Breast Implant: How Do Breasts Look Immediately After Augmentation?

Breasts initially appear swollen, firm, and high.  

The Immediate Post-Operative Clinical Presentation

A major challenge for a professional plastic surgeon is timely control of patients' expectations because the early post-operative phase is vastly different from the final breast surgery result. As soon as you get out of anesthesia, your breasts will look higher than the chest wall, very swollen and unnaturally hard. This tight, highly-projected appearance is completely a medical norm caused by inflammation from the surgery, surgical wound, and the tremendous stretch on the patient’s original skin that is trying to accommodate a bigger implant at the same time.

The stage right after a major body surgery is what most plastic surgeons would term the “drop and fluff” phase biologically. When your skin has not quite given up yet to a new implant at first glance, the breast appears to have some kind of angularity or is slightly more narrow (box-like or bottle-like). The patient has to realize that this appearance is not the final aesthetic outcome; it is only a starting point of a lengthy, multidimensional soft-tissue restructuring process. In time, the skin will biologically respond to the change, and the implant will come to rest perfectly in the lower part of the breast, which will end up in a very soft, natural, and extremely well-defined breast shape as a teardrop.

Asymmetry, Tissue Edema, and Incision Aesthetics

Significant swelling and some amount of asymmetry are unavoidable after a breast augmentation surgery. The body just won't heal equally on both sides, and it is perfectly all right for one breast to be slightly larger, higher, or even have more swelling than the other. The reason for this can be preexisting anatomical differences, dominant-side muscle strength, or lymphatic drainage variations in each local area. The skin over the breast is usually stretched and shiny, and in some cases, a patient might observe some slight bruising on the lower part of the breast or around the chest area.

No less important are the surgical marks that you get after an operation. Depending on the way the surgeon has decided to introduce implants. Whether under the mammary fold via the inframammary approach, or the surgeon could have taken the periareolar path around the areola, or even the transaxillary one (armpit incision). The incision lines will be very strictly kept covered during the acute recovery phase. You would normally expect them to be taped with surgical adhesive (Steri-Strips) or a liquid dermal adhesive covering a very superficial incision. The surgical site just after surgery would likely be somewhat raised and slightly red, perhaps even puckered. In fact, this type of suturing is quite deliberately planned out, as it is designed to allow the scar to flatten once the skin inevitably stretches and the breast settles (drops); hence, the scar becomes virtually nonexistent.

Muscular Dynamics and Submuscular Placement

Implant placement technique significantly influences the degree of immediate swelling, when it is, for instance, a dual-plane or submuscular one. Putting the implants under the pectoralis major muscle is, by the surgeon, an absolute preference because it is a very effective way of having a breast augmentation look as if it were a patient's own breasts from the area above the collarbone. But the body's pectoralis major muscle does not just sit still when you put something foreign in the area - it reacts strongly.

Over the period of one and a half to three months, the pectoralis major muscle gets used to the new situation and relaxes again to the new length where the implant is placed. When combined with the gradual loosening of the skin underneath, the implant slowly comes down and takes up its place, just as it was planned surgically by the plastic surgeon. This dropping down is what makes the upper part of the breast look soft and transforms the initially very firm contour of the implant into a smooth, very feminine one. Also, this change in the muscular dynamics allows the breast tissue to follow the implant movement with a natural motion and a soft feel to the breast when touched.

Maintaining Physical Protection and Boundaries After Surgery

For perfectionists who seek only the best, adhering to your surgeon’s instructions on physical limitations is your main safety device in the first 6 months. The internal breast pockets created as well as the fragile microvascular networks under the skin require total mechanical prevention from any damage or distortion so that the healing occurs smoothly without causing the implant to move. Without this total support, the gravity effect on the stretched skin and the pull of gravity might weaken not only the skin around the breast but even cause severe complications like bottoming-out or lateral shifting of the implant.

The surgeon may also decide to prescribe an elastic breast band (Stabilizer strap), which is put across your thoracic area to help in reducing the height of your high-standing implants to their correct positions. In addition, you are to stay away from anything that might increase muscular strain, such as lifting heavy weights or doing exercise involving your chest to the maximum. Moreover, quitting the use of tobacco products is the only way to go, since nicotine is a very powerful blood vessel constrictor that is a significant hindrance in the recovery process, as blood vessels are cut off from oxygen, thus delaying the healing, which increases the chances of severe post-surgery complications, such as contracted capsule (capsular contraction).

LIN Europe Clinic

LIN Europe Clinic provides a unique environment as a global top-tier medical retreat through which your facial reshaping, sophisticated structural body sculpting, and augmentation operations are carried out with flawless surgical competence and profound empathetic treatment. We know that getting through the initial phase of swelling, muscular spasms, and adapting soft tissue necessary to produce a great augmentation needs to be supported by a thoroughly professional, very open, and highly supportive environment, which puts medical science and the health of a patient as the priority regardless of anything else.

LIN Europe Clinic is not only a world leader in advanced breast shaping but also in the plastic surgery aftercare area, which creates a calm and peaceful atmosphere where your entire medical program is under control, based on the standards of patient safety set by the world. Your absolute trust in our specialist team who work under  LIN Europe Clinic in Istanbul not only gives your structural details the exact monitoring through the entire process via the most accurate diagnostic methods but also provides full support that allows you to gradually transform into a well-balanced and very attractive physical figure completely free from any worry or concern, at the same time, protecting your overall physical health.