I fielded a question from a young woman who had small implants placed (less than 200cc) who at 2 months out wanted the implants removed. Her concern was what are things going to look like?
Breast implant removal and leaving them out (ie you don’t put new implants in) is a rare thing. I have done them, but maybe one patient a year (And only one of my breast aug patients had them removed. These patients I have seen are from other doctors.). The reasons are multiple: they are too big, persistent capsular contracture, droop, they just don’t want them anymore… but again it is a rare thing.
How did I answer this patient?
Short answer: For you at age 24 (I’m assuming no pregnancies/kids) with small breast implants placed only 2 months ago, you’ll likely look close to your pre surgery state. BUT if you had a constricted or tubular breast, the shape may be different. I don’t know what your shape was, your skin tone, etc.
Longer answer: Breasts change over time when you DON’T have implants in, so of course they will change when you do have implants in. How much they change is all over the map.
- how old are you?
- what is your skin tone?
- have you had kids? breastfed? for how long? how many kids?
- weight changes?
- how big are the implants?
- are they in front of or behind the muscle?
- how long have they been in?
- are you droopy with them in?
Very likely they will NOT LOOK LIKE THEY DID BEFORE you did anything. In their mind patients want to do a “reset” button. But you have aged since you had them placed, so again, even if you had never done a breast augmentation at all, your breast at age 35 after two kids wouldn’t look like your breast did at age 25. (I know, I know. This aging thing sucks.)
The poorer your skin tone, the older you are, the more stretchy your natural skin, the bigger and longer the implants have been in, yadda yadda, the more change you will have. The more change, the less likely they will look like the breasts you are remembering prior to implants. And don’t forget how we idealize what we had in the past. The memory in the mind is very kind- we tend to be thinner, prettier, more fit.
My advice to women who are on the fence about doing breast implants is not to do them. For women with implants, it is rare not to replace them if there is an issue.