By Dr. Eric Li
Dr. Eric Li specializes in breast lift surgery and serves the Los Gatos and Bay Areas. Discover more about the advantages of this surgery right now. For more information, contact us or schedule an appointment online. We are conveniently located at 555 Knowles Drive, Suite 218 Los Gatos, CA 95032.
A question that often gets asked by patients who are contemplating breast lifting for the first time is – should they or should they not get breast implants with their breast lift? It is a big decision to make and one that will change the outcome of your surgery.
Dr. Eric Li is a double-board certified plastic surgeon who has tremendous expertise in aesthetic breast surgery and has helped countless patients in the San Jose and Los Gatos Bay Area California achieve the results that they want. Here are some considerations when contemplating whether to have implants or not as part of your breast lift.
The Look
Regardless of the technique and scar pattern used to lift and manipulate the breast, e.g., peri-areolar, circum-vertical (“donut”), or inverted-T (“anchor”), natural breast tissue is softer and less projecting than an implant. Therefore, if the desire is to have a more enhanced upper pole fullness or cleavage, then the decision to place an implant as part of your breast lift makes sense. The implant doesn’t have to be a large one, but even a small implant can create a fuller and rounder shape to the breasts.
The Feel
You can have very soft breasts both with or without implants. It all depends on what percentage of your breast is implant and what percentage is natural tissue. Modern implants are soft; however, natural tissue is still (generally) softer. The more natural tissue you have, the softer your breasts will feel. Dr. Li can show you and have you feel examples of breast implants during your consultation to help you understand this.
The Philosophy
If the desire is to stay all natural, there are still options to enhance your breasts without using implants. For example, Dr. Li generally recommends the addition of an internal bra mesh as part of your breast lift to support the weight of your tissues during the healing process. This results in longer lasting, gravity-defying results and better breast lift scars because the weight of your tissues is taken up by the mesh, rather than the scars. Also, the mesh is gradually absorbed by your body, leaving no traces of it.
Another option is to transfer fat to your breasts. This would involve liposuction of unwanted or excess fat (an added bonus) from a different part of your body, processing it, then transferring the purified fat to your breasts to add volume to key areas like the upper pole or cleavage area. Dr. Li prefers purifying his fat with a technology called Puregraft to have the highest quality fat for injection into your breasts. Fat transfer will result in a better and enhanced yet still very natural outcome compared to breast lift surgery without fat transfer.
At the end of the day, every patient’s goals and expectations are different and the nuances of breast lift surgery are best discussed in-person after an assessment. We invite you to call to schedule a consultation with double-board certified plastic surgeon and breast expert Dr. Eric Li today to find out more about how you can get the look that you want.