Each of the women questing for the ‘Bridalplasty’ prize has a wish list of cosmetic procedures they would seek should they beat out the competition, in addition to ideas for their wedding cake, dress, invitations and more.

According to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times, the show’s oldest contestant, Allyson, is a 33-year-old who plans to claim a wedding suited to her “old-school rocker chick” tastes and other prizes in the form of liposuction, a breast lift, a breast reduction and Botox, as well as some cosmetic dentistry, if named the show’s victor.

Before I was pregnant with my son, I was in the best physical shape of my life,” Allyson says. “I would love to get back to that and I’m sure [my fiance] would NOT mind some smaller perky boobies on me. I’m 33 and they sag down to my belly. What will happen when I’m 50? Will I have to roll them up and tuck them in my bra?”

Many women face the same troubling physical changes after undergoing the rigors of pregnancy and childbirth, however they are rarely so public as on reality TV shows.

The Sun-Times noted some particularly cringe-worthy scenes on Bridalplasty, such as the one where Allyson uses the spare tire of fat around her stomach to tell Dr. Terry Dubrow, the plastic surgeon featured on the show, “Help me, please. Suck me out.”

Dr. Dubrow is also shown using a marker to circle the problem areas on his topless patients, a scene that, according to the Sun-Times, calls to mind the behavior of a “sorority mean girl.”

“There is something beyond sensational with these cosmetic surgery makeover shows.  There is some indignity involved in the process,” says Owensboro cosmetic surgeon Dr. Gerald Edds.

Although, as Dr. Edds points out, there are certainly humiliating undertones present in Bridalplasty (and most other reality TV shows, for that matter), he like most critics acquiesces to the makeover competition, saying, “As long as the result is good and there are no complications, I suppose it is a win-win for both the ‘winner’ and the celebrity cosmetic surgeon.”

He also acknowledged the complexity of combined breast lift and augmentation procedures and encouraged surgeons to let each patient’s unique goals, breast anatomy and degree of breast ptosis, or sagging, dictate surgical incision placement and procedure(s) used to enhance the breasts.

“For many reasons, simultaneous breast lift and augmentation is one of the most difficult of all cosmetic surgery procedures. First, no two breasts are the same, and each patient is seeking a different endpoint, sometimes with unrealistic expectations,” says Dr. Cuzalina

For Owensboro breast enhancement patients, Dr. Edds uses the Regnault classification system to determine which procedure(s) are needed to provide optimal breast enhancement results.

Patients with the most severe ptosis (grades III and IV), breast tissue is often ample and a breast lift alone is needed. However, some patients who have sagging, deflated breasts may opt for breast enlargement as well as a lift.

Incisions for patients with a greater degree of sagging are usually a lollipop pattern (around the nipple and vertically along the bottom of the breast) or an inverted-T pattern (lollipop incision plus incision along the inframammary crease).

In patients who have a lesser degree of ptosis (grade I and grade II), a breast lift is also recommended, and may be performed with or without implants depending on the amount of natural breast tissue present.

However, patients with less breast droop typically require less extensive incisions that are placed only around each nipple (periareolar) or in a lollipop pattern. Patients who choose silicone breast implants may require an incision in the inframammary crease or along the underarm.

Finally, in patients with “pseudoptosis,” where the nipple is above the inframammary crease on each breast, breast implants alone will often correct mild sagging by increasing breast projection.

In all cases where mastopexy (breast lift) is combined with breast augmentation, Dr. Cuzalina reminds doctors and patients that the procedures can be staged to ensure safety.

“While there is no dogmatic way to approach the simultaneous procedure, it is helpful to remember a few basic guidelines,” said Dr. Cuzalina. “Avoid the temptation to always do a periareolar mastopexy in order to use the shortest incision possible, understand that it is sometimes good to also remove tissue to maintain implant position long-term and while patients may resist the idea, keep in mind that a staged approach, performing mastopexy first and then augmentation three months later, is always an option with a tried-and-true safety record.”

Method

The study by Boston plastic surgeon Daniel Del Vecchio, MD, and Philadelphia plastic surgeon Louis Bucky, MD, was conducted over a two-year period with 25 participants who had breast augmentation with fat grafting. 

Before the procedure, the patients were photographed and had MRI and/or 3D breast imaging, followed by three weeks of expansion, such as wearing a suction bra every day. Patients were again photographed and had the other breast imaging tests six months post-op.

Results

The results showed that six months after surgery all 25 patients had visible breast volume increase, with a mean volume increase of 250 cc per breast. 

Conclusion

The authors concluded that this technique can be “performed in a time efficient manner with reproducible, long-lasting results.” They also wrote that external pre-expansion of the breasts is an important variable in the success of the procedure, as is patient selection.

Other Considerations

There have been concerns that there may be scarring and calcification with fat grafting for breast enhancement, which could compromise breast cancer detection. However, recent radiology literature suggests that new generations of mammography equipment, especially digital mammography, are better able to distinguish cancer cells from benign ones, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

The study’s abstract, “Breast Augmentation with Autologous Fat Grafting – A Clinical Radiological Study,” is available online.

Sheyla Hershey after final breast augmentation

Instead of regarding highly publicized breast implant disasters with the blasé disinterest common today, a surprising article in the Orange County Register offered some interesting insight into botched boob jobs, suggesting that recent incidences of “plastic surgery gone wrong” serve as cautionary tales for prospective breast augmentation patients.

According to the article, the mistakes of breast augmentation patients Kenyatta Brown, Sheyla Hershey and Nicola Stratton offer three valuable lessons that women should consider as they begin their search for a cosmetic breast surgeon.

Lesson One: Buyer beware

In February 2010, mother-of-four Kenyatta Brown went to an Atlanta eye doctor for discount breast augmentation surgery and nearly bled to death on the operating table during this relatively routine procedure.

Brown’s near fatal experience serves as a strong reminder that state medical boards do not limit a licensed physician’s scope of practice based on training or credentials, so physicians with little or no experience performing breast augmentation are allowed to take up the practice at will simply to make a quick buck in the lucrative, cash-only cosmetic surgery business.

Additionally, this story reminds that when it comes to cosmetic surgery, you typically get what you pay for, so breast augmentation cost should be the last consideration when you are choosing a surgeon.

Lesson Two: Bigger isn’t always better

It was unsurprising that Sheyla Hershey, owner of the world’s largest breast implants, experienced post-operative complications after traveling to Brazil for the breast enhancement procedure that finally allowed her to achieve the 38KKK bustline she desired.

Silicone breast implants of the size Hershey demanded are illegal in the U.S., so she traveled abroad for the procedure that Texas plastic surgeons had warned her was extremely high risk.  Hershey developed a near-fatal staph infection after the surgery, and the gigantic implants had to be removed.  She may also lose all or part of her natural breasts as well.

Hershey’s story highlights the importance of trusting the advice of the surgeons whose opinions you seek, as well as the importance of setting realistic breast augmentation goals that can be safely achieved for the best aesthetic outcome.

Lesson Three: There’s no place like home

At the time that British Extreme Makeover star Nicola Stratton flew from the UK to Los Angeles to undergo 30 hours of cosmetic surgery, she probably had no idea that traveling abroad for her procedures could prove problematic.

However, after Stratton began experiencing breast augmentation complications, including saline breast implant deflation and capsular contracture, she became painfully aware how problematic the distance between her and her surgeon was since she didn’t have the means to return to LA for revision surgery.

In addition to considering your breast augmentation surgeon’s training, credentials, experience and ethical standards, it is also important to consider proximity so that you are able to see your surgeon for follow up appointments and revision surgery should the need arise.

Dr. Gerald Edds has earned certification from three different medical boards, including the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery, and has more than 25 years of experience performing cosmetic breast surgery.  This makes him uniquely qualified to help prospective Owensboro breast augmentation patients achieve beautiful, natural-looking results.

Unlike hospitals, ASC facilities are able to avoid unscheduled surgeries, such as add-on cases and emergency cases. ASC facilities are also physically smaller than hospitals, making it easier to move patients and equipment around more quickly, and ASC staff is usually smaller, more consistent and thus able to work more efficiently than hospital staff. Additionally, surgeons are assigned to a single room in an ASC and do not have to change rooms as they do in hospitals, which also saves times.

Study authors Drs. Terrence Trentman, Jeff Mueller, Richard Gray, Barbara Pockaj and Daniel Simula began their research in 2005 when their practice’s ASC facility was closed, which forced all outpatient breast surgeries to be performed alternatively in a hospital setting.

The study authors compared the surgical records of 92 patients who had breast surgery in the ASC facility between January 2004 and December 2005 with the surgical records of 92 patients who had breast surgery in a hospital facility starting January 2006. The cases reviewed for the study involved female patients of similar age, with similar recovery room times, and all of the breast surgeries were performed by the same two salaried surgeons who did not receive additional bonus pay for productivity.

Although the study concluded that ASC facilities offer significant preoperative time-savings, findings also suggested that breast surgery patients spend an almost identical amount of time in an ASC and a hospital once they reach the operating room. So, while study findings support the common perception that outpatient surgery can be far more efficiently performed in dedicated outpatient surgical centers outside of hospitals, such as ambulatory surgery centers, it identifies that the time-savings benefits of an ASC facility are only offered during the preoperative, or preparation, stage of a breast surgery procedure.

The type of anesthesia used during surgery can also affect recovery time immediately following surgery, however this did not significantly affect overall surgical time from the preparation stage to the patient discharge stage.

Dr. Gerald Edds performs all cosmetic breast surgery procedures, including breast augmentation, breast lift and breast reduction, in an efficient, state-of-the-art ASC facility.

According to news sources in the UK, Ms. Halep complained that her large (34 DD) breasts have slowed her reaction time on the court and caused discomfort. “It’s the weight that troubles me – my ability to react quickly”, she told The Sun.

Ms. Halep is now ranked 317th in the world.

Women pursue breast reduction surgery for a several reasons, increased mobility being just one of them. One breast reduction patient stated, “Before I didn’t want to run anywhere, [not] even across the street. If something happened, I would not run.  It was painful and embarrassing” (Klassen 2009).

Beside issues with physical activity, many women hope to alleviate irritation around their bra strap and underneath the breast, pain in the back and neck, and discomfort during sleeping.

The procedure can be described as a ‘normalizing’ experience for women. Once the surgery is complete, patients often say they are less self-conscious, they fit into more ‘regular’ sized clothes, and their shape is more characteristic of ‘the norm’ for the female body.