My left breast looks round and full on bottom. Should I massage the smaller breast so it can drop and look fuller?

At 5 weeks after surgery your breasts are still settling. This takes about 3-4 months to occur, and so it would be better to wait until then before assessing your results. I don't routinely recommend massage, therefore it's a good idea to ask your surgeon if it's okay to massage your breasts. 

You are still early in the healing process, from your photos your breasts look great. Each plastic surgeon has their own post operative instructions. You should follow what your PS says.

Hello,It is still very early in your recovery, and there is nothing that suggests a problem from the photos you provided.In general, it is a mantra of on-line surgeons like myself to tell patients to 'follow your surgeon closely'. However, when it comes to implant massage, I feel confident in telling you that you don't need to do it. There is no scientific evidence to suggest that implant massage has any positive effect on your outcome, nor does it prevent or treat capsular contracture.  Conversely, there has been one recent paper published that followed busy breast surgeons, and it found a correlation of higher rates of capsular contracture in patients that did breast massage.  A cause and effect relationship was not established however, but that should give we surgeons some pause before we mindlessly tell our patients to massage their implants.You look fine, and I think you should have good symmetry in the end!Best of luck!

Hi Lilly,Every operation is different. Have you followed up with your plastic surgeon in regards to massage protocol? He or she would likely give you the best advice on this.You have a great result FYI!I hope this was helpful,Dr. Daniel BarrettPlastic and Reconstructive SurgeryBeverly Hills, CAP.S. Lilly of the Valley is a beautiful flower I grow in shady spots in my backyard. 

Your left breast had a lot more work, and it had a different shape to begin with.  So it will take longer for it to heal and settle.  They will likely never look exactly the same as no two breasts ever are.  You should consult with your surgeon about his feelings on massage.  Likely it will just take more time for them to look better.

At 5 weeks post-op, you have a very nice result.  You had a different procedure on each breast, so it's not surprising that one side may lag behind the other, but even if you had the same procedure on both breasts, it is also not uncommon that one side lag behind.  They will continue to change over the next few months so try to be patient and re-evaluate at that time.  Remember that no one has perfectly symmetrical breasts and no two breasts are identical.  Your early result at just 5 weeks is nice and should continue to improve as time goes on.  Massaging is something you should discuss with your surgeon prior to doing so.  ac

At one month post op,  it is still too early to evaluate your final shape and symmetry.  Please be patient as your breasts will change over the coming months.  I suggest discussing your concerns and massage protocol with your PS.   You have a nice early result, and as you have already said, your breasts are more symmetrical than they were before.   Give them more time to heal, and I wish you the best.

For this soon after surgery, you look great. The combo side will take longer for sure, as there was a lot more done on that side. Keep massaging though on both sides.

Thank you for the photos and your question and from the photos at this point at time you appear to have a very nice result. With more time for healing your breasts will change and then you can better evaluate them so be patient.

Dr. Corbin

Congratulations on your surgery. For 5 weeks after a unilateral breast lift and augmentation results looked excellent.Following a lift on one side with an implant it takes many weeks for the implant to drop. Based on your appearance at 5 weeks I am fairly confident that you will have much better symmetry in another 5-6 weeks.Massage may help but you must ask your plastic surgeon before instituting breast implant displacement exercises to make sure that the surgeon is satisfied with the level of healing before you start massaging the left implant down. I think he will have an excellent result. For more information on breast asymmetry please read the following link: