Breast augmentation has retained its status as one of the most popular cosmetic procedures since the year 2006. Every year, all across the country, women choose to increase the size and shape of their breasts.
There are essentially two ways to augment your natural breasts – breast implants and fat grafting. Let’s look at both of these techniques a moment to gauge their pros and cons.
Breast implants are FDA-approved medical devices that are placed underneath the muscle to give the breasts more volume. You can essentially go as large as you want with breast implants (within reason) and the results are extremely dramatic.
The downside to breast implants is that they may need to be replaced, especially if they become damaged (which is rare and only happens in a small number of cases).
Fat transfer uses your own fat to increase the fullness of your breasts. Fat transfer is ideal for addressing common breast concerns like unevenness and distortion after lumpectomies. Fatty tissue is first harvested from an area of your body (such as your abdomen) through liposuction. The fat is then re-injected into your breasts for a natural-looking augmentation.
The downside to fat transfer is that you are limited in size and some of the fat may become reabsorbed by your body, which can affect the final results. But that’s not as bad as it sounds.
There are many benefits to the fat transfer technique for augmenting your breasts. Let’s look at some now.
While your breasts are getting a boost, you get to slim down another area of your body. Liposuction can be used virtually anywhere to harvest enough fatty tissue to make your breasts larger and fuller.
The area of your body that is used to harvest the fat is known as a donor site. There must be enough fat at the donor site for the breast augmentation surgery to be effective. Potential lipo donor sites include the love handles, outer thighs, inner thighs, abdomen, flanks, knees, arms, and calves.
That means you get to improve your body shape while simultaneously improving the size and shape of your breasts.
Silicone, saline, and gummy bear breast implants are FDA-approved medical devices, but they are still foreign to your body.
Fat grafting is different. The method uses fatty tissue from your body. This is the tissue that you grew yourself, so your body is less likely to reject the implantation. This makes the fat transfer safe, effective, and less likely to produce complications.
Breast implants are not permanent. You might wear breast implants for ten or fifteen years, but the prostheses may eventually need to be replaced.
With fat transfer, there is nothing to replace. Fat transfer consists of fatty tissue. Once implanted into your breasts, the supplemented fat becomes part of you. That makes breast augmentation with fat grafting a permanent procedure. As long as you keep your weight stable, the results you get from cosmetic surgery should last indefinitely.
With breast implants, you are beholden to the shape of the implant you choose. That’s not the case with fat grafting.
Because the fatty tissue is so malleable and without any pre-existing form, your surgeon can sculpt your breasts into the desired shape for more natural-looking results.
Breast implants are essentially non-toxic bags of saline or silicone that are placed into pockets located underneath your chest muscle. This requires moderately-sized incisions in order to place the breast implants properly.
The liposuction procedure required for fat grafting requires only a few tiny incisions at the donor site. Fat grafting after the fat has been harvested doesn’t require any incisions at all. With fewer incisions, you also get fewer scars, less swelling, and an easier recovery.
Breasts are naturally made of fat, so it makes sense that adding more fat would make your breasts look and feel natural.
Fat transfer doesn’t just increase the size of your breasts. It also makes your breasts look more rounded with enhanced cleavage and a softness that is as natural as can be.
When your cosmetic surgeon injects your own fat into your breasts for the purposes of augmentation, you can expect around 50% or 70% of the fatty tissue to survive. The rest will become absorbed by your body. After four to six weeks, your breast size will stabilize.
Your cosmetic surgeon may add a bit more fat to accommodate this reabsorption, leaving you with permanent results at your desired cup size. As long as you maintain a healthy weight, your breasts will retain their augmented appearance for years into the future.
That being said, if you lose weight, your breasts will shrink in size. Similarly, your breasts will increase in size if you gain weight. Keeping your weight stable is necessary to retain the look you want after fat transfer breast augmentation surgery.
Breast augmentation with fat transfer can give you about one or two cup sizes above your natural breast size. The fat tissue gives you more subtlety, which is often what you want when you expect dramatic results, but you don’t want your breast surgery to be too obvious.
If you want a greater size than one or two cups, breast implants may be the preferred breast surgery option.
WHAT ARE MY BREAST AUGMENTATION OPTIONS?
Fat transfer breast augmentation costs $9,175 on average, according to Real Self. While insurance is unlikely to pay for the procedure because of the cosmetic nature of breast surgery, medical financing is available from companies like Prosper Healthcare Lending and CareCredit.
Do you desire a subtle breast size increase with dramatic results? You might want to discuss the matter with Dr. Babak Moein of Moein Surgical Arts. Dr. Moein has over 20 years of experience performing breast augmentation with fat transfer and he looks forward to helping you in Los Angeles, Glendale, or Encino, California. Dr. Moein can also augment your breasts as part of a Mommy Makeover procedure. Call now to schedule a consultation with world-renowned cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Moein – (310)455-8020.