How to Care for Your Breast Implants

Breast implants have the potential to totally alter the appearance and feel of one’s chest area, and have the potential to dramatically improve one’s self-esteem by having one’s appearance more closely match their self-conception. Below, we cover how to care for your breast implants.

These qualities have contributed to the procedure’s status as one of the long-running, most popular surgeries in plastic surgery. Many thousands of people come seeking this treatment every year.

However, like most types of plastic surgery procedures, it takes some level of maintenance to upkeep your results. Learning these caretaking steps can ensure that you maintain the highest level of quality for the appearance of your implants.

Breast Augmentation Basics

Although there are many different types of breast augmentation, the main objective is usually to improve the appearance of the breast shape. Volume and a sense of shape are used to achieve this.

The two main techniques for augmenting the breasts are saline and silicone implants. Though they can produce quite distinct results, both approaches are effective. You and your doctor can talk about what form of augmentation best suits your needs and objectives.

This kind of operation is generally regarded as being extremely safe. It does, however, come with some hazards. The following are a few dangers that need to be taken into account:

Poorly performed surgery
Implant leaks that can occur
Infection risks
Scarring and other aesthetic concerns
Pain
Bleeding

Despite these inconveniences, breast augmentation is primarily known as a safe and effective procedure that can impart very genuine benefits on those that seek it out. The steps outlined below are considered to be very helpful for maintaining the best results possible.

Give Them Proper Support

You should take some care in selecting a high-quality bra to provide the highest level of support for your implants. This can help to inhibit the impact of gravity on your breasts and prevent premature sagging of some kind.

There are many types of bras that can provide this kind of support, and some patients may find that the search for the one that fits your needs the closest is actually an enjoyable activity in itself.

Apply Moisturizer

You can apply moisturizers and other skin products onto your implants regularly in order to preserve their appearance. It’s likely that your physician will be able to prescribe some kind of product that they find to be medically suitable. You can discuss this with your physician either in your pre-surgical consultation or after your procedure is complete.

Give Yourself Time to Recover

One of the most important things that you can do to preserve your results is to get adequate rest and relaxation after your procedure in your recovery period. This includes taking a few days off of work or school in order to give yourself a few days of low-to-no stress.

There are other steps you should take to ensure that this procedure goes as smoothly as possible. Some of the following are considered common sense in this regard:

Avoid consuming nicotine, alcohol and blood thinners. This includes over-the-counter medications like aspirin.
Try to avoid sleeping on your side and stomach for approximately six weeks after your procedure.
Avoid wearing an underwire bra for approximately six weeks after your procedure.
Avoid getting your incision site wet or moist for approximately 3-5 days after your surgery.
Don’t engage in any vigorous physical activity that could adversely impact your stitches and the appearance of your implants. This includes impact sports, jumping, or running.
Avoid taking a bath for at least two weeks after your procedure. Instead, you should opt for cautious showering, ensuring that your surgical site gets dried immediately after you finish.

Avoid Dramatic Large Fluctuations

Undergoing significant fluctuations in your weight, either in the way where you would lose a large amount of weight, or gain a large amount of weight, can affect the appearance of your implants in a negative way. Following this, you should try to avoid undergoing these types of fluctuations in the months following your procedure.

If you are prone to gaining weight, then you should keep a steady schedule of light exercise to keep a steady weight. As mentioned above, you should attempt to avoid engaging in strenuous or high-impact exercise.

You should attempt to maintain a steady bodyweight during the following implant procedure. You should also be aware that if you plan to become pregnant within a few months from your procedure. You may have to return to the operating room after you give birth in order to update your implants, as both the birthing process and rearing a young infant can cause your implants to sag over time.

Follow Your Doctor’s Directions

Another essential step you can take in preserving your results is following every step and direction you are given by your physician following the procedure. There are several things that this might entail, including the following directives:

Your total recommended downtime and relaxation period
Wearing supportive garments
Massaging your implants
Proper wound care and prescribed medications
Certain dietary or lifestyle recommendations
When to return for treatment or other routine check-ups

These types of guidelines are well researched and thought out and exist to protect you and your results for maximum safety. You should heed them well, as it all contributes to your benefit.

Hold Yourself in Good Posture

How you hold yourself in your day-to-day activities has the potential to impact your results and the longevity of your implants in the long run. Although this may be surprising to some, posture has the power to influence the body in a number of important ways.

In regards to your implants, poor or good posture has the potential to impact your results due to the effect that spinal position can have on the chest muscles. Some of the elements of proper posture include the following aspects:

Engaging your core muscles
Holding your shoulders back
Standing erect and tall
Relaxing your neck and chin
Stretch regularly

Mind the Way You Sleep

As stated earlier, you should avoid sleeping on your side or stomach for approximately six weeks following your procedure. But minding the way you sleep has the potential to go much deeper than that, as your sleep practices can play a huge part in terms of the long-term stability of your results.

You should always attempt to sleep on your back in the weeks following your procedure. Applying undue amounts of pressure to your breasts following your procedure can truly interfere with their overall appearance and even compromise your results to the point that you feel the need to return to the doctor’s office for revision treatment of some kind.

In addition, you should attempt to sleep in a slightly elevated position, as well as use supportive pillows and bedding in order to give yourself the optimal advantage in terms of your positioning.

Keep a Positive Attitude

This is another element that many might not suspect would make an impact on their health, but oftentimes does. Keeping a positive attitude throughout your procedure as well as your follow-up period can impact your overall results in tangible ways.

This is because recovering from surgery and healing properly can oftentimes be both a physical and a psychological process. Part of this has to do with the highly individualized elements of the recovery process, as not every patient will identify with the generalized recovery timeline that your physician will outline for you.

Lifestyle Changes to Consider

Your breasts and their health are also impacted by the overall health of your body. That being said, you should consider undergoing certain lifestyle habits to improve your overall health and, subsequently, the health of your body. The following steps should be taken into account:

Engage in Regular Check-ups: You should receive regular mammograms to ensure that your breasts are healthy.
Get plenty of high-quality sleep and rest
Smoking cessation: Smoking can wreak havoc on your health in general, and quitting smoking will give you an edge in terms of maintaining your results.
Consider your medication intake: Certain medications can impact the physiological elements of your recovery.
Limit the amount of sun exposure you receive

Once your results settle, you should be able to engage in regular exercise, which is another activity that can enhance your health and preserve your results over time. You can also engage with a discussion with your physician to see if there are any special precautions you can take based on your medical profile. This can all occur during a pre-surgical consultation that you take prior to any surgical work being done.

Beverly Hill’s Best Resource for Implants

High stakes medical procedures are best left to the highest qualified professionals. That’s why Gabbay Plastic Surgery and its award-winning plastic surgeon is completely dedicated to giving the best service possible to individual’s looking for high-quality plastic surgery procedures of all stripes. If you’re interested in receiving a consultation regarding present or future implants, contact us today in order to talk to our medical experts. They will guide you in the right direction.