Breast surgery FAQ

Talk to your surgeon about when you can resume exercising after breast augmentation. Individual instructions may vary, but the usual advice is to wait at least two weeks. Although you may feel fine, you will not be completely healed at this stage. Doing too much too soon can set back your healing. You should not lift heavy objects, bend over, or take part in vigorous activities for at least three weeks after breast augmentation.

For most women, breast implants rest a bit high for a short period after surgery, and then they drop into a more normal position. This usually takes a few weeks. The time it takes your breast implants to drop depends upon several factors, including the implant size, what size you were before your breast augmentation surgery, the implant surface type, implant placement, your muscle tone and whether you massage your breasts. If your implants are placed underneath the chest muscle, they will drop slower than if they are placed over the muscle. If you had very small breasts before, and get moderate to large implants, they will take longer to drop because of the tightness of your skin. Sometimes, one side will drop before the other side.

Some surgeons advise patients to push their breast implants down or massage them soon after surgery to encourage them to drop. If you are having problems, your surgeon may have you wear a wide elastic band around the top of your chest to help push you implants down. If your implants still haven’t dropped within six to nine months, breast augmentation revision surgery may be necessary. Talk to your surgeon.

Your skin has been stretched to accommodate the breast implants. The sunburned feeling and red color are caused by this stretching. This is a normal part of the healing process. Ask your surgeon what he or she recommends for your skin during your breast implant recovery.

The shininess is a result of your skin being stretched. As your skin begins to relax, the shininess will go away.

This depends on your muscle tone and the implant placement. Your breasts will be firm for a while because of the post-surgery swelling. Textured implants may feel firmer than smooth ones.

Firmness is relative. Some individuals think they are too firm when they are only slightly firmer than before, while others crave firmness and fullness around the top side of their breasts. There is no one-size-fits-all answer.

This depends on your job, your incision type, your implant placement, and how fast you heal. If you have a sedentary job, you can generally go back sooner than if your job is physically demanding. If you have had a lift, your breast lift recovery will make your overall recuperation more involved.

Tanning is not good for any part of your body, including your new breasts. Tanned skin is damaged skin. If you want to tan anyway, you are going to have to wait at least until your skin is no longer red and shiny. Tanning too early after your breast augmentation surgery can increase your risk of hyperpigmentation, a condition in which patches of skin become darker than the surrounding skin. Keep your incisions out of direct sunlight for six months to a year after surgery. Scars take about one year to mature, so cover them! The skin on your breasts will also stretch out and heal before your scars, so if you start tanning, cover your scars with some kind of tape, not just sunblock.

Do not panic if you hear gurgling, squeaking or crackling noises coming from your new breasts. These noises can result from a fluid build-up or air bubbles within the implant pocket, or from the implant settling in. Give it a few weeks. Although the noises might be disturbing, this is normal after breast augmentation.

Your breasts may be odd looking because your skin has been stretched over them. Don’t worry, this is likely temporary. If your breasts look like torpedoes, your implants probably haven’t “dropped” yet. The lower half of each breast is probably still tight, forcing the breasts into a high, hard-cone shape. In the weeks immediately after your breast implant surgery, you may think your breasts are too big, too small, too round, not round enough, too square, too high, too low, too ugly, too this, and too that. This will pass in time. If your implants were placed under the chest muscles, it may take some time for the muscles to relax. If you are right-handed, your right breast may not drop as fast as your left one.

Take a deep breath. In the weeks after surgery, your breasts will be swollen and you will not be used to them yet. They may also be relatively high up on your chest. Wait until the swelling goes down before you decide that they are too big and/or that you want revision breast augmentation surgery.

You need to be fully healed before you can start jogging again. Activities like jogging, jumping rope, basketball and horseback riding subject your breasts to a lot of up-and-down movements. Jumping without good support for your breasts can stretch your skin, ligaments, and connective tissue, causing sagging. Talk to your surgeon before you take part in any strenuous activity. And when you do start up again, wear a good support bra or your compression bra.

Sex is still exercise. You should not participate in any activities that can significantly raise your heart rate or cause excessive movement in your breasts for a week or two after your breast augmentation. The antibiotics that you are taking to prevent infection may interfere with your birth control pills, so use another form of protection while you are on antibiotics if you do not want to become pregnant.

You will need to stay in Phuket near your surgeon for the first week of your breast implant recovery in case of complications. You will also need to be nearby for your follow-up appointments.

No. Just like the swelling, pain and redness, this is only temporary. You should sleep on your back with your head elevated for the first five to 10 days after surgery to reduce your discomfort and swelling. You can sleep on your side or stomach after 10 days.

In almost all cases, the sensation in the skin does return after breast augmentation. The nerves in the skin have pressure on them from the swelling and from the skin being so tightly stretched over the implant. This pressure may temporarily numb the area. What’s more, nerves around your incisions may be cut, and this can take longer to heal. As the breast envelope relaxes and your swelling subsides, you will notice sensation returning gradually. This may take up to a year.

After the removal of the bandages you will be fitted with either a support bra or boob tube style garment (depending on the surgeon’s recommendations). Do not wear underwire, ‘push-up’ bras or tight clothing for at least 1 month after the surgery (this may vary as per your surgeon’s recommendations). The push up bras and tight clothing may cause the implants to be shifted into abnormal positions.

Every woman is an individual and therefore has different results whether before a pregnancy or after. Your breasts will enlarge and will go through all the usual changes associated with pregnancy. The amount of enlargement will vary from woman to woman and the size of the implant will factor into this as well.

The weight of an implant varies with size and fill volume. A 250cc implant filled with 250cc of gel weighs approximately 250 grams.

You can simply replace the waterproof dressing with a new one provided that there is no abnormal drainage on the incision site. You have to make sure that the wound is clean and dry. If purulent drainage is present and the dressing is soaked, please contact PPSI for assessment and treatment.

Pain is expected after the surgery as your tissues and nerves were traumatized. However, if you are in extreme pain (7-10 out of 10 pain score) and the medications prescribed are not working, please contact PPSI for advice.

Some medications such as Opioid analgesics and antibiotics have these side effects. Please observe for 6-12 hours and if they are not relieved, please contact PPSI for change of medication.

All external non-absorbable stitches are removed by the surgeon during the follow-up visit. If there are remnant stitches, they should be the absorbable/dissolvable ones. This is not dangerous in any way, but we recommend that you contact a local clinic to have the stitch that pokes out removed or trimmed by a doctor, as it can cause delayed healing of your surgical wound.