When Will my Implants Drop? Did I Make a Mistake by Wearing a Sports Bra?

Your breasts will gradually become more natural in contour after about three to four months following your surgery, although this may take longer depending on your situation. To help this process, talk to your surgeon about wearing a tight bandage (like a tensor bandage) around the top part of your breasts. Just a note: Underwire bras aren't recommended because they don't provide good support (because the underwire is usually not shaped correctly to your breasts). They can also irritate incisions made in the breast fold.

Hello. It ususally takes 6-9 months for breasts to drop after an augmentation. The use of a sports bra is okay to give support, but the breasts will settle with or without the use of the bra.

Jaime Perez, MD
Breast Implant Specialist
Plastic Surgery Center of Tampa

Implants normally settle over 3-6 months.  Wearing a bra that is too tight or pushes the implants up may lead to the implants healing in place in a higher than desired position.  If this happens, then you would need to have surgery to lower and reposition them.  Applying pressure to the superior pole, 10-15 minutes at a time, 6-8 times per day or more, may help stretch the inferior pole soft tissues and assist the implants settle may be of value.

It seems most unlikely that wearing an underwire sports bra caused any problems.

When we speak of the implant dropping, the implant is not really moving. The lower part of the implant should be  sitting at the level of the breast fold at the end of surgery and afterwards. What makes the implant look too high is compression of the implant by your chest muscles. That doesn't actually elevate the implant, but it displaces the contents (saline or silicone) upwards. The breast fold prevents the implants contents from bulging downward, but the upper part of the implant sits in an empty space under the pectoralis muscle and above the chest wall. It's as if the implant is at the bottom of a large envelope. It can't go lower, but can expand upward.

At any rate, discuss with your surgeon the massage exercises that are recommended and make sure you understand and follow the recommendations.

Best wishes,

Thank you for the question.

Although your plastic surgeon will be the best resource to answer your question  as precisely as possible, I can offer you some generalities. Most of the breast implant “settling” happens  before the 3 to 6 months point after breast augmentation surgery. Occasionally, it may take even longer depending on the specific patient situation. I doubt that use of a specific bra for a short period of time would have “messed the dropping of the implants up”.

I would suggest continued follow-up with your plastic surgeon; ask him/her if he/she recommends massage.

Best wishes.

It takes up to 6 weeks for breasts to drop.  If it is riding high it is recommended not to wear a sports bra but to wear a binder over the top to push it down.  In most cases it does, if it does not you will have to come back for repeat surgery to loosen up the bottom of the breasts.