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.