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Breast Augmentation

If you are seeking to rejuvenate your breasts and regain your youthful beauty, give Dr. Edwin N. Austin a call at 503-561-7000 for a breast augmentation consultation! Our practice serves Salem and the surrounding areas of Oregon.

Breast Augmentation Before & After Photos

We know that every woman is unique in both her desires and her body shape. With that in mind, we take the time during the pre-operative consultations to learn what each patient hopes to gain from breast augmentation surgery and to decide which implant type and implant placement is best. In this way, every one of our patients enjoys completely customized treatment designed with her specific goals in mind.

Breast Augmentation

What is Breast Augmentation Surgery?

Breast augmentation surgery is one of the most frequently performed cosmetic surgery procedures in the U.S. and one of our most popular services. Breast augmentation can give women with small or unevenly sized breasts a fuller, firmer, better-proportioned look through the placement of saline or silicone implants in the breast.

Our patients elect to undergo breast augmentation for many different medical and aesthetic reasons, including balancing breast size, compensating for reduced breast mass after pregnancy or surgery, and correcting a congenital breast defect. Under our doctors’ expert care, patients enjoy great-looking, natural-feeling breasts that are one or more cup sizes larger after the operation.

Types of Breast Implants

Breast implants are silicone shells filled with either saline (salt water) or silicone gel. Both implant types are very safe, and each offers its own advantages. We will help you decide which kind is right for you. During surgery, we will place the implants behind each breast, underneath either breast tissue or the chest wall muscle.

After many years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved silicone breast implants for breast augmentation surgery. We are proud to offer patients the option of silicone gel-filled breast implants, since they are much softer and feel more natural than saline-filled breast implants.

The Breast Augmentation Procedure

The breast augmentation procedure lasts one to two hours and is typically performed with general anesthesia. Incisions are made in inconspicuous places on the breast to minimize scar visibility. These may be located:

  • In the armpit (transaxillary),
  • In the crease on the underside of the breast (inframammary), or
  • Around the areola, the dark skin around the nipple (periareolar).

The breast is then lifted, creating a pocket into which the implant is inserted.

Saline implants may also be placed endoscopically through an incision in the navel. This minimally invasive breast enhancement technique is known as a transumbilical breast augmentation or TUBA approach.

Placement Options

Implant placement beneath the muscle of the chest offers a few advantages over placement beneath the breast tissue only. These include reduced risk of capsular contracture (post-operative tightening around the implant) and less interference with mammogram examinations. Possible disadvantages include need for drainage tubes and elevated pain in the first few days following surgery. We will discuss which option may be best for you.

In the TUBA procedure, implants cannot be placed beneath the chest wall.

After the implants have been inserted and positioned beneath the nipples, the incisions are stitched closed, then taped and bandaged. In a few days, these bandages may be replaced with a surgical bra.

Recovery From Breast Augmentation

Most patients feel tired and sore after breast augmentation surgery, but this usually passes in a day or two. Many patients return to work within the week.

Stitches are removed in a week to 10 days after breast augmentation. Any post-operative pain, swelling and sensitivity will diminish over the first few weeks.

Scars from breast augmentation incisions will begin to fade in a few months and will continue to fade for months or years.

Risks From Breast Augmentation Surgery

Complications following breast augmentation surgery are uncommon and usually minimal. They may include capsular contracture, swelling and pain, infection around the implant, a change in nipple sensation, milk production if you nursed a baby within a year before the procedure, and breakage or leakage of the implant (implant rupture) as a result of injury or the normal compression and movement of your breast.

If a saline implant ruptures, the implant will simply deflate in a few hours and your body will absorb the salt water. If a silicone implant leaks, you will need to see a doctor immediately. Regular monitoring of breast implants after breast augmentation is recommended to ensure continuing breast and implant health.

Breast Augmentation FAQs

There isn’t any special preparation required for augmentation surgery. It is surgery, so you’ll need to stop taking any anti-inflammatory medications, blood thinners, aspirin, and most supplements for about one week prior to your procedure. If you smoke, you’ll need to stop for at least three weeks prior to and after your surgery, as smoking constricts the blood vessels, and this can hinder incision healing. Dr. Austin will discuss these things with you during your consultation.

Maybe you’ve always felt that your breasts weren’t proportional with the rest of your figure. Maybe your breasts are a little uneven or asymmetrical (most women have some degree of this). Maybe you feel your breasts have flattened somewhat with age and you would like to add volume.

Or maybe you’d simply like to have larger breasts and a shapelier figure.

The reasons a woman chooses to have breast augmentation are varied and individual. There is no right or wrong here. One thing that Dr. Austin stresses with his patients considering augmentation is that the decision needs to made for you first and foremost. You can’t have this procedure for a partner or spouse who’s pressuring you. It’s important that this is what you want.

That said, breast augmentation has one of the highest satisfaction rates of all cosmetic procedures. A recent survey conducted by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons found that 98 percent of women felt their augmentation either met or exceeded their expectations. Over 90 percent of the women also said they felt the procedure increased their self-esteem.

Breast augmentation can achieve dramatic and beautiful results on its own as well as in conjunction with other cosmetic surgery or non-invasive procedures. We sometimes recommend combining breast augmentation with other procedures such as a breast lift for more satisfying results.

Breast augmentation has the goal of adding volume, and usually projection, to the breasts. This is achieved by the placement of implants either above or beneath the chest muscle. While breast augmentation can correct slight breast sagging by adding volume, it won’t correct extensive sagging.

In these cases, a breast lift is necessary. A breast lift does not add volume to the breasts. The goal of a breast lift is to return the breasts to a higher position on the chest. Breast lifts remove excess sagging skin to eliminate any flattening that has occurred as a result of pregnancy and breastfeeding or simply from natural aging. In most breast lifts, the nipple complex can be moved higher to match the new breast position.

Because breast lifts don’t add volume, many women opt to have Dr. Austin perform a breast lift with augmentation. That way the sagging skin is removed and the breasts are brought back up on the chest, plus volume is added with implants. It is possible to add augmentation to a breast lift because the implants can be inserted through incisions already made for the breast lift.

Breast augmentation is surgery, but your recovery is not as difficult as you might assume. For the first few days, you will have some discomfort. Your chest will likely feel tight, but this is perfectly normal as the tissue needs to stretch and the implants need to settle into place. When you first look at your new breasts, they may appear too high on the chest. But this is also normal, as settling will bring the implants down somewhat.

Most patients can return to work after about one week, depending on the physical demand of your job. You can begin non-impact activity in a week or so, but impact exercise needs to wait for at least one month. Specific upper body exercises can resume in six weeks.

What is the benefit of loving the way you look when you see your figure in the mirror every morning when getting out of the shower? Women who have never been satisfied with their breasts can find that their entire body image changes when they have augmentation. Buying clothes is fun and exciting thanks to your new curvier shape.

As mentioned above, breast augmentation is very satisfying for patients. Over 90 percent say it increased their self-esteem and self-confidence.

Dr. Austin does everything possible to avoid milk ducts and to keep the nipples intact so that breastfeeding is unaffected with this surgery. The incision location that presents the most risk to the milk ducts is the periareolar incision, but Dr. Austin is usually able to avoid damaging the ducts. Still, there is a chance that breastfeeding could be impacted.

Dr. Austin will discuss how breastfeeding may be impacted during your consultation.

Scarring on your breasts depends on your choice for the location of your incisions.

  • If you choose the periareolar incision location, this can be well hidden in the darker skin surrounding the nipples.
  • If you choose the inframammary incision, which is made just above the breast crease on the bottom of the breasts, there may be a visible scar on each breast, which may fade with time and scar management. With inframammary incisions, Dr. Austin places them above the breast crease so they can be effectively hidden under a bikini top or bra.

Read what our patients are saying!

“I have been choosing these medical professionals for 12 years. There is no reason to look elsewhere, because I have always been treated to kind, professional service! The results, be they plastic surgery or injectables, have always been first rate. I have no scars from any of the surgeries I have had here. I count NINE of them, including tummy tuck, butt lift, face lifteyelids, and breast augmentation. I look GREAT! I cannot recommend these medical professionals enough.” – Kris F.

Patient Education

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Schedule Your Breast Augmentation Consultation Salem, OR

If you have any questions or comments, or if you want to learn more about the services Dr. Austin provides, please call 503-561-7000 or submit an online form by clicking here.

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Office Hours

Monday - Friday: 8am - 5pm

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