My Breasts are Soft After Having Implants a Week Ago, Does That Mean the Swelling is Gone?

Thank you for your question. Congrats on the surgery. It may take months for the breasts to fully soften, and they may never soften to the pre-surgical state. In addition, the greater the implant to breast tissue ratio, the more the implant will affect the longterm firmness (or softness) of the breast. It is great that the softness in your breasts is already apparent and it does signify that a lot of swelling has probably gone down.  I would exercise patience and see how things continue to change with every few weeks that pass by.

Hello,

How much swelling you would have had after surgery depends on a number of factors including:

1) whether the implant was placed on top or under the muscle

2) how tight your breast tissue was to begin with

3) how big your implant was in relation to your native breast

4) the unique qualities of your physiology

If you had the implant placed under the muscle I would say you have some swelling that is still around.  If the implant was on top of the muscle then most of the swelling should be gone.

All the best,

Dr Repta

You are very fortunate that much of your swelling has abated.  By one week it is really hard to determine what your ultimate result will be.   The degree of swelling is certainly dependent on what pocket was created for the implant, implant size, and extent of dissection.  Even though it is only one week ago that you had surgery, you are healing.   The inflammatory process or healing process is still going on.   It is hard at this time to predict your final size and result.   Right now, do you like what you see?   These are all good problems.   :-)

Everyone responds differently to surgery, and some patients swelling subsides rather quickly, although by one week that is a bit unusual.  Hard to predict the final size at this point, it is too soon.

Swelling after breast augmentation, like any procedure, is highly variable and is different from patient to patient.  The majority of the swelling is often gone in the first few weeks after surgery, but some may remain for a few months.  In most cases, however, the amount of swelling left after one week is only a small percentage of the overall breast size.  The shape of the augmented breast usually takes several weeks or longer to stabilize as the soft tissues accommodate to the implants.  

The other thing that changes over time, however, is the patient's perception of her breast size.  Just like anything in life, most patients "get used to" the new breast size and the breasts therefore "seem" smaller over time.  You should be aware of this quirk of normal human behavior so that you can better understand your perceptions of your breast size over the next several months.    In addition, I firmly believe that "bigger is not always better."  Good luck!