Implant removal and fat transfer while lactating - are milk ducts likely to be irreversibly damaged?

I would not recommend breast surgery while you are still nursing. Once you stop nursing, your breasts will change significantly. These changes should occur before proceeding with any elective cosmetic breast surgery.

Sorry, it needs to be said. What the heck are you doing breast feeding for 3.5 years? Bad for the boobs, and your kid is eating. Now for the surgical opinion. When you are breastfeeding, more of your tissue is made of active gland, and when you stop, it reverts to loose fatty tissue. I think you will be better off if you stop, as your doc can probably get more fat in there. The way you are now, when you eventually stop breast feeding, at, say, when age of child 10 (just kidding!), then you will lose volume again that could have been replaced had you not been breast feeding! On the up side, it probably won't hurt you to get the surgery. There's a rare complication of milk seroma if you operate on a lactating breast but it's pretty unlikely.

As others have stated, it is best if you do not consider surgery while you are actively breastfeeding.  The breasts undergo changes during this time.  In order to get a nice result from fat transfer it is best if the breasts have returned to a stable state before proceeding with surgery.

I been doing fat grafting for the last 11 years and have been teaching fat grafting to other surgeons. The idea of fat grafting at the time of breast feeding is not logical. Your breast will deflate after breast feeding stopped and grafted fat will go with that too. You may have to stop breast feeding for few days because of medication given to you during surgery and your breast may stop making milk due to the stress. Your weight will change after you stop breast feeding and the fat transferred to the breast will decrease too. If your surgeon has many patients with your condition and has long term result I would like to hear from him to learn. Please do get another opinions.  Please see the link

I deo not believe that elective surgery should be done while patients are still breast feeding and producing milk.Milk production means your body is still hormonally active and there are other changes like vascular engorgement of the breast and other organs . This will increase at least the incidence of infection, fat emboli with fat grafting.Plus there is interruption of breast feeding of the child and motherly bondingIn my practice patients like you are not operated on till six months after the breast feeding has stopped and the breast is dry

Our office, and most others, will not do elective surgery while a patient is breast feeding and require 4-6 months of waiting for the surgery after breast feeding has been discontinued.