What is Breast Augmentation?

Breast augmentation surgery is an operation to enlarge the existing breast volume by injecting one's own fat or by means of a breast prosthesis.

Breasts have very different meanings in women’s lives. They are indicators of maternity, fertility, and femininity. Breasts are of great importance as they indicate the sexual identity and reinforce the sense of femininity of women. As even in patients who have had a breast removed as a result of breast cancer, the acridity of losing a breast overshadows the happiness of being free from cancer. Breast smallness may occur either due to the insufficient growth of breast tissue or due to involution after breast-feeding. Drugs, creams, etc. to enlarge breasts should not be accredited no matter how much it is told that they are natural. A product that can enlarge breast tissue should involve a hormonal effect. As a result of this hormonal effect, you may have serious health problems and increase the risk of cancer. Never use breast enlarging products sold under the name of herbal products, food supplements, etc. that do nothing but market dreams and make money for the seller.

Recently, applications of enlarging the breast tissue by fat injection to the breast tissue are performed. Fat injection to the breast tissue never has the same function as breast prosthesis; however, it can be implemented in situations such as having small cleavage fullness called the upper pole, when there is a slight size difference between the breasts although there is sufficient breast size, and the removal of formal deformities. However, it should be noted that there are negative effects such as the inadequacy of only one session, deformities that may occur after application, and making a diagnostic approach for breast diseases harder in the future. In cases where the breast tissue is low, different treatment alternatives may come up. However, the most effective and known method accepted all over the world today is ‘Silicone Breast Prosthesis’ surgery.

The outer surface of all silicone breast prostheses consists of hard silicone. There is a saline solution (salty water) or silicone gel inside this 1-2 mm hard silicon bag. Silicon gels can be sliced like bread using a sharp knife. These prostheses are very durable, they do not leak in case of outer bag’s puncture-burst, retain their shapes largely. Silicone is the least allergen that is known to the body; therefore, it is not expected to cause an allergic reaction. It has no known side effects on lactation and breast diseases (including cancer). It does not constitute an obstacle to routine mammography examination of women over the age of 40. The only known problem of silicone breast prostheses is that the fibrous barrier that develops physiologically over a certain period and surrounds the prosthesis develops violently in some cases. This situation in which the fibrous barrier is over-developed is called capsule reaction. Even though this is a rarely seen problem, the prosthesis should change in severe capsule reactions. The surfaces of prostheses used to be flat, but later they started to be made rough-surfaced to prevent capsule reaction. The use of rough surface prostheses has been successful in reducing the capsule reaction to some extent. Silicone breast prostheses are produced in ”drop” and ”round” shapes. Round prostheses are preferred when upper pole fullness is desired to be apparent, drop prostheses are preferred when enlargement is desired to be in the form of breast’s natural form. Silicone breast prosthesis can be placed from the armpit, nipple, or under-breast groove according to the patient’s request. Today, the most common way is to place the prosthesis using the under-breast approach. One of the most discussed subjects is whether to place the prosthesis under or on the muscle. My approach here is to place the prosthesis directly under the breast if the patient has some breast tissue and is not very skinny. In patients who do not have breast tissue and are extremely skinny, under-muscle placement provides better results as the prosthesis is covered with sufficient soft tissue and is not apparent from outside.

What size prosthesis will be placed is a personal choice. It is necessary to reach a common ground with patients by making evaluations separately for each of them. However, it should be noted that every single person’s ideal breast size has upper and lower limits. I should state it beforehand that I cannot help patients who desire sizes other than these limits. At my first meeting my patients, I try to figure out what the patient exactly wants. There are various sizes of prostheses and therefore the patient needs to understand what happens when we place which size of prosthesis. The easiest and most understandable way is to describe it to the patient by the bra that she uses. Bras that women use are sized in two ways. Values obtained by measuring the circumference of the rib cage are numerical values such as 75-80-85-90… This value will not change as a result of breast prosthesis application, it will remain the same as the implementation does not interfere in there. However, the size of the breast tissue itself is determined by letters such as A-B-C-D. A cup bra represents the smallest and the D cup bra represents the biggest size. Having intermediate forms of these sizes, the breast volume suitable for our country is stated as B or B+. From that point of view, I ask my patients which size of bra they would like to use without any uplift. It is even more healthy for the patient to visit a store and try each size of bras to decide what she wants.

Augmentation surgery with a silicone breast prosthesis takes about 1-1.5 hours on average. The procedure is performed under general anesthesia and the patient leaves the operating room wearing a special, shaping bra that is previously sized. No drains are used anyway. The patients stay at the hospital only for 1 night. You can turn back to your daily life 3 days after the surgery. It takes 3-6 months for the newly made breasts to get in shape and reach the ideal form. It takes time for the breasts which are at first very upright and tight to reach the ideal form with the effect of gravity and tissue stretch. Shaping bra that is put on during the surgery has a very important function in this regard and the patient is recommended to wear the bra at least for 3 weeks. Slight bruises on breasts and their girth can be rarely seen after the surgery. It returns to normal completely in 1-2 weeks.