According to the most recent statistics from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, breast augmentation is still at the top of the list and over 300,000 were done in 2009. Many women having breast implants are baby boomers hoping to keep their young 1960s bloom.

However, you do not have to be worrying about your aging looks to benefit from breast enlargement. As long as you are over 18 (for saline implants) or 22 (for silicone gel implants), have good general health, and a reasonable desire to have larger breasts, you could be a good candidate.

Dr. Rai would be the one to determine your candidacy after he examines you and studies your health history. However, you would have a great deal of input into how your procedure was planned. There are some important breast surgery decisions to be made before any procedure is scheduled.

  1. What size implant do you want? Bigger is not necessarily better. Implants are not sized like bras, with 34-A or 36-C and so on. They are sized by how many cubic centimeters of fluid or gel they contain. Dr. Rai would help you translate cc’s into the right size implant to augment what you already have and end up with the shape you want.
  2. What shape implant? They come in round or teardrop shapes and each has advantages and disadvantages.
  3. Silicone gel or saline implants? Saline is the name for salt water that has the same saltiness (salinity) that our body fluids have. Saline solution is used in many medical procedures and is a standard substance. Silicone gel is specially made for breast implants and these implants come already filled, whereas saline implants are empty when inserted. Therefore incisions must be a little longer for silicone implants.
  4. Where to place the incisions? You have four choices of incision location, all of which will give you a discreetly hidden scar. The transaxillary location is in the armpits; the periareolar location is around the outside of the areola; the breast crease location is below the breasts; and the TUBA location is in the navel.
  5. Where to place the implants? There are two choices here. Either they can be below the breast tissue but above the pectoral muscle; or they can be below both. Each has its advantages and disadvantages and your lifestyle would be a factor in this decision. Again, Dr. Rai will help.

There are good reasons why the best cosmetic surgeons prefer well-informed patients. The better you understand your procedure, the more likely you are to comply with your pre- and post-surgical instructions and the more gratifying your surgical outcome is likely to be. Dr. Rai is always willing to answer questions and explain how a procedure works or why one would be better for you than another.

To learn more about breast enlargement, please contact our Dallas, Texas office for a free consultation with Dr. Rai.