a name: “Boob Greed.” The situation fascinates us at Lin Europe Clinic, where seeing the same time and again is a daily routine. Patients who dreaded being called “fake” or “too big” during their consultations would be back a year later for a size upgrade. The question, “Is it real?” is answered with a “yes,” but it hardly has anything to do with greed. In most cases, it is a confusion of swelling, settling, and brain adaptation.
The “Phantom” Size: Comparing the Post-Op Look to the Final Result
The main cause of size regret is the sharp difference between the look immediately after an operation and the look after the healing process. After you have anesthesia, the doctors have already done their job, and hence, the chest is swollen, lifted, and very tight.
The muscles are contracting, and the implants are being pushed out at the same time. In the first couple of weeks, what you see is basically the size of the implant plus a 20% swelling caused by inflammation. A lot of patients get familiar with this swollen look and therefore when the swelling goes down (that’s the “Drop and Fluff” phase), the breasts become more natural and softer in shape, like a perfect teardrop. It looks great, but it also looks smaller, so if you assimilated yourself with the swelling phase, the final outcome might feel like a loss, whereas you were the one who picked the exact size.
Brain Adaptation: Becoming Comfortable with the “New Normal”
In terms of psychology, it is said that the capacity of humans to adapt to changes in their physical appearance is very great. Initially, your breasts might seem huge to you simply because your brain is comparing your new breasts to your bare chest as of yesterday.
Three months down the line, your brain has reestablished what is average without even noticing it. Your new breasts are merely your breasts in that moment. They no longer come across as something foreign or overly large; instead, they feel natural and normal. That normalizing trick of your brain can fool you into believe they have become smaller, hence, the thought, “I could have handled more.” This is what makes us tell our patients to keep their results for one year at least before coming back for a revision because the urge for “bigger” may just be a transient reaction to the loss of the initial surprise factor.
The Fear of “Looking Fake”
A lot of women who decide to implant smaller breast size for the first time do so because of the fear. The thought of turning into the caricature they see or having the so-called “stripper boobs” scares them. Given that, they go for the smallest choice in the range they are given.
On the other hand, the current implants (especially Dual Plane placement) are pretty good at disguising the increase in volume. A 400cc implant left under the muscle will look much smaller than a similar one lying over the muscle. As soon as patients find out how natural and modest the outcome is, they really wish they had not been scared so much. They realize that they could have reached the level of fullness they wanted without risking an unnatural look.
How to Prevent Regret: The “Rice Test” and Sizers
If you want to avoid the failure of your stockpile of breast tissue, you should have an accurate preview.
- Rice Test: Take a nylon stocking and fill it with uncooked rice according to the amount of your desired cc (for example, 350g). Put on a sports bra over it along with a snug t-shirt. Go out with it for the whole evening. It will give you an idea of weight and projection.
- Clinic Sizers: When we meet at Lin Europe for a breast consultation, we try sizers of silicone in a special bra etc. Bring your favorite tight-fitting top. Don’t merely gaze at the mirror – sit down, get up and see your figure from the side.
- Trust Your Surgeon’s Eye: If you produce a “Goal Photo” of a model with D-cups and pick a B-cup implant, we will inform you about it. There is usually a difference between what you say you want (numbers) and what you show us you want (photos).
Is It Possible to Go Bigger Later on?
Going bigger requires a second surgery, but you can. Upsizing, in general, is less problematic than downsizing, as the pocket has thus far been created, and the skin has also been stretched. However, you have to wait for the tissues to heal fully and regain their elasticity, so the minimum wait should be 6 to 12 months.
There are always pros and cons to going bigger. Bigger implants mean a higher risk of sagging over time, getting stretch marks, as well as having back pain. There is always an assistance and weighing of the aesthetic gain against the biomechanical cost.
Breast Augmentation in Turkey
When you come to Lin Europe Clinic for breast augmentation in Turkey, it is because we emphasize detailed preoperative planning to cut down on regret. Sizing is something that we don’t hurry. We use 3D simulation technology to give you a fairly accurate idea of how different volumes will look on your specific torso width.
Communication forms the basis of your Istanbul experience. Besides listening to your fears of going “too big” or “too small,” we help you identify the “Goldilocks” size, the one that fits your frame perfectly. At Lin Europe Clinic, being “one and done” is what we want for you, which entails loving your size right from the moment the swelling subsides.
Frequently Asked Questions About Size Regret
Yes, it can. In fact, patients sometimes get so caught up in the “lift” that they don’t really see how much volume they have lost. After the breast has been lifted and compressed, it looks smaller, and some people wish they had put in an implant.
The most common size range is generally from 300cc to 450cc. An average person investing in this “sweet spot” typically gets a great enhancement that helps avoid disproportion.
Approximately 10-15% of the initial post-op volume is lost when the swelling goes down, and the muscle relaxes.
This entirely depends on your body frame. A 350cc on a very small woman can look like a full D cup. On a tall, broad-shouldered woman, it might even look like a small B cup. Never compare the cc numbers with your friends; compare the measurements instead.
Going bigger (upsize) is physically easier because the skin is already stretched. On the other hand, downsizing is quite a challenge because, most of the time, a breast lift is needed to remove the excess skin that will be left behind.
Adams, W. P., Jr. (2008). The process of breast augmentation: four sequential steps for optimizing outcomes for patients. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Bengtson, B. P. (2012). Complications, bad results, and revision surgery. Clinics in Plastic Surgery.
Tebbetts, J. B., & Adams, W. P. (2005). Five critical decisions in breast augmentation using five measurements in 5 minutes. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
