Women who want it all – beautiful breasts and beautiful babies – have a serious decision to make.
Should they wait until their family is complete before having breast enhancement or can they go full speed ahead asap?
Costhetics can’t answer the question for every mum or mum-to-be. What we can do is answer frequently answered questions on breast enhancement before or after pregnancy.
The Many Faces of Cosmetic Breast Enhancement
When you hear the term “boob job,” do you think of breast implant surgery? In truth, there are a number of breast enhancement techniques surgeons use to alter the size, shape, and overall appearance of breasts:
- Breast augmentation with implants
- Breast lift and augmentation
- Breast reduction surgery
All of these procedures can be used to enhance the placement, size, and shape of women’s breasts to help them achieve their desired body contours. Happily, they can also be used before or after a woman has had children.
Will Breast Enhancement Interfere with Feeding My Baby?
The answer to this common question is “No.” Women lactate successfully and nurse their babies after having breast surgery. Results from a five-year breast implant follow-up study of 3500 women who underwent primary breast augmentation found that:
- Most were able to successfully breast-feed their infants
- Lactation complications were similar with silicone and saline implants
Perhaps most interesting of all:
- “The incidence of lactation complications was comparable to reports of such complications in the general population of women who elect to breast-feed.”
Similar to breast implant surgery, breast lift and breast reduction surgery presents minimal risk to breastfeeding. The expertise of your surgeon and their choice of techniques will affect the outcome. Women whose surgery is done with an areola incision are at a slighter higher risk for damage to milk ducts and having their areola completely disconnected from the central portion of the gland. Patients whose surgeons employ underarm incisions or incisions in the crease of the breast are less likely to encounter this problem.
Does Having a Baby Interfere with Breast Enhancement?
Yes. Breast glands expand to allow for breastfeeding, and when that ends, the glands shrink to a smaller size. Unfortunately, the skin envelope remains enlarged (stretched out). At the same time, breasts may sag and need a lift. If you have previously had your breasts enhanced, you may need to return to your surgeon for a different size implant and some revision surgery to make your breasts perky again. For this reason, many surgeons recommend women considering pregnancy within a year wait for breast surgery.
That being said, women who are not certain they want children or see it as a future possibility shouldn’t feel they need to wait. Breast implants may last 15 years or longer, at which point a revision procedure will be in order. If you don’t intend to start a family for 10-15 years, you shouldn’t hesitate to enjoy a beautiful new breast appearance right now.
It should also be noted some women, particularly smaller-chested women, may experience minimal changes in breast tissue and may or may not need a breast lift or second set of implants.
Where to Get More Answers
The Internet is a great jumping off place for learning about breast enhancement and pregnancy. When you’re ready to go deeper and discuss breast augmentation and breast reduction as it applies to you and only you, Costhetics urges you to see one (or perhaps two) surgeons. Experts in their field, they have the training and experience to help you make decisions that will affect you, your breasts, and the little ankle-biters that may be coming your way.