Breast Augmentation

What Is Breast Augmentation?

Breast augmentation refers to the process of reshaping, filling out and defining your breasts to meet your desires and expectations. If you’re seeking to improve your profile or return to a more youthful appearance, consider breast augmentation. If you’re unhappy with the way your breasts are formed or want to renew your breasts to their former shape and size, then breast augmentation surgery may be an ideal solution.

At Rowe Plastic Surgery in New Jersey, Manhattan, Long Island and the Hamptons, top cosmetic surgeons provide exceptional results that fill your needs and expectations for fuller, more beautiful breasts. Your highly rated, board certified plastic surgeon provides a variety of breast augmentation services to help you achieve any number of objectives, such as:

• Restoring volume to your breasts after a successful weight loss program
• Bringing your breasts back to their natural shape following a pregnancy
• Increasing the fullness of your bust
• Providing symmetry if one breast is larger than the other
• Improving the balance between your chest, waist and hips for a more flattering silhouette
• Reconstructing your breasts after a mastectomy or other surgical procedure
• Enhancing your confidence and self-esteem

Am I a Good Candidate for Breast Augmentation?

Taking the plunge to get a good boob job is a major step, but it’s a common procedure. The best breast augmentation surgeons don’t take your decision lightly, and neither should you. The most successful procedures are worth the time and resources, so you get a breast augmentation for the right reasons, such as:

• Relieving the anxiety you’ve had for most of your life about the shape of your breasts
• Increasing your self-esteem, allowing you to take risks and follow dreams you’ve put off for too long
• Feeling more comfortable in your body
• Being able to wear the fashions and styles you prefer

You can experience more satisfaction from your breast augmentation if you do it for yourself and not to please someone else. This isn’t a procedure suggested as a short-term solution for situations like:

• Landing a job
• Fixing a relationship
• Looking good for a vacation
• Curiosity about how you’d look and be treated if you had bigger breasts

That said, breast augmentation surgery is an excellent step forward in your quest for improved self-confidence. When you feel better about how you look, you act with more confidence.

Who’s a Good Candidate for Breast Augmentation Surgery?

Because your breasts usually aren’t completely formed until you’ve reached the age of 18, you must wait until then before considering breast augmentation. Otherwise, you may be a good candidate for the procedure if:

• Your breasts naturally are asymmetrical.
• Your breasts never fully formed.
• You have a sincere desire for a fuller, larger breast size.
• You feel inferior because of your bust size.
• You’re healthy both physically and mentally.
• You aren’t breastfeeding or currently pregnant.
• You have reasonable expectations from the procedure.
• You seek improvement rather than perfection in your appearance.

A wide range of women of all ages, ethnicities and occupations decide to get their breasts augmented. In fact, it’s one of the top five cosmetic surgeries in the United States, with nearly 200,000 breast augmentation surgeries performed in 2020 alone, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Reconstruction after breast cancer adds another 100,000 to the total.

What Makes a Good Boob Job?

During your consultation, your breast plastic surgeon clearly explains all the details of the procedure and what you can expect. Your satisfaction and recovery are much smoother when you go into the process fully informed. Augmentation can’t fix some aspects of your breasts, such as lifting your breasts if they’ve become saggy. You may need to undergo a breast lift in conjunction with the augmentation to get more lift.

The results of your breast augmentation surgery also depend on the type and shape of the implants you receive. Your choices include:

• Saline implants. Typically uniform in shape and firmness, saline implants come with fewer risks. If they break for any reason, the salt water is absorbed into your body with no side effects.
• Silicone implants. These implants are the closest to the real thing in how they feel. Even if they leak, the silicone gel usually doesn’t cause the implant to collapse.
• Structured implants. They’re filled with saline, although they’re placed in an inner mold that makes them feel more like natural breasts.
• Gummy bear implants. These implants won’t lose their shape even if the shell is compromised. The consistency of the silicone gel is thicker, and breasts usually are firmer than with traditional implants.
• Natural breast augmentation.  This process involves taking subcutaneous fat from other parts of your body and sculpting your breasts with the tissue. There are pros and cons of a fat transfer breast augmentation, but it provides additional body sculpting because it uses fat taken from another area of your body, like your abdomen.

Is Breast Augmentation Safe?

Breast augmentation is as safe as it’s ever been. And when you trust an experienced, board certified plastic surgeon, you greatly reduce your risks. Breast augmentation surgery is invasive, however, and it comes with some risks like any other surgical procedures. Silicone gel and saline implants are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to:

• Increase your breast size
• Reconstruct breasts after a trauma or cancer surgery
• Repair breast deformities

Implants aren’t created to last a lifetime, and you may require additional procedures to maintain their shape and position. Over time, your implants may shift or leak. But when you rely on the best breast augmentation surgeon the New York City Metropolitan area, you receive the attention you need. The Rowe Plastic Surgery doctors operate under the safest conditions in a state-of-the-art facility that provides you with every accommodation for your comfort.

What Breast Augmentation Sizes Are Available?

Share your goals with your surgeon, which include the breast implant size you’re looking to use. Implants are measured by cubic centimeters (CCs), ranging from 80 CCs to as large as 800 CCs. The higher the number, the larger the breast size.

The top breast augmentation surgeons in NJ and NYC gauge the size that’s right for you. The decision isn’t as simple as picking out a new outfit. The largest size isn’t necessarily the best choice. The best breast augmentation surgeons:

• Listen to your goals before making recommendations based on their years of experience
• Advise you about the size that fits best and looks most natural with your body type
• Take computer-aided design pictures so you can see what your breasts may look like after augmentation
• Provide you with fake implants called sizers that you put in your bra to try out before you commit to a specific size

What’s Involved with the Surgery and Recovery?

Once you’ve chosen the size and type of implant that’s best for you, set a date for the procedure. Your surgeon provides you with a list of instructions to follow to get the best results from your surgery. A top breast augmentation surgeon in NYC and NJ usually requests that you:

• Stop smoking and taking certain medications
• Refrain from taking any blood thinning medications, including ibuprofen or aspirin
• Avoid alcohol and recreational drugs
• Make arrangements for someone to drive you home after the outpatient procedure and stay with you at least for the first 24 hours

The procedure takes between one and two hours. Since you need to be given general anesthesia, you have to arrive an hour early. Plan to spend at least an hour more in recovery before you’re allowed to go home. Modern techniques have greatly reduced recovery time, so that you won’t be out of commission for long after a good boob job. Your recovery process includes:

• Sleeping upright, usually in a recliner, for the first 48 hours after surgery
• Returning to work within a few days, as long as you don’t do any heavy lifting
• Waiting about two weeks before sleeping on your side
• Avoiding raising your arms over your head for a couple of weeks
• Reducing strenuous activity for two to three weeks
• Wearing a bra 24 hours a day for at least four weeks
• Resuming all your normal routines within about eight weeks

Breast Augmentation FAQs

• How much is breast augmentation? According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the average cost of breast augmentation is about $4,500. This average usually doesn’t count all the other fees, which can include the anesthesiologist’s fees, operating room charges, prescription medications, blood test and imaging tests. Talk to your cosmetic surgeon about the additional fees during your consultation.
• Is breast augmentation safe? When you put your trust in an experienced, board certified breast surgeon at Rowe Plastic Surgery, the augmentation surgery is completely safe.
• Does health insurance cover my augmentation surgery? Most insurance policies don’t cover breast augmentation, as it’s considered a purely cosmetic, non-medical procedure.
• When can I sleep on my side after breast augmentation? Since sleeping on your side can damage your new implants or stress the stitches, you must wait until you’re fully healed before you can sleep on your side. Expect that process to take about two weeks.
• When can I stop wearing a bra after my breast augmentation? Two weeks after your surgery, it’s safe to stop wearing the surgical bra. You need to continue to wear a sports bra or another non-underwire support bra all the time for another two weeks. Then you can stop wearing a bra at least some of the time, including at night.

With so many options and decisions about breast augmentation, find an experienced surgeon with expertise and the demeanor to make you feel comfortable about the process. Contact Rowe Plastic Surgery in Manhattan, Plainview or Water Mill, NY or in Montclair or Red Bank, NJ for a consultation. Let an experienced plastic surgeon help you become the very best version of yourself.

Schedule My Consultation

A breast lift procedure can change your life in a big way. If you’re concerned about the effects of your sagging breasts on your overall appearance or on your self-esteem, contact Rowe Plastic Surgery on the Upper East Side of New York City. They use advanced medical technology for breast procedures to restore your youthful look

212-628-7300