Posted: March 28, 2017
The appearance of your body and its proportions can be completely transformed with one single procedure: the breast lift. Adding a breast augmentation procedure to a breast lift can provide even more stunning results. If you’re interested in having a breast lift, it can be difficult to decide whether or not to have breast augmentation as well. Each procedure has its advantages and disadvantages, so it’s good to be well-informed before you make your decision!
Breast Lift Versus Breast Augmentation: What’s the Difference?
Mastoplexy (breast lift) and breast augmentation with implants are both procedures that improve and enhance the breasts, but they achieve these effects in different ways.
Breast Augmentation
You’re probably familiar with what a breast augmentation with implants is: Silicone or saline implants are inserted into the breasts to increase their size and enhance their shape. Having breast augmentation is a good choice if your breasts are already a good shape—with little or no excess skin or sagging—and you just want them to be larger. Breast augmentation can also improve mild breast sagging.
Apart from the potential for excellent results, the breast augmentation procedure is popular because great results can be achieved with minimal scarring. In most cases, a good surgeon can hide the scars beneath the crease of your breasts or in another location, such as your armpits. The scars and the surgery are virtually non-detectable!
Breast Lift
During a breast lift, excess skin and breast tissue is removed from breasts that are sagging or droopy after weight loss or pregnancy and nursing. This procedure can be performed alone or in combination with a breast augmentation. Because excess skin and tissue is removed during a breast lift, this procedure can leave a significant level of scarring. If you’re thinking about having a breast lift, it can be useful to look at before-and-after photos to get an idea of what kind of scarring to expect. And don’t forget to talk to your surgeon about ways to minimize scarring too.
Which Is Best for You?
The question of whether to have a breast lift alone or a breast lift with augmentation is a highly personal and individual one—with some help from your surgeon. It depends not just on what you yourself prefer, but also the current condition of your breasts and body. There are specific situations in which a breast lift is more effective than breast augmentation and vice versa, and there are situations in which both procedures together is the best option.
What Results Can You Expect from a Breast Lift?
A breast lift alone is a good choice if you have moderate to severe breast drooping, with nipples that are at the bottom of your breasts or that point downward toward the floor. If you don’t want to increase your breast size and just want your breasts to have more fullness and bounce, then a breast lift is the answer. Many women who have given birth or who have gained or lost lots of weight find that their breasts end up sitting somewhere near their stomach!
The breast lift procedure lifts the breasts up, so they’re back on the chest where they should be, even when you’re not wearing a bra. This doesn’t just improve the way your breasts look; it can also make you look like you’ve lost weight. When the breasts sit on top of the stomach, it gives the body a more rounded look, but lifting the breasts back to the chest immediately makes you look more slender. It’s a great added advantage to the breast lift procedure! There is a downside to having a breast lift alone. While the breasts are in a much better location after a breast lift, they don’t usually have much upper fullness (fullness above the nipple line). If you want a look that has lots of upper fullness in the breasts, then a breast lift with implants is a better option.
Adding Implants for a Whole New Look
As mentioned above, there’s one thing that a breast lift alone can’t do: It can’t give the breasts more upper fullness. This kind of breast fullness gives the breasts a very eye-catching look, but it’s something that most women tend to lose as they get older. A breast lift alone can’t solve this problem, but a breast lift along with augmentation with implants can bring back that upper fullness, resulting in a dramatic bust line. Although the combo of a breast lift and augmentation with implants can make your breasts look great and improve your body’s overall proportions, it’s important to note that it’s a costlier procedure than a breast lift alone. You’ll pay an additional fee for the implants, as well as the extra time the procedure takes to complete.
Another factor to be aware of is that breast implants don’t last forever. Once you have a set of implants put in, it’s likely they’ll need to be replaced within the next decade or two. As new advances are made with breast implant technology it may be that next-generation implants will last longer, but for now it’s best to count on exchanging your implants within 12 to 15 years.
When in Doubt, Talk to Your Surgeon About Breast Implants vs. Lift!
Whether you ultimately decide to have a breast lift alone or a breast lift with implants, be sure to involve your plastic surgeon in the decision! His experience and expertise is invaluable when it comes to choosing the right procedures for you and your body.