Can You Breastfeed With Implants?

A lot of ladies ask during consultations whether you can breast feed with implants. Generally this is considered completely safe and unaffected by breast augmentation. There are some concerns if a periareolar approach would be used that you could cut some of the ducts though. Periareolar approach is not a favored approach by me because I think that it carries other risks such as changes in nipple sensation. However it is still generally consider safe with breast feeding. It also does not matter whether the implants would be silicone or saline regarding breastfeeding. Both are considered safe.

Botox v. Dysport

There are different medicines on the market now for providing relief of dynamic wrinkles. Botox was the first major product on the market and the best known. There are now competitors such as Dysport and others coming such as PurTox. I have extensively used both Botox and Dysport. I have generally found that they give very equivalent results. Dysport has a small advantage of generally taking two days v. three days to begin working. I find that both can take up to seven days to have their complete effect. I have not found that there is a clinical meaningful difference in how long either one of them last. Both of them seem to last 3-4 months for patients who are new to Botox. Both seem to build up close to six months with repeated dosing. Because I feel the results have been very similar I will probably make an effort at using whichever one will give my patients the best financial price. I will also be trying new neurotoxins as they come out for the same reason. They will all have to meet the old standard that Botox set early.


If you have any further questions regarding the difference, prices, or appointment availability, give our office a call at (979) 776-8825  or email your questions to drrude@drrude.com.



Have a wonderful holiday!

What Size Breast Implants Should I Get?

This is a common question that we deal with in our office.

The ladies are often told by friends that have had an Augmentation that they could have gone a little bigger. I generally encourage ladies to pick a size that they like and assure them that later on they will be happy. It is always possible to second guess yourself. There are several reasons that people may later feel like they could have gone bigger.

One thing that all ladies will go through after an Augmentation is some normal swelling. I tell all my patients that they will be bigger two days after surgery than they will be two months after surgery. The process of surgery always has a little bit of swelling that ladies will notice as their breasts reduce in size from the swelling. There is also body image consideration. Usually around six weeks when ladies look in the mirror they no longer see themselves plus implants, they just see themselves. There is some question that whether peoples body image of wanting bigger breasts then returns. Another consideration is that implants “drop”. The patient immediately after surgery will have her implants somewhat in an elevated position and these will drop into a more nature position over the first few days to weeks after surgery. The final consider that I have observed that I think is very powerful is the degree of amnesia that ladies have regarding their original breasts size. It is impressive the number of people who come in at one year for their followup and look at their preoperative photos and admit that they had totally forgotten where they started. Usually after they see where they started they realize what a big positive change that it was. All of these factors influence whether ladies can feel like they could have gone a little bigger.

I have a lot of confidence in our sizing process. We reliably make ladies the size that we say that we will make them. If ladies pick a good size for them they will be happy later.

Silicone v. Saline Implants

During a breast augmentation consultation we spend time discussing the pros and cons of silicone v. saline implants. I think there are distinct pros and cons to each one. The advantages of silicone are the look and the feel. In general silicone implants feel better and usually rate higher in appearance than saline. They have fewer issues with wrinkling and rippling. The disadvantages of silicone are that they are slightly more expensive and also have MRI’s recommended for surveillance for silent ruptures. The old silicone implants if they ruptured they had a tendency of leaking out. The newer silicone implants are much more cohesive. We show ladies implants that have been punctured and demonstrate how they do not leak out of the shell. The MRI’s are recommended for detection of ruptures that cannot be otherwise noticed.

The pros and cons of saline are the exact opposite. The advantages are that they are a little less expensive and they are very easy in detecting ruptures; they go flat. The disadvantages are the look and the feel. They have more problems with wrinkling and rippling.

The shells of the implants are actually both the same. From a safety point of view I feel that they are both very safe. There has been exhaustive studies done showing that silicone implants are in fact safe.

How much of an advantage silicone is over saline for the look and the feel depends on the lady. The thinner the lady with smaller the breasts the more advantage there is to silicone. A lady who is very thin with very little breasts tissue will offer little nature “camouflage” with her own tissue to conceal the fact that she has an implant. Ladies that have a great deal of breasts tissue or subcutaneous fat will benefit less from the silicone in terms of look and feel.