Stretch marks are essentially a tear in the skin.
Breast implants can cause stretch marks. This is not common, but it is a risk. I see it most often in a young patient with thicker skin (think Asian, Latina, Phillipino). When this skin needs to stretch quickly to accept the new implant, it can cause a “tear” in the skin. Again, I must repeat, this is not common.
Will it stretch marks happen to me?
If you got stretch marks on your thighs when growing or have bad stretch marks from a pregnancy, these may indicate a higher risk. There was a recent study showing a genetic component to stretch marks. The finding was the dermal fibroblasts in these patients were the issue, producing less elastin and collagen than expected. There was also a study finding stretch marks could be made without stretching the skin, just using a steroid cream. This may support a multifactorial cause which also includes hormonal changes.
Regardless, we see a correlation with rapid change in size and strech marks. Therefore breast implant size is also a factor. The bigger you go with your breast implants, the more you stretch your skin. In general women who have babies and breastfed have essentially “pre-stretched” their skin. I find the occurence of new stretch marks for these patients is less.
How to prevent stretch marks? You can’t totally prevent them. Genetics you can’t change. You can watch what size you are doing with your breast augmentation, but that doesn’t guarantee you won’t get stretch marks. I see women who go to large sizes with no stretch marks, and women with small implants form strech marks.
I do believe in hydration and massaging of the breasts. Studies are unclear if there is a specific lotion which is better. Start massaging the skin before your surgery date, and continue after for about a month.
There is a lot of buzz about nutrition: Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Zinc, avoiding caffeine. I don’t know of any particular studies which support this, but it likely won’t hurt.