A lift with an implant is controversial for two reasons. First, when you perform a lift you are making everything tight and closing the wounds under tension. It you add the expansive forces of the implant at the same time, you are fighting against yourself. There are forces on the wound which try to make them separate, which results in wider, thicker, more irregular scars. In the worst case, the wounds will open. So compromises are usually made in the operating room by the surgeon because they cannot close the lift wounds over the appropriate sized implant. Either less of a lift is performed so that the skin is not as tight and therefore there is less tension on the closure. Or a smaller implant than would be appropriate is used so as to decrease the expansive forces. Either way, you are compromising the aesthetic outcome. Often the outcome is so compromised that a second revision surgery is required. If however, you plan to have the lift first and then the augmentation after everything has healed, then you have two operation that are planned, both with much lower risk than the combined mastopexy/augmenation. The outcomes of the two meticulously planned operations are much better and a more aesthetically pleasing, and a safer outcome is achieved.
