How soon will I be able to easily walk steps after a breast augmentation? Should I recover on the first floor of my home?

Thanks for sharing your concerns with us. You will be able to take steps from your first day out of surgery, but they should be slow and with the minimal amount of effort possible.In my practice, after performing a BA I recommend to my patients to limit the movement of the arms for two weeks. After that, you can move your arms taking care and always with common sense. In this regard, it's not advisable to carry heavy weights to prevent the implant out of position, and allow the formation of the physiological capsule around the implant, also to avoid pain and breast swelling.Respectfully, Dr. Emmanuel Mallol Cortes.-

Provided you don't have to put too much weight on your arms going up stairs, you should be fine going up and down stairs after Breast Augmentation.  If you can easily navigate stairs before surgery you should be fine after.

Dear Emcunn,   Your friend's experience is definitely atypical. I encourage my patients to walk after surgery, when they are fully awake from anasthesia. This usually occures 1-2 hours after surgery. The 'rest pain' from surgery which requires pain medication , passes after 2-3 days and after that only Tylanol  extra strength suffices.  On the 3rd day, my patients start with the implants displacement massage which helps dramaticaly to ease the arms motion. For 2 weeks after surgery , no lifting or exercise is allowed. The following 2 weeks permit light weight lifting and light to moderate excercise. After 1 month all restrictions are off.  Always, consult with experienced board certified plastic surgeons who operate in accredited surgery center for your safety. Check the before and after pictures in the photo gallery, to make sure that they are numerous, consistent and attractive. Pay special attention to the cleavage area, the perkiness, the symmetry and the natural look.                      Best of luck,                                     Dr Widder

Everyone in recovers differently and at a different rate. In my opinion your friend's recovery is not typical. If you are healthy and did not have any difficulty ambulating walking up and down the stairs after your operation should not be a problem. It will be very important however to make sure that you are steady on your feet while you are taking your postoperative pain medication. If you stumble or fall you could develop some postoperative bleeding. Be careful and Good luck.

Hello. Yolk certainly be able to ambulate up and down a flight of stairs after your surgery. Your friend's experience is unusual.  Be well. Dr. B

Usually patients can go up and down stairs, and move around fairly easily after a breast augmentation. In my practice, I do n ot allow them to perform any type of exercise for a minimum of 3-4 weeks.

Thank you for the question. I will typically have my patients begin walking the day of surgery or by post operative day #1 at the latest. I can certainly tell you that your friend's recovery was not a typical one. As a matter of fact most of my patients return to some form of mild exercise by week 2 and are off all restrictions by week 6. I would recommend that you consult with a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon for an in-person examination and a discussion of your goals, which should help allay any anxieties you may be experiencing about the breast augmentation procedure.I hope this helps. Good luck.

I would say most of our patients are walking up steps the night of surgery.  Here in Northern Virginia, just outside of DC, most people live in town homes or multi story homes and even have to go up steps to get in the houses.  The limit may be more from the anesthesia than the surgery.  If you are light headed from anesthesia then steps can be more of a problem.We make sure all of our patients have a good support person to help them through that first night including being able to manage steps and the like.

Hello, In my opinion you cant believe that what happend to other people is going to happend to you, every patient is different and so is the recovery. On breast augmentation the pain is very manageable and can be controlled with pain killers. You can also go up and down the stairs, and move around the house. The recovery of this procedure is quit fast. Good luck!!

your friends experience is ridiculous and i suspect has a lot to do with her personality.i have been doing BA for 20 years. you should be up walking immediately.i have my patients exercising in a week and doing stretches immediately after surgery. i believe the recovery is much quicker if you get movingimmediately.david berman md