Do Breast Implant Sizers Accurately Demonstrate Final Results of Surgery?

I find that if you try on a 400cc sizer in a bra and place a 400cc implant behind the muscle, the latter will seem smaller. The skin envelope, breast tissue and muscle squash the implants. To avoid this discrepancy I always add 10%, so in the above scenario of a patient liked the 400cc sizer I would likely have placed a 450cc implant!

Thank you for your question. Sizers do a good job of estimating the overall volume that you should expect after an augmentation surgery. Your final look depends on your preoperative anatomy. When looking at before-and-after photos of other women, find women who have breasts that are a similar height/weight and those who have breast similar to yours. These are the best examples of what you should expect after augmentation surgery.When considering breast augmentation make sure you find a board certified plastic surgeon who will take the time to answer all of your questions and explain all of your options, so that you can decide if breast augmentation is right for you.

I understand cup size can very, this is evident by all the different brand bras fitting differently but yet saying their the same size. I perform over a 1000 breast augmentations per year and have asked my patients when they come back how much do they think they went up. Now after years of doing this and having an extremely large group of patients and listening to them this is the estimates I would considerUnder five foot tall 180cc per cup5'-5'3 about 200cc per cup5'4- 5'7 225cc per cupTaller then that most patients feel 225cc up to 250cc can be a cup.I think what more important than cup size is conveying to your surgeon what your expectations are for size. Thats why I believe all patients should perform some type of sizing method disregarding cup size but focusing more on what you like when your wearing the sizers. I would recommend the rice test site. Remember cup size varies based on how the person wears their bra. It also varies based on your anatomy and frame size not to mention how you may like to wear your bra. I would suggest performing the rice test which can be found online to help you with this.

Hi Star24 - Breast implant sizers are great for getting a rough estimate of the volume that you want your implants to be. However, this only gives you a general idea of how you're going to look...not the actual final result. Swelling, skin stretching, and differences in breast tissue may alter the final result. So, be careful in thinking that breast sizers are going to show you exactly how you are going to look after breast augmentation.

As well stated by my colleagues, sizers are useful in the management of breast asymmetry. Intraoperatively they aid in the process of determining volume symmetry but are less beneficial for shape symmetry. If there is a choice between two different implants, sizers will often help make the decision on which to use. The breast changes in the course of the healing process and surgeons use sizers as well as their experience to estimate the final result.

There are strong opinions for and against the use of sizers in surgery. Surgeons who use them feel that they can better match the implant to the breast after the space is opened by trying sizers in to see how they fit. On the other hand, this leaves the final choice up to the surgeon rather than the patient. Most of my patients prefer to know what they are getting before the surgery. But this means that the size has to be determined some other way, usually by trying sizers in a bra and then matching the selected volume to the base diameter. This isn't a perfect method either but gives the patient the final say.
Another thing to keep in mind is that regardless of the process, there is no perfect answer. Patients often wish they had gone a little bigger after swelling is down and the implants setttle, so this has to be taken into account in the initial decision.

Hi there-
There are really two questions here...
The first is, do breast implant sizers accurately simulate a breast implant. The answer the that question is absolutely- this is so because the sizers (at least those I am familiar with and use) are basically implants that are a bit more durable so that they can be re-sterilized and re-used. They have the same dimensions for a given volume that the corresponding implant will have, and so when a sizer goes in, it does give a very accurate representation of what the same breast would look like with an implant of the same type and volume.
The second question is whether the breast can be expected to look like it does in the OR with the sizer in after you have healed and achieved your final outcome. The answer to this one a bit more complicated. All breasts will go through a period of evolution after surgery, during which the shape changes and becomes more natural. This evolution is more pronounced in breast augmentation patients who have never been pregnant, because their skin and breast tissue have not been through the stretching and relaxation cycle that women with children have experienced. In other words, if you've never had a baby, the change your breasts undergo from the day after your breast augmentation to your final outcome ~3 months later will be a bit more significant. You should not fret about this, however, as this evolution in breast shape is almost always an improvement over this time.
It is your surgeon's experience, skill, and most importantly, his/her experience that determines whether the appearance of your breasts in the OR with a given sizer in place approximates your goal or not. His/her understanding of what your skin and tissues are likely to do over time under the force of the implant of similar volume helps him/her make the decisions most likely to result in your satisfaction.
So the bottom line is that sizers area a valuable tool, but as with any other tool, the person holding the tool is much more important. Choose your surgeon wisely and based on their education, training, experience, outcomes, personality, and reputation.
www.DrArmandoSoto.com
Here is a bit more you can read about choosing a surgeon:

Sizers before surgery for the patients to see, and sizers in surgery for the surgeon to evaluate, help in choosing the best implants for the patient.

I agree with Dr. Rand's post. I like sizers and I use sizers whenever I can.
Intraoperative Breast Implant SIZERS are NOT 100% predictive of the exact shape and appearance of the postoperative, healed breast.
This is the case for 2 reasons: 1. In the process of creating the implant pocket AND adjusting it even with the use of careful electrocautery dissection, swelling begins taking place (which maximizes in the immediate post operative period). The swelling often leads to OVER-guessing the size of the sizer implant if it is not accounted for.
2. Sizers are NOT produced for every single implant line or specific implant volume. As a result, even a particular sizer will nOT always give you a WYSIWYG result.
But - while on the whole the use of sizers DOES greatly aid the surgeon in nearing symmetry, always getting symmetrical breast, even with sizers, can never be a sure thing.
Dr. P. Aldea

The use of the sizers are not a coomom practice. I use it in a situation that the case is complicated. The other option is use of 3D imaging. I been using this for a year. This involves taking 3 dimentional pictures and then using special software to use different size and shape implants before surgery. I been very happy with accuracy and my patient also like to see their breast size before surgery. I also been taking post surgery 3D pictures and in comparison to the computer simulation, post op result are very close to the simulated images.