Dr. Samir Pancholi, a Las Vegas cosmetic surgeon, says that he often performs breast augmentation and breast lift surgery in the same session and liposuction with fat grafting techniques when performing the Brazilian butt lift.

Breast Surgeries

Patients who have lost the shape and fullness of their breasts, such as massive weight loss patients and postpartum women, are often good candidates for a combination of a breast lift and breast implants.

The breast lift, also known as mastopexy, results in a more ideal positioning of the nipple and breast, but it does not adequately address the lack of fullness of the breast in those patients, Dr. Pancholi says.

“In order to achieve a more voluptuous-looking breast…I often combine a mastopexy with breast implant surgery. The breasts are not only higher up but also have a fullness to them because of the implant,” he says.

Buttock Enhancements

By combining liposuction with fat grafting techniques when performing a Brazilian butt lift, the rounded shape of the buttocks can become more enhanced.

Dr. Pancholi says he typically performs liposuction to remove fat at the waist and upper and lower back, which causes a slight hollowing of the area and results in an accentuated curve of the buttocks. Then for a more enhanced curving effect, he takes the fat harvested during liposuction and injects it into the buttocks.

Benefits of Combination Procedures

In the past, patients might have had one breast surgery and then had the other six months later, but combining them can have benefits.

“Combining the two makes much more sense in terms of having one surgery, one recovery, reduced cost and achieving the final result without a second surgery,” according to Dr. Pancholi.

There are other areas of the body where surgeons are performing multiple procedures at one time. The New York Times recently reported that a California surgeon has combined eyelid surgery and a brow lift to create an “All-in-One Eye Lid and Brow.”

While previously, patients were instructed to get a breast implant MRI three years after surgery and every two years going forward, that requirement is no longer in place.

“Women should feel assured that the FDA continues to believe that currently marketed silicone breast implants are safe,” said Dr. William Maisel, chief scientist for the FDA’s Center for Devices.

While there are some types of damage that a breast implant MRI can detect, such as ruptures that may not otherwise be visible, patients may not be at a greater risk. Additionally, the cost of a breast implant MRI may be too high and deter women from undergoing regular testing.

The discussion of how to track the performance of breast implants, aside from breast implant MRIs, continued. One idea favored by many is to keep a registry of all breast implant patients, though the cost of such a venture could be cost-prohibitive.

Given this new confirmation of the safety of silicone breast implants, the responsibility of tracking may come down to each individual patient. While not required, a breast implant MRI may be the only way to discover a rupture. You should discuss your breast implants with your cosmetic surgeon if you have any questions about safety or maintenance. He will be able to provide you with specific information about the devices used and how to monitor them.

To learn more about options for breast augmentation in Owensboro, please join the mailing list of cosmetic surgeon Dr. Edds.

If you are one of these women who is eager to get back in the gym and exercise after breast augmentation, your cosmetic surgeon would advise you to take it slowly. Immediately following any surgical procedure, your body is in a sort of recovery mode. This means it is necessary to allow your body the time to adjust to the new breast size and allow the incisions to heal properly.

While you can’t take up jogging a day after your surgery, you should be able to begin walking around and improving your body’s mobility. Even if you are still experiencing discomfort, simply walking to the mailbox and back may be enough.

As the days go on and you feel more comfortable with your new frame and the speed of healing, you can begin to slowly increase your physical activity. It’s always important, however, to listen to your body and follow any individual aftercare instructions your cosmetic surgeon gives you. Several days after your surgery, you may feel ready to take longer walks. As you return to work, your regular activities will increase and your metabolism will also rise with the increased movement.

After a period of several weeks, you can begin to work in more of your regular workout routine with care. It is important to wear a supportive bra and to not push yourself. While kickboxing may not yet be an option, many types of cardio like riding a stationary bike may now be possible.

Usually after eight weeks or so, you should be able to fully return to your workout routine. If you would like to learn more about breast implant surgery and your options for exercise after breast augmentation, please contact Owensboro cosmetic surgeon Dr. Edds.

Celebrities who have downsized in recent years allegedly include Denise Richards, Victoria Beckham, Drew Barrymore, and Jordan. Taken together they represent a trend toward breast implants being smaller than was previously fashionable.

More everyday women are hopping on the bandwagon, tired of having breast implants that are too large for their bodies, according to CBS News health reporter Stephanie Stahl.

What are some reasons that women might be downsizing their breast implants?

• They may not want or need extra attention toward their breasts.
• Misalignment and capsular contracture made the implants look unnatural.
• Women want to look and feel more natural and comfortable.
• Large breasts make it more difficult to exercise or perform other physical activities.
• Overly large breasts have been associated with back problems.

While surgery to reduce implant size involves exchanging one implant for another. Risks of the surgery are similar to regular augmentation surgery, but the recovery time is typically shorter.

Harriet Bleiman, a breast implant reduction patient who spoke with CBS, loves her reduced bust size. “I just feel like this is the right proportion for me… I liked them at the beginning, and after a couple of years they felt like two large, standing out, almost cantaloupes, and that made me very uncomfortable.”

Now, Harriet says, it actually feels as if having a smaller breast size has helped everything from her self-confidence to her golf game.

After conducting an in-depth study of silicone implant safety, the FDA has confirmed that silicone gel implants “have a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness when used as labeled.” For consumers, this means silicone gel implant augmentations performed by a board certified plastic surgeon, and maintained as instructed, should present no extreme health issues for the patient.

The FDA’s silicone implant safety study also debunked a rumor that silicone breast implants share an association with “connective tissue disease, breast cancer, or reproductive problems.” Based on current data, the FDA said there is no detected connection.

Long-Term Silicone Implant Safety Tips

Women who are considering silicone breast implants should note that though breast implants are long-lasting, no such implant will last a lifetime. Over the course of her life, a woman who has gotten breast implants will likely need to have them replaced.

Patients will need to monitor their silicone gel implants over time and note any signs of complication to their surgeon. Some women may experience a hardening of tissue around the breast, called capsular contracture, or may have a revision or removal surgery.

Silicone implant safety monitoring also extends to visiting your doctor for screenings. Periodic MRIs can detect a “silent rupture” of the implant, which the patient may not be aware of. As an added precaution for women both with and without silicone gel implants, it is important to continue regular mammograms, as directed by your doctor.

Silicone gel implants are used not only for breast augmentation, but often as a part of breast lift surgeries, as well.

Choosing whether to have elective breast surgery is a big decision for most breast augmentation patients, and many are surprised to find how many decisions await them even after they’ve decided to undergo the procedure. Quite often, the decision of whether to select silicone or saline implants is one of the most difficult, as there are only subjective goals and preferences, no medical requirement, to influence their choice.

Dr. Edds will guide you as much as possible during the breast implant selection process, using your anatomy and description of the optimal outcome to help you choose the right breast implants. In addition, knowing how saline implants and silicone implants compare will also help you make your decision.

Look and Feel

Both silicone and saline implants can give you a natural look, particularly if the implants are placed under the chest muscles, however silicone breast implants have a reputation for providing a more natural feel. This makes sense, given that silicone implants today are made of a cohesive gel material that more closely mimics the weight and suppleness of natural breast tissue than liquid saline solution.

Patients who are very thin or have little natural breast tissue to cover their implants are often good candidates for silicone gel implants because the implants are softer and less prone to rippling, allowing for a more natural look and feel.

Patients with pronounced asymmetry in the size of their natural breasts may also be good candidates for saline implants, as the volume of saline solution in each implant can be adjusted to even out the breasts.

Scarring

Saline breast implants are composed of an outer silicone shell and a filling of liquid saline solution. Because the saline solution can be added after the implant shells have been placed in the chest wall, the incisions needed to place saline implants are smaller.

There are also more options as to where incisions can be placed with saline implants. Unlike silicone implants, which can be inserted only through incisions in each breast fold (inframammary incisions) or along each armpit (transaxillary incisions), saline implants can also be inserted through incisions around the border of each areola (periareolar incisions) and even through the belly button (TUBA incision).

Thus, saline implants result in smaller scars (about half an inch smaller) than silicone implants and offer more options for patients in terms of where their breast augmentation scars are located.

Safety

In 2006, the FDA ended a 14-year moratorium on silicone breast implants that was instituted because lawmakers felt there was insufficient evidence to rule that the implants were safe. After years of rigorous testing, the FDA allowed silicone implants to re-enter the market because no scientific data had been produced to link silicone implants to systemic diseases they were previously thought to cause.

From a scientific standpoint, the safety of silicone implants and saline implants is identical. The only difference between the two from a legal standpoint is that patients must be 22 to have silicone implants, whereas they can be as young as 18 to have saline implants.

Patients who choose either option can rest assured that all FDA approved breast implants are safe and will not directly affect your health and wellness in any way, positively or negatively.

Breast Implant Cost

Breast implant manufacturers charge about $1,000 more for silicone breast implants than saline breast implants, so breast augmentation with silicone implants is always more expensive initially.

Also, consider that patients with silicone implants should have an MRI three years after surgery and every two years thereafter, as there is no other way to detect breast cancer or implant ruptures with silicone implants. Saline implants, on the other hand, will visibly deflate if they are ruptured and can still allow mammograms to detect cancer.

Due to the cost of MRIs, maintaining silicone implants is more expensive in the long term as well.

It is easy to get overwhelmed evaluating the pros and cons of each breast implant material, but before you do, remember that you have a guiding light in this process: your cosmetic surgeon. Dr. Edds has several years of experience and has helped many breast enhancement patients choose the best implants for them. Trust Dr. Edds to help you make this important decision, and feel free to ask questions, talk to other breast augmentation patients and look at plenty of before and after photos before you decide on silicone or saline breast implants.

Research is a good idea because:

1. You will know more about which procedures get consistently good results.
2. You can weigh the risks and benefits in light of your individual values and goals.

Where to look for answers

Although it may be easy to find general information on cosmetic surgery, the most obvious resources aren’t always the most informative or reliable. You may need to be more studious in order to find good resources about your procedure of interest. Here are some ideas to consider.

Be a scholar, just for a few hours.

Visit your public library or use the resources at your local university. The peer-reviewed medical journals there have real data on rates of patient satisfaction, possible complications, and other valuable info pertaining to every procedure.

The drawback is that many of these articles and books will be written in a style that only doctors and med students understand–and you might find that tedious and boring to peruse.

Read websites with good content

There are a websites right now that contain excellent content about cosmetic surgery. For more clinical but comprehensive info, try Medscape. For consumer reviews and discussion, check out Realself.com.

Ask doctors and surgeons in your area

You could ask your primary physician for a referral or simply schedule a consultation with Owensboro cosmetic surgeon Dr. Gerald Edds. Independent research can yield some great information, but a personal consultation will better answer many of your difficult questions.

The survey found that women were not just willing to trade time for beauty but also suggested they would forfeit a promotion at work, part of their salary, time with loved ones and even their health.

These findings may be unsurprising given that the survey found 46% of the women had been subject to ridicule because of their looks and 93% claimed to have negative thoughts about their appearance in the previous week.

Nearly 40% of the women said they would elect cosmetic surgery, like liposuction to remove localized fat deposits. This, despite the fact that nearly 80% of the women were either underweight or within a “normal” weight range.

These statistics only stress the importance of choosing a cosmetic treatment, like breast augmentation or  a tummy tuck, for personal reasons, not due to outside influences.

In a country where 30,000 to 40,000 women undergo the procedure each year, Chávez blames doctors for convincing women they need a breast augmentation. The downsides of the surgeries, he says are the associated costs and the fact that “breast augmentation does not square well with his revolutionary priorities.”

Whatever the reason may be for the boom in breast surgeries across Venezuela, Chávez has received criticism for his views from both plastic surgeons and local media outlets.

Dr. Ramón Zapata Sirvent, a Venezuelan plastic surgeon argued that there shouldn’t be any type of discrimination against cosmetic treatment.

Opposition newspaper El Nacional claimed that Chávez’s view was “antiquated, militaristic, coarse, repressive” toward women who deserve to retain the right over what to do with their own bodies. Meanwhile, state newspaper Correo del Orinoco regarded plastic surgery as common (in Venezuela at least) as a dentist appointment.

The study used patient information from 100 consecutive breast augmentation cases performed in university settings at Kelowna (British Columbia), Loma Linda (California, USA) and Temple (Texas, USA).

According to results, the physicians who performed the study found that among breast augmentation patients in the three sampled geographic locations, most shared a similar age in their early to mid-30s. The youngest patients on average were in Loma Linda (32 years), followed closely by patients from Kelowna (33 years) and finally by patients from Temple (36 years).

Patients from each location were also apparently similar in height, although the exact findings were not published.

Among the differences discovered in the patients who participated in the study were variations in weight, body mass index (BMI) and implant volume.

Patients in Kelowna who had the lowest average BMI (20.8 kg/m²) had the greatest average implant volume (389 cc), whereas patients in Temple who had the greatest BMI on average (22.6 kg/m²) had the lowest average implant volume (335 cc). Patients in Loma Linda were in between, with an average BMI of 21.6 kg/m² and an average implant volume of 385 cc.

A positive linear correlation between BMI and implant volume was found in American breast augmentation patients, which could speculatively be because the greater a patient’s BMI, the greater their natural breast volume.

To review the study abstract, see The Canadian Journal of Plastic Surgery, Winter 2010, Volume 18, Issue 4: e 44-e 46.