I got a question from a 5’3” woman who got 690cc implants. “I did not want to go that big but unfortunately my doctor put in these huge implants.” She now wants to downsize but does not want a lift.
Eek.
I was so sad to read this. A 690 implant is a huge implant in any woman, but particularly in a petite one. A large implant like this will thin your skin and cause your breast to droop. Will she need to do a formal breast lift?
1. The longer your implant is in
2. the older you are
3. the less bounce-back your skin has (have you had pregnancies? Breastfed?)
4. the droopier you are currently (do you pass the pencil test?)
the more you will need a lift.
Volume lifts the breast. Some women come in after pregnancy or aging and have droopy breasts. The amount of droop varies, and the droopier you are, the more likely you need to do a formal breast lift. Breast lifts have scars. I do the short scar vertical technique; many doctors still do the longer “anchor” scar (eek. even here in the Bay Area the anchor is still the most popular lift.). No plastic surgeon likes to put scars on the breast. If we can achieve what you want with a simple augmentation, we like to.
So a young woman comes in, is droopy, and wants to be bigger. How much volume do you add? How big of an implant do you use? Eventually every woman can “lift” her breast by adding volume, but in many cases the amount of volume you need is obscene. Some doctors want to avoid the scar of a lift at any cost, so they will put in a huge implant. Size is important. Every day when you get dressed, try to jog, meet new people, drop your kids off at school you will be that size. Are you comfortable?
I see many of these women. I have patients, particularly those who were droopy at a younger age, where the doctor told them, “Honey, I’ll take care of you.” These women did not participate in choosing the volume of their implant (which is crazy to me). They come to me a few years out, wearing jackets or vests to hide their large breasts. They are DD, DDD on top of a tiny frame. And they are unhappy. Most women in Northern California do not want to be as large. Those from the Bay Area and Palo Alto tend to be athletic women. My common surgery to fix their issues is to downsize the implant and do a breast lift. I always wish I would have met them first. I would have had an honest talk with them: size, scar, and perkiness. I could have saved them years of discomfort, achieved what they wanted in their first surgery, and they would have a better result. The years of being too large thins the skin and causes the breasts to droop more- irreversible changes.
So I have not met this woman. I have not seen her tissue, what it looks like, how droopy she is. But this is a big big implant. She should definitely take it out ASAP. The longer it is in, the more irreversible thinning and damage to her tissue. As far as the lift goes, I don’t know what she looked like before the implant. I don’t know if this doctor put in the obscene implant size to try to avoid a lift. From the sound of things though, to get this woman into the land of women who can jog, have people talk to their face, or buy a shirt which can still button, she will need a lift. Which is probably what she needed in the first place.