Removing 1000cc Breast Implants, Replace With 500cc, Then Lift; Can it Be Done in One Procedure? (photo)

Sometimes it's unclear how removing your large implants will affect your breast.  Your surgeon is proposing to break it up into steps so that he can see what happens after each step so that he can best plan the next step.

To do everything in once step is also a very reasonable approach but requires careful planning and understanding that additional touchups may be necessary.  Perhaps this would be a better option for you if you do not wish to go without implants for several months.  This way you may still end up with three surgeries but in the mean time you maintained a reasonable cup size.

As others have suggested, letting saline leak out (you most likely have saline implants if you really are 1000cc) just prior to the surgery would be a great option as well.  This way you get the best of both worlds... you don't go without implants (for more than a couple of days) and the surgeon gets a getter idea of how to plan the lift.

Sincerely,

Martin Jugenburg, MD, FRCSC

Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon

 

There are multiple options for approaching your situation.  Your surgeon's approach is okay, just on the conservative side.  I agree that if they are saline, preoperative deflation will allow the skin to shrink some and may necessitate less skin removal and scarring with the mastopexy.  This will leave you with a flat chest for a few weeks.  It is also possible to just replace the implants and do a lift at the same time, but requires a lifting technique that only repositions the nipple and removes skin, not rearranging breast tissue excessively due to the increased risk of tissue necrosis.

What your surgeon is suggesting is a standard approach.  However, doing both procedures at the same time (the implant exchange and the lift) is also a viable option.  A third option, if you have saline implants, is to deflate the implant in the office a few weeks before the implant exchange and then go ahead with the planned surgery.

 

Good Luck.