Breast Lift and Augmentation Recovery

Combined lift and augmentation is a difficult and very risky procedure. More than 50% of the Board certified plastic surgeon will not do combined procedure. There is a high risk of nipple loss or ischemia, widen scar and also need for revision. Most patients would prefer combine procedure to avoid two surgeries ,but from the point of safety and also results I would recommend two stage procedure .

The recovery period after breast augmentation/lifting is similar to breast augmentation alone in that much of the discomfort and resulting limitation in activity is related to the sub muscular (dual plane) positioning of the breast implants. From the standpoint of incision line healing and potential complications associated with the longer incisions associate with breast lifting, the breast lifting part of the procedure does add some additional need for care. However, I have... more

You may have more pain with the augmentation, especially if the implants are placed under the muscles. However, oral pain meds should cover this well. Also, it may take longer to recover if the implants are placed under the muscles. Soreness may be an issue in the immediate post-operative. The overall recovery is very tolerable, and you should be back to work in about a week. Good luck!

We routinely add long acting local anesthesia to the wound at the end of the procedure. Thus, up to 95% of my patients never take pain medicine. Instead they may take a muscle relaxant with or without Tylenol. The operation you are anticipating is commonly performed in my practice, but you need to have an examination as there are too many variables to simply answer your questions. While the combined operation does take longer to perform, in my opinion the recovery is not substantially... more

Dear Twiggymom We use long acting freezing and have you start moving right after surgery for both the breast lifting and augmentation procedures. The combination of early pain control and mobilization works very well and our patients are back to normal activities in a couple of days including working out. With Warm Regards, Trevor M Born MD

Although some surgeons do not like to do these procedures together, if done properly, the results are excellent. The surgeon must take the time in the operating room to sit you up and reassess the placement of the nipple after placing the implant and partial closure. To do this does take more time than just placing the implant and closing the skin as marked preoperatively. However, this is still less time and less expensive than doing two separate procedures. The other thing that helps is... more

 The recovery from a breast augmentation and a combined lift is a bit more than a standard breast augmentation.  There is a bit more pain with a breast augmentation that is added to the lift.

 When doing a combined lift and augmentation, the vast majority of the recovery comes from the augmentation, not from the lift.  This is especially true if the implants are placed below the muscle which is my preferred position for all implants.

Hi! 1) I am afraid that I don't agree with the other doctors. In New York City, we do a combined breast lift- augmentation almost every week, with easy recovery and very low complication rate. 2) The key is not to use an "anchor" scar to do a breast lift with augmentation. We usually use a circular scar around the nipples, or else we use a lollipop scar. 3) To answer your question, recovery is about the same.

Recovery takes longer if there is an implant because there is more dissection of tissue. If the implant is above the muscle, the difference in pain and overall recovery will be minimal. If the implant is below the muscle there will be more pain and recovery will be longer. Still, we are only talking a recovery of 7-10 days rather than weeks. If you are going with an implant, the use of nerve blocks in combination with postoperative pain pump can make a tremendous difference... more

In my experience, the recovery for the combined procedure is more difficult if a larger implant is used and particularly if it is placed under the muscle. This can cause pain from the stretching of the breast gland and the muscle.