Do I need a mammogram before breast augmentation?

Thank you for your question. This is a topic that comes up often and I think you will find a variety of answers out there. The American Cancer Society states that for women of "average risk" they should be offered mammograms starting at 40 with yearly screenings starting at 45 standard. For women with higher risk, they recommend screening earlier and considering MRI when necessary. For your situation, you would not meet the criteria for early screening but every surgeon has his or her own preference in this situation. I would think that if you have any concerns, it would be better safe than sorry and just have a mammogram prior to surgery to make sure there are not any suspicious concerns prior to proceeding with breast surgery. The issue is that if you get one 6 months after surgery and there are suspicious findings, the question of whether it was there before surgery or is a result of surgery may be raised and then if there is no baseline to compare to there is no way to know the answer to this question. This may put you at risk of having unnecessary biopsies or imaging workup to diagnose the findings. Hope this helps! 

Unless you are in a high risk group for breast cancer, the earliest current recommended age for a mammogram is 40 (although there are conflicting guidelines from the leading medical groups, with some groups recommending mammograms starting age 45-50).  In our practice we would not require a mammogram before or 6 months after for a woman in your situation.

Hello,The science is very clear: mammograms are not beneficial to women younger than 45 to 50 (ACS versus the USPTF)'Better safe than sorry' should not be coming from the mouth of a surgeon, someone that should perform best practices based in clinical research, not emotion. 'Talk to your surgeon' is also not acceptable, especially if that surgeon also makes emotional decisions that are not based in science.Bottom line: no mammogram before your surgery, and no mammogram necessary afterward until age 45 to 50. Best of luck!