After someone's had a breast augmentation, they shouldn't run in to have something revised. First of all, there's a period when the implant is going to drop into place. If it's a smooth implant and it's a massaging implant, we massage. There's newer implants we're using these days that are no-massage and they really look good almost from the get go. But regardless, there's a healing phase, and so we don't want to re-operate on someone before three months, and that's when all the vessels have sort of calmed down. If you operate too soon, you get a lot of bleeding and it can complicate matters even more. We really want things to calm down for a while, before we do breast revision surgery.

I like to tell my patients that their breasts are sisters, they're not twins. Actually, their fraternal sisters, they're not identical twins. There is always going to be some asymmetries, but some asymmetries are worse than others. So, if they don't look right, if they look asymmetric, if you're uncomfortable, if you're always adjusting your bra on one side because it doesn't seem to fit right, if one is too firm, if one is too low, if you lie down and they both don't go drop equally, then you ought to be seen by someone.

It might be that it's just within normal limits. One is going to be a little bit different than the other. Maybe your chest is shaped a little bit differently and one is always going to be a little bit different than the other. And that's why preoperative and postoperative pictures are so important. But if it doesn't feel right, it doesn't look right, go see your plastic surgeon. There's really no reason why someone shouldn't. I see my patients for breast augmentation and I tell them, "There are risks. Things can happen. You can have bleeding. You can have loss of nipple sensation, God forbid you get an infection which is exceedingly rare but revisions are higher."

Revisions can run 7, 8, 9 percent of all the patients that you do. So if I do a hundred patients, maybe seven, or eight, or nine will need a revision. We really can't control everything. Someone can bleed a little bit and enough to form some scar tissue. And I tell my patients, "I'm happy to revise you. We'll charge you a modest facility fee, but that's part and parcel of surgery." And if you have a good relationship with your patient, the patient ought to understand that this is possible and this might happen. And they ought to go back to their own surgeon and usually the surgeon will give them a very reduced price and take care of it. You go see a new doctor, you're going to probably have to pay the full price. And it's probably not unreasonable to go see your doctor that took care of you.

How Long After Breast Augmentation Can You Get a Revision?

Dr. Clayton Moliver discusses the healing and recovery process following a breast augmentation and when is the right time to re-operate if a revision is needed.