“Warning! noticabely increases self confidence.”

I went from a small size B to a size C and ...and rather surprisingly gained more self confidence then I realized. It's a little embaressing to admit that breasts could do so much. Anyway, after years of nursing my 3 children, I joked that my breast looked like tube socks when I bent over.

My story and VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS to ask plastic surgeons:

Saline was the only thing offered 2 years ago. Though they look ok they are a bit hard to the touch. I'm evaluating replacing them with silicone gel implants in the next month. I had a bottoming out on one of my breast which needs to be repaired, so it makes sense to do a switch then.

I haven't had the best experience with my doctor and I'd like to point out a few VERY important issues.

1) Get more than one opinion, even if the doctor is highly recommended.

2). ASK the doctor what type of implants they use. Do they use various sizes? If they only use one type...i.e. round, high profile...RUN! I'm not saying that type is bad, rather that one TYPE isn't good for every body. It's like having one shoe to try and fit every person. The doctor needs to evaluate what looks best on you!

3) Ask if they have various implant sizes you can see and touch. DO NOT BASE YOUR DECISION ON PICTURES! 350 cc on one person can look completely different on another. I think your gut feeling should be a big factor and seeing various sizes might help you decide.

4) Go 25cc bigger than you plan. All but one of my 6 friends having implants wish they would have gone bigger, including myself.

5) Show the doctor pictures of what you DON'T want. MOST IMPORTANTLY bring the picture(s) the day of the surgery. Trust me, they will forget what you talked about during the consultation. They see tons of patients and usually weeks pass between the initial consultation and the surgery.

6) Ask the doctor if they've ever had to make corrections after they performed an augmentation. EVERY doctor should have had to make corrections at sometime, by no fault of their own in most cases. However, asking this question will open up a dialogue. You need to find out their opinion on what looks good. If you hear a doctor say that differences in sizes or variations between breast is completely normal....RUN! Believe me, that tells you that they're not concerned about giving you perfect breasts. Augmentation is not cheap...you should expect perfection or very close to it!

7) Lastly, ask their opinion on massaging after surgery. If they say don't massage question it. My doctor said don't massage because it can dislodge the breast. Well i didn't massage but my breast still bottomed out...a month after surgery... and he said nothing could be done. I've recently had 5 doctors say it can and should be repaired. My point about the massaging...if they say "don't" I'm guessing it's not a very secure procedure they're offering.

I'm sharing all this info because I hope I can prevent someone from going through what I've dealt with. $5500 for the original surgery now $7500+ to get it fixed 2 years later. Oh, that does include upgrading to slightly larger implants.

Even having said all this and my disappointment with my issues, I really have enjoyed having larger breasts. It's definately worth it!

Julie