Breast Blog
Why Have a Breast Augmentation: 13 Women Tell All
Before and after photos show how a breast augmentation, breast lift or breast reduction changes a woman, but it’s her words that fill out the picture. More than 100 of my patients have shared their thoughts about their experience in reviews on RealSelf.com, a plastic surgery website. Here are a dozen excerpts that give you a peek into why they had surgery and how they feel about it afterward. Note: Before comments are preceded by a (B), after thoughts by an (A).
(B) I have always dreamt of the day I would have the courage and ability to get a boob job. After years of hard work 
and two kids, this past September my dream finally came true. (A) On the morning of my breast augmentation surgery I was giddy like a child on Christmas morning. I wake up everyday now so happy that I finally have the chest and confidence I always wanted!
(B) I had wanted breast augmentation for almost 15 years. I knew I was going to have kids, and I figured I would just wait until I was finished having them. I looked at myself almost a year and half after my 3rd child, turned to my husband and said, “It’s time. I want my pre-baby breasts back.”(A) I am so pleased that I finally got breast implants. Something for myself – and esteem. I feel like a new woman.
(B) I came all the way from India to Dr. Ted for treatment of my asymmetric breasts. I was always bothered by the shape and different sizes of my breasts, always thinking what I could wear to hide them. (A) Well, I just love my breasts now! Being self-conscious is a thing of the past. After my breast augmentation I am full of zeal and confidence and loving the results.
Read the blog: “Lessons Learned from 56,000 Breasts.”
(B) I was very insecure about how my breasts and nipples looked. My older sister had a breast lift done by Dr. Eisenberg and I was amazed by his work. I knew this was definitely something I wanted to do. (A) I couldn’t be happier with the results. I feel as though I can finally be comfortable with myself. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
(B) I have always felt I had a disproportionate and oddly shaped upper body. When we decided we were done having children I instantly decided I wanted breast implants. (A) I am just shy of 2 weeks post breast augmentation surgery and I couldn’t be happier with my decision.
(B) I’ve always looked into the mirror and what stood out to me was my chest, or lack of chest. I just wanted to be a girl in my own eyes. People would always say you don’t need to have breast augmentation; you’re beautiful the way you are. Most of the people who told me this were lucky enough to have breasts. When I decided to have the surgery, I didn’t want anything drastic but just “something.”(A) Going from a light A cup to a C was the best decision of my life. I am only a couple weeks out and the final product isn’t here but I am already so excited and happy! [WATCH OUR VIDEO: Can You Make Me a Full C Cup?]
(B) Life begins at 65: This year, emboldened by my old age and a desire for physical comfort in my remaining years, I finally decided to put myself first and scheduled an appointment for a breast reduction. (A) My chronic back pain immediately vanished. While aesthetics weren’t my main priority, I must say it’s nice to have a more youthful-looking bust line. I actually keep (privately, of course) feeling myself, hardly believing that these are the same two “girls” that tortured me for 50 years. Why, oh why didn’t I do this sooner!
(B) It took me two years to finally decide to get a breast augmentation. (A) This was the best decision I have ever made.
(B) I’ve always wanted a breast augmentation. I never felt comfortable in bathing suits or in general. (A) The surgery was a great experience. Dr. Eisenberg and his team are super professional and friendly. I’m glad I chose them!
(B) I used to wish that cake went straight to my boobs. (A) Now they are the cherry on the cake. A perfect design in my eyes. I’m staring in the mirror every day and smiling – with not one bit of regret. My husband even loves them now and he was initially against the whole thing.
(B) I started off at barely an A cup and didn’t want anything extreme. I just wanted to feel feminine. I told Dr. Eisenberg that I wanted a normal size for my body (5’1″ and 98 lbs). (A) I’m very satisfied with breast augmentation. My breasts are very symmetrical and natural looking.
(B) I was tired of the way my clothes hung on me so I came to Dr. Eisenberg for breast implants. (A) Everything happened exactly as he described, from the second we arrived at the hospital, to the stages of healing. I am beyond satisfied. If you want nice boobs, he’s your doctor!!
The Absolute Breast Thing I’ve Ever Done for Myself
(B) As a 40-year-old mother of three, my breasts had lost their shape and were sagging. I was tired of not being able to wear certain bathing suits, bras and tops and even more important tired of feeling self-conscious in front of my own husband.
Last spring I scheduled a dermatologist appointment to do a full body scan because I have a family history of skin cancer. I was so horrified that I had to be fully undressed that I struggled with the thought that I’d rather cancel the appointment and take my chances.
(A) My results of my breast augmentation are better than I could have ever dreamed! I am forever grateful to Dr. Eisenberg and his staff. They made me feel confident and comfortable again! For me this surgery was life changing and maybe even life saving because now I will never put off things like mammograms and skin scans.
• • •
Although all of these kind words about myself, my staff and the hospital make me feel good, the point of these comments is that women consistently report that they feel good – physically and emotionally – after their surgery. Understandably cosmetic breast surgery is not for everyone, but for those who desire it, it can make a huge, life-changing difference. (Stayed tuned to our next blog to read about these life changes!)
What Is Needed for Breast Lift Surgery? – Dr. Ted Eisenberg
No crystal ball can predict if, how much, and how soon your breasts will lose their shape and firmness, and if you’ll need breast implants or a breast lift to perk them up.
Looking for a culprit? You can blame the following for the droop (medically known as ptosis). Hint: the “p” is psilent.
Genetics: Breasts can start drooping at any age depending on your genes and the elasticity of your skin. That’s why it’s not uncommon for teens to have droopy breasts. Some girls say that they were “born with saggy breasts” or that they “just developed this way.”
Pregnancy: When you are pregnant, the developing placenta stimulates the 
release of hormones, causing your milk glands – and your breasts – to grow and swell. This rapid growth can also cause the skin to stretch. When the milk is gone, your breasts might return to their original size or get bigger, smaller, or droopier.
Weight change: Significant weight gain and loss can also affect your breasts. When you lose weight, it not only reduces the size of your waist and thighs, but it might also reduce the size of your breasts – sometimes dramatically. If the skin and ligaments don’t retract when some of the fat disappears, you could be left with saggy or empty-looking breasts.
Philadelphia DJ Casey chose Dr. Eisenberg to do her breast lift
surgery. Watch her intimate video blog about her experience.
BUT DON’T BLAME . . .
Gravity: Gravity gets a bad rap. The pull of gravity on your breasts – or your face – isn’t a significant factor in droopiness. It’s more like the skin isn’t as strong as it once was, and it begins to fall down – like a pair of sweatpants that has lost its elastic.
Breastfeeding: Although the number of pregnancies and your pre-pregnancy breast size are factors in post-pregnancy sagging, breastfeeding itself is not.
Going braless: While a bra will keep your breasts from sagging while you are wearing it, there is little evidence that wearing a bra delays or prevents breast droopiness.
In One Patient’s Words: Why I Got a Breast Lift With Implants
At 38, after having three children, I thought about having cosmetic breast surgery. But I put the thought out of my head and just wore padded push-up bras to make myself feel better.
But then, at the age of 47, after losing almost 25 pounds, I was even unhappier with how my breasts sagged. I called Dr. Eisenberg for a consultation. A staff member took my call and I felt like I was talking to my good friend. I told her that I felt silly going through this process at 47 and she reassured me that they have breast lift patients of all ages and that there were women older than myself who had surgery and were very happy with the results.
My consultation was wonderful and I felt like Dr. Eisenberg really could see what I had envisioned in my head as to how I wanted my breasts to look. I loved how he showed my husband and I pictures of women that were similar to my weight, height and body shape. That was so helpful to me in choosing the right-sized breast implants. I wanted to look and feel as natural as possible.
Currently, I am a natural-looking, in proportion 38 C and I love it! I honestly could not be happier with my augmentation lift results. Having this surgery has been the best decision I have made. I cannot wait until summer so I can show off the girls! A huge thank you to Dr. Eisenberg and his team.
LEARN MORE: Thinking about having surgery to perk up your breasts? Find out if you’re a candidate, what the surgery accomplishes and what to expect during recovery in our blog:
How does a breast lift work?
Changing Your Breast Implant Size: What to Expect – Dr. Ted Eisenberg
If you’ve had a child or a significant change in your weight, your breast size may change.
About 10 percent of my patients come in for a consultation to get information about making a change: bigger breast implants, smaller breast implants, or a breast lift. The average time elapsed since their first surgery is about 10 years, although it varies greatly.
They tell me, “I’ve gained a lot of weight, and I’m much bigger than I want to be. I’d like to go a little smaller.”
Or, “After my two children, my breasts got smaller. I just want to get my pre-pregnancy size back – and maybe a little extra.”
Others say, “I went for the gusto 15 years ago. I’ve enjoyed them and they served their purpose, but now that I’m 50something, I just want them a little smaller.”
Sometimes women call me because they think their breast implants have to be changed after 10 years. But that’s a myth; breast implants don’t have an expiration date. They don’t need to be exchanged unless you want a change! [WATCH OUR VIDEO: How Long Do Breast Implants Last?]
Like the first time, we look at before and after photographs of women who started out similar to them in height, weight, frame size and breast volume. They tell me, “too big,” too small” or “just right” so I know what size implants to order.
Breast augmentation surgery is easier the second time around.
Here’s what’s involved in upsizing or downsizing:
Less discomfort
To change each breast implant, I go through the same incision that I made initially in the crease beneath the breast. I don’t have to make a pocket beneath the chest muscle for the implant, so there is less manipulation of breast tissue and therefore less discomfort post-op. All you’ll feel is the incision. Consequently, you’ll likely need less medication for discomfort after surgery.
Shorter procedure time
This second surgery takes less time than your initial breast augmentation surgery, which means less anesthesia and a lower possibility of post-operative nausea and vomiting.
Shorter recovery time
You should still take it easy for a week, but you could probably get back to work on the third day because there is much less chance of bleeding. So if your surgery is on a Friday, you could return to work on Monday.
First-timers are generally back to work in an office setting in 5 days. And you don’t have to wait until the sixth week to do upper body weights. You can start up again after three weeks.
Remember your recovery the first time around? Remind yourself here: “What to Expect the First Week.”
Quicker results
Because your skin and chest muscle have already stretched to accommodate your implants, the implants won’t start off high like they did the first time. You’ll pretty much see the final result when you get home. After surgery, I’ll have you wear something supportive like a sports bra for three weeks to protect your incision. At that time, you’ll be able to wear and do anything and everything you want. No waiting eight weeks this time to go shopping for new bras and bathing suits.
Titbits:
How does pregnancy and weight change affect your breasts? During pregnancy, breasts enlarge from hormonal changes and milk production. Afterward, they could return to their original size or get smaller or bigger. And because breasts are made up mostly of fatty tissue, they will get bigger or smaller as you gain or lose weight. Often, they are the first indicators.
How long do breast implants last? Although your breasts may change, your implants will remain the same. They don’t need to be replaced every 10 years. In fact, I’ve changed a woman’s implants after 19 years – she had a child, got smaller and wanted to go bigger – and the implants looked the same as they did the day I put them in.
Redditors Asked Me Anything: Breast Implants, Cadavers, Rockin’ Hooters & More
I’ve answered hundreds of questions about breast implants in my office and in my book, The Scoop On Breasts: A Plastic Surgeon Busts the Myths, but answering questions on Reddit? That’s another story!
On Dec. 13 at 4 p.m., I hosted a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything!) session. I was introduced like this:
IamA Guinness World Record Holding Breast Surgeon. I’ve examined at least 56,000 breasts during my 25-plus-year career as a plastic surgeon. I’m an expert knife and tomahawk thrower. AMA!
I might not have gotten as many questions as Barack Obama, Jerry Seinfeld or Arnold Schwarzenegger did when they were on Reddit, but I probably had as much fun. Here are a handful of the questions I was asked and my responses.
♦ Tinkletwit: Did you train on cadavers? If so, was the former person aware that they’d be getting implants in the afterlife?
Drted: Two years ago, I trained other surgeons on a cadaver in a workshop at Louisiana State University. They wanted to learn my approach to simultaneous breast augmentation and lift. About the afterlife? I didn’t know so I googled it and found this on HuffPost: “Most programs won’t allow you to donate your body for a specific purpose. You give them the body and they decide how to use it.” So I guess the person didn’t know she would be getting new, perky breasts.
♦ Nine_2_nine: I’ve nursed three babies in four years for 12 months each, so my boobs are pretty much shot. I’m considering fixing them sometime in the next 7 years or so. How would my boobs age as I age? Would they eventually sag? Would I be an old lady with rockin hooters?
Drted: As you age, you lose skin elasticity. Everything begins to droop a bit and go south. If you have breast implants, they won’t stay up high. They’ll move south, too, along with your breasts. You’ll be a rockin’ old lady with normal hooters!
♦ DrPolitick: What’s the farthest someone has traveled to get boobs from you?
Drted: India first, and then Ireland. (My office is in Philadelphia.) A woman from Oregon rented an RV and took a family road trip to Philly so I could do her surgery. I’ve had patients from many places in between, but these are pretty much the farthest.
Jerry Seinfeld didn’t talk about breasts during his Reddit session, but he did on Episode 56 – The Shoes – of Seinfeld. Watch it here.
Drted: There have been times when I thougt a woman’s breasts looked good as they were, but she wanted enhancement and I felt I could accomplish her goals. My experience is that women know what they want, and my job is just to listen.
♦ ChamberofSarcasm: How often do techniques change? In the 80s we had silicone and big scars on the underside of breasts. Then they went in the nipple, then the armpit. Do you think there’s a best method? Is there still a challenge or complication to be addressed or solved?
Drted: Techniques change maybe once a decade. For example, the silicone implants of the 1980s were more liquidy. Now they are more cohesive – like the gummy bear candy that doesn’t leak. Breast implants are always being studied and researched for safety. I feel that the best incision is in the crease under the breast because I don’t have to go through any breast structures to place the implants.
“I love Thanksgiving turkey . . . it’s the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts.”
– Arnold Schwarzenegger, former governor of California.
♦ ChamberofSarcasm: Do you feel a sense of competition with other surgeons? Like a brain surgeon or ortho?
Drted: With other surgeons I feel more camaraderie than competition because they understand what’s involved in the responsibility of cutting into a person.
♦ 2009_G8GXP_for_sale: What’s the youngest and the oldest age of patients you’ve done the procedure on?
Drted: The youngest was 18, which is what the FDA recommends, and the oldest was 72. She wanted to feel as good on the outside as she did on the inside.
♦ Solutionsfirst: What’s the #1 thing that would significantly make the overall process of surgery or surgery in your field significantly better?
Drted: Although it’s important to keep improving surgical equipment and techniques, what’s most important, I think, is improving doctor/doctor and doctor/patient communication. For example, some doctors think that patients might be discouraged by hearing about the risks and be prepared for them. We’re all grownups, and we want to know all that can happen so we can make an informed decision and know what to expect.
To read Dr. Ted Eisenberg’s entire Reddit, conversation, click here.
The Breast Augmentation Patient Cluster Phenomenon
Redheads come in clusters, according to Austrian biologist Paul Kammerer, who studied coincidences when he wasn’t studying salamanders. In the early 1900s, he spent hours on the streets of Vienna recording the height, hair color and type of hat worn by passersby. He observed that men with red hair tended to pass by in clusters – often in threes – proof of his “law of series.”
The Redhead Cluster Phenomenon makes sense to me because over the last 10 years, I’ve made a similar observation, which I call the “Breast Augmentation Patient Cluster Phenomenon”!
When I review the charts in the operating room before I begin surgery, I notice similarities: “Everyone’s very tall today, ” or “Everyone has a tattoo or piercing,” or “All of the patients are named Jamie – and so is one of the nurses!”
Is it a cosmic biorhythm or an unexplainable phenomenon? What are the odds?
According to the “law of truly large numbers,’ credited to mathematicians Persi Diaconis and Frederick Mosteller, “with a large enough sample, any outrageous thing is likely to happen.” I’ve performed a truly large number of breast augmentations and breast lifts – more than 7,000 – so perhaps I have a large enough sample.
I don’t know if these patient groupings are statistically inevitable or proof of Kammerer’s law, but I do know that my staff does not arrange the surgical schedule this way. Women choose their surgery date according to their convenience; we don’t choose it for them.
Some of the coincidences can be related to the seasons. We see large numbers of teachers and students who have the same school breaks. But most groupings are not seasonally related.
Even though my patients range in age from 18 to 67, on some days everyone is in their early 20s; on another day they’re in their 30s, on another in their 50s.
One day everybody might have children; on another day nobody has kids. One day all the women live close to my Philadelphia office, while on another day everyone comes from out of town. Some days all the women come in to the hospital with a bunch of family members; other days they are just dropped off.
I’ve also had days where all the patients were Hispanic, and others where they were all Asian, Italian, Indian or Russian.
I’ve had days where everybody was a nurse and others where all were a stay-at-home mom. And yes, I do have groupings of redheads, brunettes and blondes.
Sometimes, the women’s choice of breast implant size is the common denominator: Everyone seems to be choosing bigger implants one day, while others are “smaller size day” and “average size day.” This might correlate with the stature of the patients, which is another common denominator. They might all be tall and have big frames or all may be more petite.
I’ve also had days where all the patients were perkier and other days where all were droopier. And even though breasts are sisters, not twins, some days all the women are fairly symmetrical and on another day they are more noticeably uneven and are getting breast implants of different sizes. [WATCH OUR VIDEO: Correcting Breast Asymmetry: They’re Sisters, Not Twins]
Do other people notice this phenomenon? Does this phenomenon occur in other settings? Does a hairstylist notice that one day all her clients are redheads and on another day everyone says, “Just cut it a little bit”? At Dunkin’ Donuts, is one day all about glazed jelly donuts? Do the chocolate frosted donuts sell out on another day?
Maybe I’m observing these similarities because I’m solely performing cosmetic breast surgery, and that’s making the coincidences more statistically possible. But on a recent surgery day, when I was chatting with the OR staff and I asked them their favorite ice cream flavor, they all said mint chocolate chip.
There might just be something to cluster phenomena after all!
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