Will my Breasts Ever Look Normal? 1 Week Post-Op Breast Implants They're Really High.

Your breasts haven't dropped an fluffed since you're still early on in your recovery."Drop and fluff" refers to the gradual movement and change in shape that occurs to breast implants. When breast implants are first put into your body, they typically sit higher up in the chest. This is because it’s the path of least resistance – your body requires some time to adjust to their presence, regardless of whether they’ve been placed in a sub-mammary (between breast tissue and chest muscle) or sub-muscular (under both the breast and chest muscle). Immediately following surgery, you’ll find that your newly enhanced breasts appear very full and swollen, especially in the upper portion above the nipples. Your skin will most likely look very tight and your nipples may point slightly downward as well. This may make the shape and overall appearance of your breasts appear unnatural. Don’t worry, because they will change for the better, something casually known as “dropping and fluffing”. As your body accommodates to your new implants, you’ll notice that your breasts will gradually look more and more natural – the way you hoped they’d be! Over the course of about three to four months, your body creates new skin to accommodate the additional volume of your implants. This natural process is called “tissue expansion”, and relieves the tightness you may be experiencing. It allows for the implants to settle more into a better position with the help of gravity. A gradual redistribution of volume from the upper to the lower breast occurs, resulting in an enlargement and rounding out of the lower breast.Although it's often called "dropping", it is more like "redistribution". The "fluffing" part refers to the impression that the lower breast enlarges and that your skin softens with the creation of new tissues. The extent to which this occurs depends on several factors, including the implant size, the tightness of your skin, and your body shape.Patients who experience this phenomenon at a higher rate typically:have a smaller body frameare tighter skinnedhaven’t had childrenThis is in comparison to a larger breasted, post-partum woman. Patients who have had implants placed sub-muscularly may find that their dropping and fluffing is more dramatic. For the few months this occurs, you may want to hold off on buying new bras. Because your breast shape will most likely change, you might buy a bra that hasn’t been fitted properly. 

The period of time immediately following breast augmentation surgery is characterized by rapid change. During this dynamic phase of healing, swelling, muscle spasm and the healing process itself all contribute to changes in the appearance of a woman's breasts. In some cases, swelling and muscle spasm can displace the breast implants in a superior direction when implants are placed beneath the muscle. Based on your history, this may be a distinct possibility in your case.In some cases, superior implant displacement may be due to inadequate dissection of the muscle insertions of the inferior portion of the breast pocket. There's no evidence that this has occurred in your particular case.With time, assuming adequate pocket dissection, these implants will probably return to a more normal position. Sometimes, the use of a bandeau superiorly and massage may facilitate this process.It may take 3 to 6 months for these implants to drop into a normal position. If no progress has occurred by then, revisional surgery may be necessary. This would involve recreating the lower portions of the breast pocket.It's important to have good communication with your plastic surgeon. Make sure he is aware of your concerns. He's familiar with the specifics of your surgery and will be able to give you appropriate direction.

Two things happen and seem paradoxical. As as the swelling goes down there will be some shrinkage but at the same time as the muscle relaxes your breast projection grows. In general the breast shape and size proportionality improves..Breast implants initially after surgery when placed in a submuscular position often give superior fullness that corrects itself with time, the "fluff and drop" phenomena. In reality the pectoralis major muscle takes a while to adjust its size to accommodate the implant as well as occasional muscle spasm which keeps the implant projection higher than its final resting shape. Additional variables include:laxity of skin, size difference during prior pregnancies, position of implant,size of muscle, and size of implant.As the muscle relaxes the projection of the implant often increases and the breast shape improves. Massage and use of a superior placed elastic strap can often make this process go faster.

Thank you for your question. It is definitely too early to tell whether this is the final resting place for your implants. With aggressive massage, you may find that the implants do continue to descend over the next several months. Keep a close follow-up with your surgeon.

Hello! Thank you for your question! You are still early
post-procedure. Your appearance looks typical at this stage and will
continue to improve as the swelling subsides and the implants continue
to settle into their desired position. This usually proceeds over the
next several weeks as the lower pole skin/breast stretches to
accommodate the implants. Follow-up closely with your surgeon for
additional restrictions/instructions and the potential use of
bras/garments or massage that may encourage the implant to settle
appropriately. If still displaced after this time, a surgical procedure
may be necessary to further open the pocket and bring the implant(s)
down. Hope that this helps! Best wishes!

The way you look now is by no means how you'll look in a few months. Your implants need to drop and settle into position. At that time your breasts will take on a more natural appearance. Wait 4 months or so for this to happen.

 

 

Healing after breast augmentation is both progressive and variable. As the swelling subsides, your breast implants will slowly drop. This process takes about 4 or 5 weeks.

 

 

 

 

Hi there-

While I am overall a big fan of the internet and the information it has brought to all of our fingertips, I must say that I think in some ways it has compromised our ability to provide good medical care.

This is definitely the case when a patient such as yourself, with concerns and anxiety after surgery, seeks answers and reassurance from COMPLETE STRANGERS who have no idea what her exam was like before surgery, no idea what the details of her surgery were, and no idea what the typical postoperative course for that surgeon's patients is after a similar procedure.

Generally speaking, it is safe to say that the way the breasts look now is probably not how they will look in a few weeks, but for me to say any more than that would require ME to be a bit unfair to your surgeon, and I would not want a colleague doing that to me...

You are being unfair to yourself and your surgeon, who I'm sure would be very disappointed to learn that you came here for answers rather than contacting them. Turn off your computer and call your surgeon- you trusted them to do surgery on you- trust them to guide you through the recovery.

Frequently, patients need to be reassured that it takes any where from 3-6 months for their breast implants to settle into their final position particularly when the implants are placed into subpectoral pockets.  Plastic surgeons use different methods in the operating room to determine that the pockets are appropriate including sitting patients up.  My advice would be to discuss your concerns with your plastic surgeon, and to realize that it is much too early to make any final judgements about your results

It is normal for larger implants to sit high under the muscle for several weeks after surgery.  I reccomend you discuss your concerns with your surgeon to help alleviate your fears.  Good luck.