30 Yo/No Kids/Mastopexy (Breast Lift with Mentor Silicone Round 350 Cc Implants) - La Jolla, CA

Here are Pre-Op Photos
Stats
5'6", 160 lbs, Procedure: Mastopexy (Breast Lift with Mentor Silicone Round 350 cc Implants)
Current Size: 36B

This is a follow-up to my initial review. Tomorrow I am getting a breast lift with augmentation after a 60 lb weight loss has deflated my breasts. Dr Mark Schoemann will be performing the procedure.

Stats:

5'6", 160 lbs, Procedure: Mastopexy with Mentor Silicone Round Implants 350 cc; Profile: Not Yet Determined 

Currently: Deflated 36B; Desired: 36 Full C/Small D 

Background 

I have been researching a breast augmentation for nearly ten years and having been using Real Self for the past few months to see what I can expect from those that have been there and done it already. This is my little attempt at giving back to the community. 

Now my weight has been struggle all of my life but after losing and gaining weight from 220 (highest) to 135 (lowest) and now 160 lbs my breasts (which were never large) have taken the hit. ( I am still looking to lose another 20 lbs so if any of you have advice on that especially during post-op I appreciate it) Now my breast have been saggy and deflated for years and now that I am rather stable in my lifestyle I am looking to restore fullness and perkiness to this area and look like the 30-something with no kids I am. 

Research 

Throughout my ten years of research I have visited with four board certified PS for consultations. Three out of four of the surgeons I went to said I needed a lift but I had the natural concerns of scarring and the affects of future pregnancy on my boob investments. As an black woman, I was especially concerned with kheloid scarring and finding a surgeon that had worked on black patients before. 

I am going with Dr Schoemann because he took the time to answer all of my questions, he is double board certified, he has worked on reconstruction patients and he had documented work of black women and women that weren't stick thin. Most importantly, I felt most comfortable with him and I felt like he understood my requests to look "really natural" and not pressure me into super large implants. 

Surgery is tomorrow and I am really excited and a little anxious. Wish me luck and I will try to update as I go along my journey.

Surgery went really really well. I was actually surprised how smooth everything went and how little pain I am feeling right now.

PRE-OP STEPS
The day started off at 8am with meeting my surgery nurse, Jill (super sweet lady), to go over everything that was happening for the day and then I met with the anesthesiologist Richard (very cool guy and great at telling you everything he's doing while working on you). After that Dr. Schoemann came in and made his markings. I was having doubts about my size (350 cc or 400cc) and we discussed my options and that he would put sizers in and he knew what look I was going for. This was very reassuring to me and again made me comfortable that he wouldn't put an unnatural look or implant size that could not fit in my pocket. We also discussed my lift and he reiterated where I could expect scarring.

PRE-SURGERY
Next I was taken into the operating room, hooked up to monitors, given my anesthesia and I was out in a flash lol. To my recollection I woke up pretty groggy but surprisingly not nauseous like I thought I would be; thanks to Richard. I don't know if I have a high pain tolerance or not but my chest didn't feel heavy like everyone says; it just felt like I had done a lot of chest presses at the gym. I made sure to cough and take deep breaths to break up some of the anesthesia drugs as instructed. I ate some ice chips, went over post-care instructions with my care giver and I was ready to be discharged. Before I left Dr. Schoemann came in and told me the surgery went well, and that he had to open up some of the muscle in my breast because of the tuberous nature of my breasts and to my surprise he didn't have to do a lollipop lift and was able to do a doughnut lift instead. Yay to less scaring! Apparently my large nipple allowed for a significant enough lift to happen once it was reduced through the doughnut lift method. Also Doc told me he went with Mentor Silicone Moderate Plus profile 350 cc implants in left breast and 400 cc's in my right breast to even out the asymmetry that I had.

TIMELINE
I am a little fuzzy on how long everything took but I think I left the surgery center around 1:30. If I were to guess a surgery day timeline it would be:

8-9 Preliminary Op Duties (Rundown with nurses, PS, anesthesiologist, changing and getting setup in operating room)
9-12 Surgery (Mastopexy/Implant)
12-1 Recovery
1-1:30 Discharge

Came home, took meds and slept off and on. I received a call from Jill around 5 (because Dr. Schoemann was still in surgery) to check in on my me and to confirm my follow-up appointment for tomorrow. I really appreciated that.

HOW AM I FEELING?
I haven't had much of an appetite but I have been able to eat half of turkey sandwich and a small cup of chicken noodle soup from Panera Bread to take with my medications. I had a little nausea when I came home but I just took a Zofran and it seems to have subsided. I don't really have pain just some tightness in my left breast. As far as discomfort/pain I would say I have stayed between 2-4 on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most pain I have felt in my life. Implants are still hard to the touch which is to be expected it's only Day 1.

Below I have posted some pics which I was scared to take I didn't want to be disappointed if something was off but I really like what I see so far.

I will update you all tomorrow after my post-op appointment with any relevant updates.