Changing Your Breast Implant Size: What to Expect – Dr. Ted Eisenberg

Times change. And so may your breast size if you’ve have had a child or a significant change in your weight.

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.”

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.

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 the process from start to finish 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.

How to Choose Your Breast Implant Size

Through the years, I’ve answered hundreds of questions from women who come into my office for a breast augmentation consultation.  I’ve also answered more than 3,000 questions about breast implants posed by women on RealSelf, an online cosmetic surgery forum.

Although women say it in different ways, their most burning question before surgery is this: How do I know what size breast implants to get?

What to Expect After Breast Implant Surgery

When I call my breast augmentation patients the day after surgery or examine them at their first post-op visit, they want to know one thing: Is this normal?

They phrase that question in many different ways:

Is it normal for my implants to be so high?
Will my implants soften up and squish together?
Is it okay that one of my breasts is up higher than the other?
Is it too soon to be judging my final shape and size?
Did you give me the implant size I asked for? 

My answer to all of the above: Yes!

Saline vs Silicone Breast Implants

There’s an opinion asserted by breast implant manufacturers and by many plastic surgeons that silicone gel breast implants are better than saline breast implants. In my opinion, “It ain’t necessarily so.” I’ve performed more than 7,000 breast augmentation surgeries, many of them with saline implants. My patients who chose saline have reported a high degree of satisfaction; it’s been rare for a woman to request that I change her saline implants to silicone. Silicone gel implants may be stealing the spotlight, but saline breast implants still have much to offer. Here are seven...