How Much Weight Should You Lose After Breast Augmentation Before It Affects the Appearance

Here is what happens to your breast size when you change weight after having breast implants*:


Breast Implants + Weight Gain = SMALLER Breast Size



Breast Implants + Lose Weight = BIGGER Breast Size


*Proportional to your body

This may seem counter-intuitive, however remember that this is what happens proportionally. Here is how this works:

When you gain weight, the added pounds disperse throughout the body, not just in the breast. When you gain weight with breast implants in place, the portion of your breast that is your own breast tissue does increase in size, but the portion of the breast that is breast implant stays exactly the same. Therefore, even though your total breast volume does increase, it does not increase as much as the rest of your body proportionally. As a result your breast appearance will often seem smaller in proportion to what it was before the weight gain since you are increasing in size throughout the body.

When you lose weight the reverse happens. You will lose weight throughout the body, not just in the breast. Your actual breast tissue will decrease and the implant size will stay the same. However, since your body overall is decreasing in size your breasts will appear bigger in proportion to the rest of your body. In my practice in Denver, I've seen seen several patients over the years that have requested smaller breast implants for this very reason after weight loss, and some of these patients required a breast lift.

Note that a few pounds of weight gain or loss will typically not be noticeable, and what actually happens when your weight changes varies a good bit from patient to patient and depends on the breast implant volume vs actual breast volume. Some people have higher proportion of fat vs. glandular breast tissue in the breast. This can effect the possibility of sagging with weight loss.

To answer your specific question, you may have some sagging of the breast after gaining and losing about 10% of your body weight, depending on your tissues (which will vary a lot person-to-person). From your weight, I'm guessing that your implant size has stretched your skin envelope a good deal (which is the price your tissues pay for a very large implant), but since you are keeping the implant in place, it may not cause a problem.
 

Hope this helps,

Nick Slenkovich MD, FACS

Thank you for the question. Although weight loss will not have a direct effect on your breast implants, significant weight loss may affect the appearance of your breasts in general. It is difficult to predict how a specific young lady's breasts will change with weight loss; how the breasts were affected historically with weight loss may be the best indication how you will do.Generally speaking, significant weight loss can lead to some change in breast tissue (and/or nipple/areola) position; this “sagging” is called breast ptosis medically.Sometimes, patients who lose weight will have a smaller amount of breast/soft tissue coverage overlying the breast implants; this change in breast anatomy may lead to a greater degree of breast implant palpability and/or rippling. In these cases, the breasts may also appear smaller.Therefore, generally speaking, it is in patient's best interest to achieve a long-term stable weight prior to undergoing elective breast surgery.I hope this, and the attached link, help.

How weight loss affects patients who have undergone breast
augmentation varies from patient to patient.Obviously, when patients have massive weight loss, the breast can be
impacted significantly.This may result
in noticeable loss of volume with associated breast sag.In the
vast majority of patients whose weight fluctuates within a normal range, breast
changes are usually minimal.Each
patient’s response to weight loss is different.In some patients, the impact can be dramatic while, in others, it may be
barely noticeable. In
short, there’s no way to accurately predict how weight loss will impact any
individual patients breasts.The best
indicator is probably how the breasts have responded to weight loss in the
past.