When Do Breast Implants "Drop" or Fall into Place?

Breast implants under the muscle can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months to drop into place. The chest muscle contracts and pulls the implant up higher than where it was originally placed. Massaging the chest muscle will help to relax the muscle so that the implant will drop into position. The size of the implants can have an effect on how long they take to drop. Larger implants will take longer to drop. How muscular your chest muscles are can also have an effect on the time to drop. Women with bigger chest muscles from working out will take longer to drop. 

Hi there, thank you for this very good question. It’s very normal for the implants to sit very high particularly after a dual plane or under the muscle surgery. The dissection is under the muscle, the tissues swell and muscle swells and the implants look very high for about 4-6 weeks. Massaging will help this. I send my patients home with a mermaid strap that goes around the chest, it pushes the implants downward. You will typically see your final result at about 8 weeks.

Thanks for your question...You are very early post op, it can take up to 3 months for implants to finally settle. Please continue to follow your PS instructions.You can learn more on our social media (Instagram and Snapchat): @realdrsix.

Regards,

Thanks for your inquiry, it can take several weeks to months for implants to drop and fluff,  good luck with your recovery.

It will vary a bit depending on the type of implant used, the size of implant and how tight the pocket was but on average it takes about 6 weeks for implants to fall into place. It takes 12 months though for all swelling to resolve and for you to really see your final results.

Many thanks for asking your question.The dropping of breast implants (also known as bottoming out) refers to them settling and lowering into their pocket over time. This particularly happens with smooth implants, and to a lesser extent with textured implants.Usually it takes 3-months for the implants to settle into their final position, but can sometimes take longer. It sounds like the advice you have been given is appropriate for smooth implants. Please be patient, I am sure your implants will drop as you are hoping - just keep in regular contact with your plastic surgeon for their guidance and reassurance  - good luck

I use submuscular implant placement - most of my patients have elevated implant position for a few weeks after surgery - as the pec muscle relaxes and thins a bit, the implants settle into the desired position along the infra-mammary fold.

Recovery and final shape after breast augmentation varies from person to person as well as the technique utilized. It is very important in which plane the implant has been placed. If the implant is in the submuscular plane, it takes longer for the implants to drop in place because the muscle can hold to them. This can take 3-6 months or even more. On the other hand, implants placed in the sub-glandular or subfascial planes can drop earlier around 3 months with less pain.
As a practitioner of the subfascial technique, my patients who have their implants placed under the fascia can go to work 2-3 days after surgery. They can start vigorous exercise in 6 weeks postop, however this is not a strict limitation. Since the muscle is not disturbed in these cases, the patient can literally start exercise the day after surgery. 
Massaging in general is NOT recommended if textured implants are placed. Massaging was a technique favored in the old days where smooth implants were used commonly. In fact massaging a textured implant can cause disruption and inflammation of the capsule resulting in other complications. An implant placed in a proper sized pocket will usually make the breast get its shape 3 months of time, although the tightness of the pocket and how flat the patient was will contribute to increasing this period.
Hope this helps,
Ali Rıza Öreroğlu, MD FEBOPRASEuropean and Turkish Board Certified Aesthetic, Plastic and Reconstructive SurgeonIstanbul, Turkey

This is normal.Unless the skin has been previously stretched by for example, pregnancy and lactation, or weight loss,  there will be some superior fullness due to the tightness of the closure at the inframammary fold, or because of  swelling of the breast tissue and/or muscle if the implant has been placed partially under the muscle. This swelling goes down after about three weeks. The area of the incision under the breast is not as stretchable as normal skin so it takes about six weeks for these stitches to dissolve and allow the lower breast to become more elastic, which allows the implant to drop into the looser skin.
When there is insufficient skin, on stretch, to allow the implant to sit where it would be if the skin had stretched previously, the implant will be higher until the skin does stretch. If the pocket has been under-dissected, e.g., the muscle was not fully released along the fold, the implant my not come down to its normal position without re-operation.
When I evaluate a patient preoperatively I measure the distance from nipple to fold on stretch, and the breast width.  There is a definite relationship between these measurements, the size of the implant and a resulting natural, aesthetically correct appearance of the augmented breast.
For example, an implant of about 350 cc requires a stretched nipple to fold distance of 8.5 cm. But if the distance of a patient with very little breast tissue who has not had children is 5.5-6.0 cm it is obvious that the implant will be high until the skin stretches.  The actual fold, sometimes not very distinct, has attachments to the chest wall.  If I were to try to add 2 cm to the nipple to fold distance at the time of the augmentation, the fold attachments could be disrupted and the implant could eventually look too low, or "bottomed out".  To prevent this, the fold is left intact, and the breast is allowed to gradually stretch out the 1-2 cm or so needed. A tight skin envelope also can contribute to some bulging of the upper breast until all the skin has had time to relax.
3-6 months may be be needed for the skin to stretch out enough for implant to "drop" when the nipple to fold distance is short relative to the size of the implant.

Breast implants typically take 6-12 weeks to drop into their final location, however, it can take up to 6 months.  It is necessary for the muscles and skin to stretch to accommodate the implant and for the postoperative swelling to resolve before the implants drop and you see the final results of your breast augmentation. There are massages, which your plastic surgeon can show you, to help the implants drop faster.  You may also want to ask your surgeon if he or she recommends a bandeau bra to help the implants drop.  Best of luck with your recovery!

If you’ve never been pregnant, or your preoperative breast tissues and skin are tight, it can take several weeks to a few months for the implants to settle and look the way you want. At first, the skin and tissues in the lower part of the breasts are tighter, and must stretch and relax to allow the breast implants to drop to the level that is attractive, with the implants centered behind the nipples. It’s very normal for the implants to look high only one week after surgery, and they’ll likely look much better over the next few weeks.