I.D.E.A.L.® Breast Lift With Implants

Looking to perk up and enlarge your sagging breasts?

Drawing on his experience with more than 7,000 cosmetic breast surgeries, Philadelphia plastic surgeon Dr. Ted Eisenberg created the I.D.E.A.L. Breast Lift, a groundbreaking technique for simultaneous augmentation mastopexy (also known as a breast lift with implants). This approach, Dr. Eisenberg published in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and teaches to doctors around the world, raises and reshapes the breasts, giving them a more youthful look. Click here to read the article’s abstract.

A breast lift can raise and reshape breasts that have drooped, but it cannot make breasts bigger and fuller. If you are looking for perkier breasts and a bigger cup size, you might be a candidate this surgery. Read more about it here.

Breast Lift Breast Augmentation Dr. Ted Eisenberg

“Thank you for your artistry, kindness and professionalism.” – Heather L.

“I look good in whatever top I wear.” – Jenny V.

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Are You a Candidate for a Breast Lift With Implants?

To see if you are a candidate for a breast lift, try this “pencil test.” Place a pencil horizontally along the crease under your breast where your bra band would rest. Look in the mirror. Is the position of the nipple itself (not the areola) above, at, or below the crease?

If your nipple hangs below the pencil, you would be a candidate for a breast lift. It would restore your breasts to a more youthful look by repositioning the nipples at a higher position and removing excess skin.

If your breasts are mildly droopy (with the nipple above or at the crease), the approach is not as clear-cut; it depends on how much of a pick-me-up you are hoping for. A saline or silicone gel implant placed behind the pectoral muscle might help create the illusion of perkiness. That’s because as the implant fills out the top of the breast, it also fills out the bottom, making it look as if the nipple has moved higher. It hasn’t. A silicone gel implant placed in front of the pectoral muscle might create the same illusion.

To decide if you want a breast lift and breast implants: Put on your bra and look in the mirror. If you are satisfied with the size of your breasts, then a breast lift alone might be the right procedure for you. If you wish that your breasts were bigger, you are probably a candidate for a breast lift with implants.

The Consultation

At your free consultation, which will run about 45 minutes, you’ll have a chance to talk about your expectations and find out what a breast lift with saline or silicone implants can accomplish. Dr. Eisenberg will take your medical history, discuss your specific health concerns, and examine and measure your breasts. You’ll see pictures of the breast lift incision, which is anchor-like in shape; it goes around the nipple, extends from the nipple down to the breast fold and then in the breast fold itself. Healing is usually very good and is helped by Dr. Eisenberg’s use of dissolvable stitches, which do not have to be removed.

Dr. Eisenberg has an incomparable collection of before and after photographs of his augmentation mastopexy patients. You’ll see photos of women who started out similar to you in height, weight, frame size and breast volume and how they look at three and nine months after surgery.

Cost of Breast Lift With Implants

Prices around the country range from about $5,000 to $10,000 for breast lift surgery. If it’s combined with a breast augmentation, expect to pay an additional $3,500 for saline implants and $4,500 for silicone. On your initial phone call, our friendly, experienced staff will discuss the cost, financing options, and our payment policy. Dr. Eisenberg’s price is all-inclusive. It includes his surgical fee, hospital and anesthesia costs, smooth breast implants, laboratory tests, and all postoperative visits – usually at 1 week, 3 weeks, 3 months and 9 months.

The Augmentation Lift Surgery

An augmentation mastopexy is probably the most complex cosmetic breast surgery procedure, because two operations – a breast lift and breast augmentation – are combined to achieve the desired result. It requires a lot of experience, sculpting and finesse to select the right size implant and to create symmetry and maximum lift. Dr. Eisenberg’s I.D.E.A.L. Breast Lift does just that, and he has been teaching to doctors from around the country and around the world since 2003.

While some doctors prefer to do two separate operations – the breast lift first followed a few months later by the breast augmentation – Dr. Eisenberg performs both procedures at the same time. Having one surgery rather than two reduces the time that you are under anesthesia.

The traditional breast lift technique is to remove the excess skin on one side and tack it back together to see how it looks. Surgeons repeat the process on the other side and compare. If the breasts aren’t even, they go back and forth and back and forth, trimming skin until they get it right.

Dr. Eisenberg’s approach, which he calls “previsualization,” relies on the use of surgical staples to temporarily fasten or tailor tack the breasts into their new higher position, enabling him to see exactly how they’ll look before he makes a single incision. “With this technique, I know precisely how much skin needs to be removed. It takes the guesswork out of the procedure,” he says, adding, “The staple-first technique exemplifies the expression: Measure twice, cut once.”

The Day of Surgery

Dr. Eisenberg performs his I.D.E.A.L. Breast Lift surgery in the safety of the operating room at Nazareth Hospital. On the day of surgery, your support person can stay with you until you are transferred to the operating room. That means he or she can be by your side when you meet the anesthesiologist and when Dr. Eisenberg marks the incision site, takes pictures for you and your records, and reviews your postoperative medications and diet.

During surgery, after Dr. Eisenberg places your breast implants, he will reposition your nipples at a higher position and remove the excess skin. When the remaining skin is tightened, it creates a natural sling – like a new bra – to support and lift your breasts. The procedure takes about three and a half hours.

After surgery, you will be cared for in the recovery room by skilled, compassionate nurses until you are ready to go home later the same day. You must arrange for someone to drive you home.

Recovery After Breast Lift With Implants

The first three days after surgery, women who have had children commonly say they feel like they did when their breasts were fully engorged with milk after childbirth. Women who have not had children describe the feeling as some tightness, burning or pressure. Dr. Eisenberg will prescribe medications to make you more comfortable during this period. The discomfort usually starts to ease up on the fourth day after surgery. More than 90 percent of the patients are back to work in an office setting on the fifth day.

  • Three-quarters of our patients report no nausea and vomiting from the day of surgery on; the rest report minimal symptoms.
  • You can take a shower the day after surgery.
  • By the third day, many women are able to comfortably lift their children; they can also drive a car if they are not taking narcotics.
  • Getting back to the gym: Patients can generally return to aerobics in three weeks and upper body weightlifting in six weeks.
  • Your first postoperative visit is usually within a week. Your stitches are dissolvable, so there are no stitches to remove at this visit — or ever. There are no drains to be removed either; they are never used.
  • You shouldn’t soak your incisions in a bathtub, pool or hot tub for six weeks.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long after giving birth should I wait before getting a breast lift with or without implants? To know your true post-pregnancy breast size, it’s best to wait at least six months from the time you give birth or from the time you stop breastfeeding, whichever is later.

Can you make me a full C cup? Most women think that being proportional means wearing a C cup bra, and they tell me that this is the size they want. But a C cup can mean one thing if it’s made by Victoria’s Secret and another if it’s made by Vanity Fair. You might wear a B cup in a full-coverage bra and a C cup in a demi bra, even if the same company makes both styles. Because there is no standard cup-sizing system, I prefer to call it a C look. To achieve a C look, a 5-foot woman with a small frame might need a B cup while a 5-foot-8-inch woman with a large frame might need a D cup.

After a lift, will my breasts be bigger or smaller? Your breasts will be the same size because only excess, stretched skin is removed during a breast lift; no breast tissue is taken away. To see how you will look after surgery, put on a good bra and gaze into the mirror. After surgery, your bare breasts might appear to be smaller than they used to be because the surgery shortened and tightened them. The change in size is just an illusion.

Will I be able to breastfeed after breast lift surgery? The likelihood is very strong that breast lift surgery won’t affect your ability to breastfeed because your milk ducts, which run from the mammary glands to the nipple, are not disturbed. Only skin from the perimeter of the areola is removed, and there are no milk ducts there.

How long does a breast lift last? A breast lift has long-lasting results. As you age, the newly positioned nipple and areola will generally stay above the inframammary fold. However, future pregnancies or significant weight changes can undo some of the improvement and cause your breasts to sag again.

To read Dr. Eisenberg’s Breast Blog, click here.

“It’s been close to six weeks since my surgery, and I’m so happy. For the first time since I can remember, I feel so good about myself. I love the way I look now, as though I’m finally built the way I always should have been. I feel way more confident about myself and more feminine also.” – Nicole S.