The following questions have been answered by Dr. B. Peter MiraMed / Salzburg.
The growth of the breast should be completed and the patient must be over the age of 18. If the patient desires to have children, it is recommended to postpone the operation till family planning is completed. Furthermore, a pregnancy could have a detrimental effect on the results of a breast lift. Aesthetic breast corrections are still possible later in life, provided the patient is healthy.
Saline and silicone implants, especially when placed on top of the breast muscle, can impair or hinder the early recognition of malignant structures in the breast. Modern mammographic testing techniques, supplemented by ultrasound or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), however, allow breast cancer diagnosis also for people with implants. Make sure that your radiologist is informed of your breast implants prior to an x-ray check-up.
Sports, massages, and rigorous skin care are recommended as complementary measures, but a small breast can neither be enlarged that way nor can a sagging breast be lifted. In these cases only a surgical breast correction can help.
The operation can take place as soon as the body has fully grown. If a teenager is suffering excessively under the size of her breasts, the operation may be performed even during puberty.
There is no absolute guarantee that both breasts end up exactly the same size or that both nipples have a symmetrical position. The feeling in the nipples and the areolae may be completely or partially, temporarily or – in rare cases – forever lost. In the case of unsightly scarring a later correction may be necessary.
Each step along the way you should always follow the doctor's instructions. In the week before and after the operation you should avoid anticoagulatory (blood-thinning) medication. For four weeks after the breast lift you should not do any sports, especially those that strain the breast muscle. During the same period, a special medical bra has to be worn at all times.
Depending on the patient, it may require up to a year.
The sensation of pain differs substantially between human beings. In any case, pills can help to subdue the pain. Is a feeling of tightness normal after a breast reduction? During the first weeks after the operation you will feel a tightness in the breasts, since both the tissue and the skin have to adapt to the new shape.
It is possible that the first period after the operation can cause swellings and pain in the breasts.
To the present day, a direct relation between silicone implants and autoimmune diseases has not been confirmed.
Major studies have shown that women with breast implants are not more likely to contract cancer than those without.