Breast Lift After Breast Augmentation?

If the patient has significant drooping, the patient will not achieve a good and natural shape with an implant alone, just a large saggy breast with south pointing nipples.
That being said, it is the safest route to have an augmentation and later a breast lift. Then, circulation issues are minimized. It is dangerous to perform a tight breast lift with a large breast augmentation, especially a Benelli-type lift (aggressive around the nipple lift), even more so in patients who smoke or have recently smoked.
The cost and inconvenience of needing 2 surgeries rather than one should be calculated in, especially if a number of doctors are noticing droopiness and recommending lifts.
There are many hybrid type breast lifts now available that give minimal scarring and a modest lift; these are frequently performed simultaneously with a breast augmentation.

I understand your reluctance in having a vertical scar or wise pattern breast lift - the scars can be unsightly. However, there has been a relatively new development in breast lifting technology in the past 15yrs that no longer requires the "tell-tell" vertical scar down the middle of the lower breast. You are welcome to visit my gallery on this site where there are over 100 examples of The Bellesoma breast lift, reductions and breast implant removal. This technique uses a woman's own tissue to reconstruct the breast internally to give it a better shape and position on the chest - unlike the standard vertical scar techniques that essentially use the skin to shape the breast allowing it to sag in a few months post surgery. One of the great advantages of The Bellesoma Method is that you don't need breast implants to provide shape or upper pole fullness. This is a one stage procedure where there is no fear of implants becoming exposed if the vertical incision splits open or becomes infected. No need for expensive wound care that can last for weeks and no need to replace or undergo revisionary surgery to correct damage to the tissues due to heavy implants. I hope this allows you to make a more informed decision. Best wishes and kind regards,

Hello! Thank you for your question! These two procedures can safely and effectively be performed in one setting, given you are healthy and without medical comorbidities to prevent such. Staging the procedures to have them done at various times will likely not have any cost benefit for you. When you combine procedures, there is often a discount that is provided by the surgeon for multiple procedures. Also, when having multiple procedures performed at the same time, you save on anesthesia and facility fees, which otherwise are paid for with each individual procedure. In addition, you may benefit by the single recovery time. Cost of these procedures will vary amongst plastic surgeons in addition to geographic location.However, more important than the financial aspect, your plastic surgeon will have to determine for you if the viability of the breast as well as nipple-areolar complex may be placed at jeopardy if done at the same time. If for this reason, it would be wise to stage these procedures. Without an examination, it is difficult to tell you what to recommend. Certainly it is you decision as to whether you have your procedures performed in one or multiple stages, but your surgeon will give his/her recommendations. You definitely can have a lift done afterwards, if you are unhappy with the results.  Consult with a plastic surgeon well-versed in breast surgery who will discuss and examine you, while assisting you to decide which procedure will be the best option for you. I would discuss your concerns with your surgeon and see what your options are - sometimes multiple consultations with board-certified plastic surgeons is helpful for you to decide. Hope that this helps! Best wishes for a wonderful result!

Having already had one anesthesia you might as well go ahead and have the breast lift at the same time saving yourself a second anesthia. If your doctor is recomending a lift it probably because you have excess skin , you do not want to end up with what is known as "snoopy boobs". If scarring is your fear there are many medical grade scarring creams that can used such as BioCorneum

Hi there-
Breast augmentation with mastopexy certainly can be staged into two operations, particularly if you and your surgeon are not sure the breast lift will be necessary to achieve your goals.
This is a much different situation, however from one in which your surgeon is recommending that you have a breast lift with your augmentation in order to achieve the goal you have described to them...
In my experience, achieving the optimal breast shape is absolutely critical, and much more important than size, and if you need a breast lift to have a pleasant shape and don't have this done, you are likely to be unhappy after augmentation as the breasts look larger, more droopy (due to the weight of the implants), and matronly.
Even if it means delaying your surgery, I would recommend returning to your surgeon for another visit... Talk to them about why they made the recommendation and see if it makes more sense to you.

If you are seen by a few  well experienced, board-certified plastic surgeons  who recommend breast lifting along with the augmentation, then it would behoove you to do the procedures together. Otherwise, you are bound to be dissatisfied with the results and require further surgery to reach your goals. Further searching will obviously lead to further costs etc.

As in any other area of medicine is important to make the correct diagnosis and tailor  a treatment plan (surgical procedure)  to treat the diagnosis. It would be better NOT to do  and surgery  then to be disappointed with the results.

Again, make sure you consult with well experienced board certified plastic surgeons.

Best wishes.

Just placing an implant will not eliminate the fact that you need a breast lift. If you need a lift, and you just have an implant placed, you will end up unhappy with your shape.  Yes, this is true even if you have the implant placed above the muscle. 

Doing a lift with implants has about the same recovery as having just implants.  A long weekend should suffice as recovery before return to a desk job, for instance.  There will be some additional cost for doing an augmentation at the same time as mastopexy, but your total cost will be lower than doing them separately (having the augmentation, then doing the lift later).  It is possible to do the lift later, as you asked, but I'd rather get the right result from the start.

 

Some patients who are interested in having a breast augmentation may receive the suggestion of pairing the surgery with a breast lift. This is because you may have access to issue or sagging breast in that will not be completely filled by the implant. Rather than just having implant in this case the skin can be retraced around the new implant and create a much more attractive rest mound with a small breast lift. However, if you have reservations it is not necessary to perform the surgeries at the same time. You may choose to go ahead with the breast augmentation and see how you heal. If you decide to have breast lift at a later date as possible.

Yes, you can have a lift after breast implants. While I try to do them in a single session it certainly is easier to stage them.

kbg_04:
It is certainly reasonable to have a breast augmentation without a lift for some patients, but most who need a lift at the same time as their augmentation are better off doing them together. (Sometimes the lift is best done before the augmentation.) The augmentation operation your surgeon does may be done differently depending on whether you have lift or not. These decisions are best made in conjunction with your surgeon. He or she has the advantage of examining you and knowing more about you than we do on the internet.