Cosmopolitan Magazine had “21 Things you should know before getting a boob job.” And it is a good article. (first of 2 blogs)

I never thought I would be quoting Cosmo Magazine on my blog, but I saw this article floating around, so I had to read it.  And I thought it was good info.  For the original article, please click here.

To summarize what they said, with my thoughts in italics.

• Your first surgery won’t be your last.
  • Agreed.  You do not need to replace them for no reason, but they can leak, turn hard, migrate, or your body changes from aging or pregnancy so you tinker with them for another reason.
• It will cost you around $3719.
  • This was deceptive, as they were only quoting the surgeon fee, not including the fee for the operating room or the anesthesiologist. Turns out, I am on sale. Who knew?
• People take 5 – 7 days off work.
  • True.  Whether you go behind the muscle or in front, recovery tends to be quick.  Returning to exercise is about a month.
• Breasts with implants feel different than real breasts
  • Depends.  I really like a natural breast, and when placing the implants do things to help the implants move when touched.  It also varies with the amount of natural breast tissue, fat, and muscle you have over the implant.  The thicker your down comforter over your implant, the less you feel the implant.
• You can try on different sizes before deciding on one.
  • AGREE! This is a place where I think you NEED to try on sizing implants.  Looking at photos or saying “I want to be a C cup” is a horrible way to pick a size. See my blogs on implant sizing HERE.
• You can’t go from small to huge all at once.
  • Depends.  I don’t tend to get women who want to go super large, and there are so many factors here- have you had kids? breastfed? what is your skin tone? etc etc.
• Breast augmentation can affect your ability to breastfeed.
  • There are studies which show any breast surgery affects your ability to breastfeed. See blogs HERE.  But there are many studies which show you can breastfeed after augmentation (just avoid the areola incision to help stack the deck in your favor).  Anecdotally I have patients who had kids after their augmentation who contacted me to tell me they had no issues with breastfeeding.  
  • All this being said, if you are on the cusp of having babies, WAIT to do the breast augmentation. It is a great way to fix what pregnancy and breastfeeding do to breasts, and you never know what the changes will be after you breastfeed.
• You might lose feeling in your nipples after a breast augmentation
  • True, but not for why you think.  Studies have shown it isn’t where your incision is which affects breast sensation, but how big you go (ie how much you are stretching the skin) which affects it.  All patients tend to get some changes around the time of surgery, but most people return to around normal about a month out.  Again, I have blogged about journal articles on the subject, and you can see my blogs on sensation change HERE.
• You’re not a great candidate for breast augmentation if you have a very strong family history of breast cancer, are obese, or smoke.
  • Let’s take this one by one.
    • If you have a strong family history of breast cancer, you need to know implants can affect your ability to do a mammogram.  There was a huge study out of Canada which showed delay in breast cancer detection in women with implants.  Horrifying! Many of those patients had implants though in front of the muscle, which makes it harder to image the breast.  If you are going to do implants and you have any kind of risk, put your implants behind the muscle.
    • If you have a strong family history of breast cancer, look at your BRCA status.  If you are positive, your chance of getting breast cancer is 50-80%. See blogs HERE.
    • Obesity is a big range.  Can’t make a blanket statement about breast augmentation for this group.  For all surgeries though, the higher your BMI, the higher the risk for any surgery.
    • Smoking.  Smoking, no matter how rarely, no matter what you are smoking, is just not good for healing or infection.  For sure you need to stop around the time of surgery for a month ahead and a month after.
• Not all “plastic surgeons” are board certified and trustworthy.
  • YES YES YES!!! Love you Cosmo magazine.  “Be wary of ‘boards’ which are not legitimate.” “Make sure the surgeon is certified from the American Board of Plastic Surgery.” This is a huge issue.  Nonqualified doctors call themselves plastic surgeons and do breast augmentations all the time. See my blogs HERE on how to find a true plastic surgeon and learn about all of the training, testing, and prior surgeries we had to do to be qualified.  It is a long rigorous path.  Board certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, membership in ASPS, and membership in ASAPS (our aesthetic society) really mean something.
  • For an example of how real this is, read this story from Atlanta about a woman who almost bled to death.

To be continued in the next blog….