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Can I Get Just Breast Implants? Or Do I HAVE to Have a Lift? (photo)

asked 7 months ago by mommymakeover707 in nevada
Latest answer by Donna Rich, MD
Question viewed 631 times
Tags: candidate, lift

I would like to have a less "pancake" breast with Fullness on top. I understand that an implant alone will not move my areola, however if I chose something along the lines of a silicone 450cc high profile implant, will I achieve a "fuller" breast without a lift?

23 answers to Can I Get Just Breast Implants? Or Do I HAVE to Have a Lift? (photo)

Breast implants and a breast lift

Based on this photo alone you would likely benefit from a lift at the same time as your breast augmentation. Your nipple position is too low to rely on an implant alone to elevate it. If you are very concerned about the scar involved with a breast lift-which would be a lollipop incision-you could do this in stages and do the implant first and see how it looks. Then, a few months later you could undergo the breast lift. I could give a more specific recommendation if I were able to examine... more

William Bruno, MD
Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon

Breast implants alone or lift required?

Based on your photograph, an implant alone is not an option. The implant will rest within your current breast tissue, thus not achieving upper pole fullness. You basically will have a larger version of your photograph with more fullness at the bottom of the breasts than at the top. One question to ask yourself, do you want to go larger or only want upper pole fullness and less of a pancake look? You could have a lift only, with no implant, and achieve the same result if you like your current... more

Donna Rich, MD
Houston Plastic Surgeon

Augmentation with a mastopexy.

To achieve the best aesthetically pleasing result I would recommend breast augmentation with a mastopexy. Augmentation alone will give you nice upper fullness and good cleavage, yet it will not significantly change the location of your nipple and areola, no matter what size implant you choose. Without a good push-up bra, your breast will hang off the implant. A mastopexy alone would give you perkier breasts, however this will not give you the upper fullness or projection... more

Sarah E. McMillan, MD
Bellevue Plastic Surgeon

Can I Get Just Breast Implants? Or Do I HAVE to Have a Lift? (photo)

I will answer your question with a question: what do you want from your surgery? If you think you would be happy with fuller but still drooping breasts, then have implants alone. You can then do your own lift with a good bra. In cases such as yours I use anatomic (tear-drop) highly-cohesive silicone gel implants placed over the muscle. If you want your nipples facing forward and can accept the scars, then you should have a breast lift along with your implant. In such a case I... more

Eric Pugash, MD
Vancouver Plastic Surgeon

www.vancouvercosmeticsurgery.ca

Breast Augmentation - Can I Get Just Breast Implants? Or Do I HAVE to Have a Lift?

Yes you can - but the question is whether you'll be happy with implants alone, and I'm concerned that you will not. Implants are implants: they enlarge your existing breast volume with only the slightest improvement in overall shape (they do fill the upper portions of the breast and that may appear to give your nipples a lift but it only has that effect to a very small degree). Large implants will provide you with greater volume, but your nipples will (still) appear... more

Alan Engler, MD
New York Plastic Surgeon

Breast lift

You will definately achieve a "fuller breast" with implants alone but your nipples will still be low. For an ideal result you would need a lift most likely. I have some patients that don't mind having a somewhat droopy "mature" appearance and get by without a lift. This is not a question that someone can answer easily over the internet. You need to see a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon with experience with breast lifting. Gary... more

Gary Hall, MD
Kansas City Plastic Surgeon

www.hallmd.com

Implants, lift, or both

It depends on your goals. If don't want a large increase in your volume, you may want to consider just having a breast lift. Personally, I would "move" the breast tissue in the lower part of your breast and fill the void in your flatter upper portion of your cleavage. A lift would make you look perkier while giving you the appearance of slightly larger breasts since your projection would be improved. However, if you want to be larger, then I would be in... more

Tito Vasquez, MD
Southport Plastic Surgeon

Lift and implant

You will get the best result with an implAnt and a lift. I doubt big implants will give you your desired result.

William B. Rosenblatt, MD
New York Plastic Surgeon

3 options to lift breasts without visible scars

If you were to choose to have the 450cc silicone high profile implant alone, you will end up with what we call a 'double-bubble' breast. Not a pretty look. If all you are looking for is to have perkier breasts, then what you would need is to have a crescent lift with transposition of the lower pole tissue. You would probably need 2-3 additional crescent lifts to bring the nipples high enough where you would be happy. These additional lifts could be done in... more

Gary M. Horndeski, MD
Houston Plastic Surgeon

Implants with lift

Implants without a lift would be a mistake if you are at all interested in what the breasts look like, not only the size. Your nipple will be sitting very low on your breast mound and will look unnatural. You can have a very nice result with fullness on top, but you need to move the nipple so it is in acceptable relationship to the implant. Robin T.W. Yuan, M.D.

Robin T.W. Yuan, MD
Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon

Augmentation and lift candidate

For me, the benefit of the lift versus the drawback of the scars becomes the question. The nipples are supposed to be at the apex of the breast, the part that sticks out the furthest. This is typically at the level of the infra-mammary, below the breast, fold. The upper poles are depleted and hollow and need fullness. An auto-augmentation can be done where the breast lift is done like a breast reduction, commonly called a wise pattern, the outer (lateral) and inner (medial) breast is not... more

Adam G. Newman, MD
Mountain Home Plastic Surgeon

Breast lift or not? Depends on what you want

Thanks for this question. Anatomically, you definitely need a lift without a doubt because of the low position and downward angle of your nipples. No implant, high profile or otherwise, above the muscle etc, will ever correct that and give you a lift without doing a formal lift. The implant will give you upper pole fullness to look good in clothes, but out of clothes without the lift your breasts will be diving off the bottom of the implant and heading to the floor.... more

Richard P. Rand, MD, FACS
Seattle Plastic Surgeon

Is a lift required or just breast implants

Thank you for your question and including a photograph. It appears from your photo that your nipple position is below the fold under your breast and the nipples point down and toward your center. You asked, "Do I HAVE to have a Lift?" The answer is no, you don't have to have a lift. But I would say, yes, you need some type of breast lift if you want your breasts to look good with implants. If you get large implants and do not get a lift, then the... more

J. Jason Wendel, MD
Nashville Plastic Surgeon

www.mc.vanderbilt.edu

Do I need a breast lift in addition to augmentation??

Your breasts will be fuller without a lift, but they will not be pretty breasts without formal mastopexy added to the augmentation. It is simple geometry. Your nipples are at the bottom of your breasts now, at or below your inframammary crease. The bottom of the implant will be at the same location. At the end of your surgery, the nipples need to be in the center of your breast mound. For this to occur, you will need mastopexy.

Steve Laverson, MD
San Diego Plastic Surgeon

Breast Augmentation and Breast Lift

Hello MMO707, You will be very unhappy with a breast augmentation alone. Please read one of my blogs that I've copied for you below: Many women would like to see their breasts look more youthful, higher, and more ‘perky’, and many have considered a procedure called the breast lift, also known as mastopexy. Most women, to a greater or lesser extent, are concerned about scarring from the procedure, which affects their decision about whether to move... more

Gerald Minniti, MD, FACS
Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon

Breast Lift with implants/Staged?

A review of the one photo shows breast sag (ptosis) with loss of volume. You may also have a constricted lower pole or short distance from your areola to your crease. Other photos and an exam would be needed. In any event, my 25 year experience leads me to believe that any surgery would have to involve a breast lift to get an acceptable result that would make most women happy. The real question would is if the augmentation could be performed with the lift or would it have... more

Lawrence Shaw, MD
Scottsdale Plastic Surgeon

Breast augmentation vs breast lift

Hello, A breast augmentation will give you more volume and upper pole fullness. A side view of your breasts likely shows that your nipple is below your breast fold and at the bottom of your breast which would be a grade III ptosis. An augmentation alone in this case, if done properly and the fold is maintained will result in your breasts looking good in clothes but not when your are nude since your breast tissue would be partially hanging off of your breast implant....... more

Remus Repta, MD
Phoenix Plastic Surgeon

www.aaaplasticsurgery.com

Breast lift

The question is what is needed from a surgeon's perspective versus yours. You will have little improvement of nipple or breast position with implants. Going larger is not the answer. A breast lift (donut or lollipop) would be necessary to deal with issues of sagging. If you are not unhappy with the current look and position then you may opt out of the lift part. I disagree completely with Dr. Boyton. In a 2 step procedure, lifting should be done before the implants. more

Michael Hueneke, MD
Nashville Plastic Surgeon

Breast lift

More views would be helpful, but you will certainly need a mastopexy, or lift. Luckily it appears to me that with an areolar reduction the entire lift can be completed with only a scar arounfd the areola. An in person exam with a plastic and reconstructive surgeon is required for definitive advise. All the best, Rian A. Maercks M.D.

Rian Maercks, MD
Miami Plastic Surgeon

Breast Augmentation first, then breast lift

After reviewing you concerns and looking at your photo, I would recommend to do just breast enhancement with a silicone gel implant (preferably subpectoral) and I think 450 cc size range would be fine. It will absolutely give you more fullness, especially in the upper pole that has lost volume. It will not, however, lift the nipple-areolar complex. I would recommend doing just augmentation in a larger implant as you desire and letting the implants settle...after 3 months,... more

James F. Boynton, MD
Houston Plastic Surgeon

www.BoyntonPlasticSurgery.com

Breast Lift Necessary?

Thank you for the question and picture. It would be much easier to give you precise advice after in person examination. Pictures demonstrating the side views of the breasts would also be helpful. Based on your frontal picture only I think you will benefit from breast lifting as well as the breast augmentation surgery. The trade-off, as you know, is the improvement in the position of the nipple/areola complexes and removal of loose skin below the areola in... more

Tom J. Pousti, MD
San Diego Plastic Surgeon

www.poustiplasticsurgery.com

Breast augmentation together with breast lift

You posted photo shows flattened breasts with the nipples pointing downward and the majority of the breast tissue hanging below the level of the breast fold. If you just put an implant in you will be very unhappy because the an implant placed to give you fullness on top will lie above all of your breast tissue and your nipple. For ideal aesthetics you want the nipples pointing forward and all of the breast tissue and breast implants centerd underneath the nipples. The only way to achieve... more

Aaron Stone, MD
Los Angeles Plastic Surgeon

Breast Augmenation with or without mastopexy requires an indepth consultation with an examination.

Decisions regarding the need for mastopexy at the time of breast augmentation must be made during an in depth consultation which requires a physical exam to determin the position of your breast, nipple areola and inframmary crease. Your goals are key in the decision making process.