What's the Maximum Breast Size You'd Recommend for Petite Frame?

For a woman who is a small frame, a dimensional sizing system is now becoming much more popular. Your size and volume depend upon your biases, your frame and your surgeon’s experience. A woman who has a very small frame and a narrow base width breast will have some restrictions on her as to what implants can be used, particularly if she chooses anatomic implants. Using round smooth implants under the muscle will give you larger volume opportunities than your actual measurements may imply. These tradeoffs should be discussed with you in your consultation. If your main concern is to look natural and proportionate, then a more modest enhancement will be something that will be discussed with you using both measurement techniques as well as sizing techniques in consultation with you and your surgeon. I do the sizing myself in all of my consultations so that patients have a full opportunity to discuss the tradeoffs that occur with each different implant style. Because I offer more than one style, I enable my patients to become “an expert” in both their breast and their implant options.Of course adding fat to your implant breast augmentation is another option using a Brava technique to expand your tissues. You and I may discuss serially adding fat to your breasts that will be yours forever and will never need an implant replacement. These opportunities are now much more common for a woman who wants to be “proportionate” and wishes to have the naturalness of her own fat over the long term. For a woman who has already had two children she may commonly find that her breasts are very saggy from pregnancies and breastfeeding.Having a breast augmentation may give you some nipple repositioning but if the nipple position is below your fold you may need a lift at the same time. Should you get pregnant again with implants under your muscle, there is no interruption of your breast from the nipple connection. The milk ducts go right to the nipple and the implant is placed behind the muscle so there is no negative consequence. Having the implant in your breast under the muscle has no difficulty with you breastfeeding if you didn’t have breastfeeding problems to begin with. The discussion of these particular elements are undertaken at the time of my consultation with my patients, especially if they have not yet completed their fertility so none of their options are foreclosed.

It is difficult to say what implant will work without seeing you and performing measurements. I generally have my patients do what is called the rice test, which you will find on my website under the journal section. After the rice test is performed we sit down and figure out an implant size that works for the dimensions the patient has.
Good luck.

 I agree with Dr. Shafer wholeheartedly. This is not a formula. It depends on a combination of anatomic factors taking into account your goals and desires. There are consequences to larger implants which include larger incisions, greater risk of nipple numbness, stretching of the breast skin and areola. etc.

 There is not universal size for breast implants.  It is best to individualize the implant size based on the individual person.  It is based on your tissue quality, tissue thickness and body dimensions.  Good luck.

Breast Implant Size is a combination of subjective and objective
criteria.380 cc is a reasonable recommendation. There is not a direct
correlation between the cc's of a breast implant and the corresponding
cup size, as cup size is an inexact measurement that varies considerably
among companies and even within the same company. Online consultants
will not be able to guide you as well as surgeons who perform in person
consultation.The size of the implants are based on a combination
of a patient's goals and objectives and her anatomy. In order to
provide a natural looking augmentation, the surgeon needs to evaluate
many factors including soft tissue coverage, skin laxity, chest wall
width, breast imprint width, the shape of the breasts and relative level
of constriction to ensure that the breast implants are appropriate for
your body.

In order to make an accurate size recommendation, I would need to assess your chest wall and breast mound measurements and characteristics.  Unfortunately, there is not a general rule of thumb or objective criteria to implant selection.
Your plastic surgeon will perform several measurements of your chest wall and breast anatomy and determine a range of implants that both fit your chest wall and reach your desired goals.
The next step is to try on this range of implants in the office with your doctor.   The key to this success is showing your surgeon the body proportion you desire with a bra sizer and allowing your surgeon to guide you to the right implant.   It will be much easier to communicate in implant cc's than cup size when determining the appropriate implant for you.
I wish you a safe recovery and fantastic result.
Dr. Gill

Unfortunately, without an examination, it is impossible to give you a definitive answer. However, as most surgeons have mentioned, the largest size implant for your body is determined by the combination of your breast width, height AND the amount of breast and skin elasticity (how much the skin can stretch). The implant has to fit within these parameters, otherwise the result will be unnatural.
Within these parameters, there is a range of implant volume which can fit your body. My recommendation, if you have very thin skin, is to consider silicone implant and the smaller of the sizes considered.
I also recommend trying these implants with a bra in front of the mirror. It is more important to find a volume which is proportional to your body, rather than focusing on a cup size.

I consider two factors when selecting implants for my patients:

1.Dimensional planning
2.Gel Implant Sizing system

Dimensional planning – The measurements of your chest wall are taken. Also, the breast dimensions including the height, width, and current dimensions of each breast form the basis of dimensional planning. Based on these measurements, the implant size is recommended. This will give you a unique breast implant that is suited for your body frame. Even your fitness levels and other relevant criteria are taken into consideration. It is you who will decide what you are comfortable with.

Gel Implant Sizing system – During the preliminary breast implant consultation, you will be provided with an option to “try on” a variety of implant shapes and sizes. You can also visualize the possible outcomes of your surgery which helps you to get that perfect size to give you the shape that you longed for.

This way your preferences are known and you can then pick a range of implants that will “fit” just right to give a soft natural fuller look.

There are options besides a straight implant maybe you are a candidate for the expander implant to obtain the largest size you desire. Look into this concept. Regards and Merry Merry!

The choice of implant really depends upon a lot of factors. I spend alot of time with patients going over the choice of implants, you should do this with your chosen doctor.