I Have a B Cup Breast Size, is 350 Cc's Too Much for Breast Implants?

Hello Cape Cod,

A 350 cc implant may be just right for you.  Please visit a board certified plastic surgeon that is known for breast augmentation.  You can discuss your desired appearance.  Please bring photos of celebs/models whose proportions you like.  Your doctor may also size you with a special bra and implants to achieve an appearance the you like. Your photos and the sizing should adequately help the doctor understand your goals.  Another important step is the physical examination to determine the measurements of breasts and chest wall, which may also influence what size implant he will choose.

Please don't become attached to cup sizes.  No one can guarantee a cup size due to the variability of the bra industry, but also the uncertainty of how your body will be affected by the implant.

Best of luck!

Hello! Thank you for your question. In
general, implant size does not
correlate with bra cup size. The cup size itself will vary from
manufacturer to manufacturer as well as who is doing the actual
measurements. Thus, cup size is never a reliable indicator for your
breast size. I typically encourage my patients not to communicate her
desires in cup size but more on the actual look and appearance. Given
your desires, a breast augmentation, with an implant or fat grafting,
would be an ideal procedure that would meet your expectations. Breast
augmentation is now the most popular procedure performed in plastic
surgery today. One tolerated very well by women with minimal downtime
and high patient satisfaction. Good
communication between you and your surgeon of your expectations is
warranted - choosing your surgeon wisely is the first step. Discussion

of your wishes and having an honest and open dialog of your procedure is
mandatory (e.g, implant type, incision, placement, etc). Your height,
weight, breast width, and body habitus will make a difference for which
implant style/projection to choose. Implant
profile will also make a difference on the projection, which will
influence overall breast/cup size. I have found

that photographs brought by the patient is helpful to get a
visualization of the appearance you wish for in terms of size, shape,
fullness, etc. In addition, your surgeon's pre and postoperative
photographs should demonstrate a realistic goal for you of results.
Sizers are helpful during an in-office consultation. Once this has
been accomplished, allow your surgeon to utilize his/her best medical
judgment during the procedure to finesse the best possible result for
you after preoperative biodimensional planning and fitting the right
implant for your breast width. This is the most important determinant
for the sizing of implants, which will provide the optimal result and
most aesthetically-pleasing result for you.Consult with a
board-certified plastic surgeon well-versed in breast procedures who
will examine and discuss with you the various options and factors to
consider and help you decide which one will be the right one for you.
Hope me that this helps! Best wishes for a wonderful result!

Breast size change depends on your circumference.  If you are a 32 or 34 then you would go up 3 1/2 cup sizes.  If you are a 36 or 38 then you would go up 1 3/4 cup sizes.  If you are a 40 or 42 then you would go up a little more than 1 cup size.  Where you begin will determine where you end.  The other thing to remember is that a 350 cc implant weighs about 3/4 of a pound.  The added weight to your breasts will cause more drooping in the future.  I recommend implants being placed underneath the muscle for additional support.

Best of Luck,

Gary Horndeski, M.D.

The change of breast cup size is dependent on many factors and simply listing a 350 cc implant and asking about the size change is uncertain. That is it is dependent on your existing breast measurements. As we are discussing volume it mostly is dependent on the base width of your breast  (footprint). For example a woman with a narrow base diameter this would result in a significant change skipping a few breast sizes or more, versus someone with a large frame and diameter in which it would not make as much difference. Height, weight, amount of sag or available "skin envelope", chest circumference and your concept of size all are factors to consider and discuss with your surgeon. Bring in a clinical photo of what you believe is the ideal size and shape to your surgeon.

There is not a direct correlation between breast implant size and cup size as the cup size varies greatly among companies and even within the same company. Moreover, cup size can vary based on who is performing the measurement. The size of the implants are based on a combination of a patient's goals and objectives and her anatomy. In order to provide a natural looking augmentation, the surgeon needs to evaluate many factors including soft tissue coverage, skin laxity, chest wall width, breast imprint width, the shape of the breasts and relative level of constriction to ensure that the breast implants are appropriate for your body.Consult with 3 experienced and expert board certified plastic surgeons to understand your options.

In order to make an accurate size recommendation, I would need to assess your chest wall and breast mound measurements and characteristics.  Unfortunately, there is not a general rule of thumb or objective criteria to implant selection.
Your plastic surgeon will perform several measurements of your chest wall and breast anatomy and determine a range of implants that both fit your chest wall and reach your desired goals.
The next step is to try on this range of implants in the office with your doctor.   The key to this success is showing your surgeon the body proportion you desire with a bra sizer and allowing your surgeon to guide you to the right implant.   It will be much easier to communicate in implant cc's than cup size when determining the appropriate implant for you.
I wish you a safe recovery and fantastic result.
Dr. Gill

Your question highlights the confusion and frutration most women feel when trying to reconcile breast implant volume (in cc's), profile (LP, MP, MP+ and High Profile), location of implant placememt (under VS. Over the pectoralis Major muscle)with the only description they know for breast sizing - bra cup sizes.

Unfortunately, there is NO industry wide bra cup standard and a C in one bra is NOT a C in another manufacturer's bra. To add to the confusion, since implants with the same volume vary in their appearances based on their shape and height (ie "Projection"), there is NO accurate way to translate volume (in cc) to cup size, much less appearance.

There are a few facts that we all need to accept:
1. We ALL age. As we do our appendages, ears, noses and, yes, breasts, sag. The only ones who do not age are mythical gods, and we do not see them in our offices.

2. Since even feathers obey the laws of gravity and fall down, there is NO doubt that adding weight to a sag-prone appendage such as the breast will cause it to sag quicker. Obviously, the heavier the implant the faster the sagging.

 

So, how to pick THE PERFECT breast implant?

 

If you want fuller breasts then the only viable option is Plastic Surgery. Pills, yoga and exercises will not enhance and fill the breasts. After educating yourself, see one or more surgeons who are members of The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) -wwwplasticsurgeryorg . They will educate you on the options which are best suited FOR YOU. A thorough examination, allowing you to see various implants are the LEAST you should settle for.

In my practice, we do 3D digital imaging with the VECTRA system which allows you to SEE YOURSELF the way you may look with every implant on the US. This has been popular with our patients because seeing is believing and helps them understand the ultimate differences between various implants.

 

Good Luck.

 

Peter A. Aldea, MD
Memphis, TN 

Thank you for your question.

Clear communication with your plastic surgeon is important in achieving the desired goals of the patient.  It is not a good idea to say that you want a "c cup" because that can mean different things to different people.

I like to communicate with patients with “goal” pictures.  During surgery, I use temporary sizers to determine the size/profile that will give the patient the look she is looking for. Trying to predict the size of the implant preoperatively is not ideal.  I think it is too much responsibility for the patient to choose the size of the implant.  Ideally, the surgeon would make that determination once he/she is in the operating room with sizers in and examining the patient in the upright and supine position.  There are many variables that come into play when choosing the correct implant size (how much breast tissue the patient currently has, the shape of the chest wall (concave vs. convex), etc..

Unfortunately, there is no way to know without examining you if 350cc's is the right size for you.  It depends on the rest of your body -- height, weight, chest width, etc.  However, your are right when you say that if an implant is too large, you will be more likely to have problems later -- but once again, this is very difficult to predict.  I would suggest that you have a consultation with a board-certified plastic surgeon and discuss these issues.  Good luck!

 

Bra sizes are confusing. More often than not, a woman is not wearing a correctly fitted bra, doesn't know her bra size, or doesn't know how a bra is fitted.

Cup size is dependent on the "number" part of the bra size... a D cup in a 34 bra is a different size from a 42 bra.

Outward projection is further determined by the "profile" of the implant. High school geometry: Height (projection) times Width (base width). A Higher Profile implant will give you a larger cup size for less volume than a Moderate Profile implant.

Furthermore, a saline implant looks bigger than a silicone implant of the same volume. That is because a saline implant is more oval (round on both top and base), while a silicone implant is flat on the base.

Some plastic surgery books have proposed the following parameters for breast augmentation:


32 bra: 100-200 ml per cup size

34 bra: 150-250 ml per cup size

36 bra: 200-300 ml per cup size

38 bra: 250-350 ml per cup size


Using that as a guide line you should be able to get a rough estimate for the size implant you would need.