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Breast augmentation increases your breast size or restores volume to your breasts, using saline or silicone implants. For decades, it’s been the most sought-after plastic surgery procedure in America. But despite its huge popularity — more than 300,000 women have the procedure every year — misconceptions persist that keep many women on the fence.

Here are six of the most common misperceptions about breast augmentation, and the facts behind each of them.

1. Augmentation Makes Breasts Look Fake

With modern breast augmentation techniques, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between enhanced and natural breasts. A skilled plastic surgeon chooses the size, type, and placement of the implants to complement the natural proportions of your body. The goal is to create a more natural and beautiful look for your body. The secret is to choose a skilled and experienced plastic surgeon, one who tailors the procedure for each patient. You’ll see evidence of that care and aesthetic sense in the practice’s before-and-after pictures.

2. Breast Implants Are Only for Young Women

Women across a wide age span seek breast implants. Young women may choose augmentation to enhance small breasts. Women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s often have implants to improve the shape of breasts that have changed with childbearing, weight fluctuations, or aging. Women of all ages have implants to make themselves look and feel better — to get a boost in self-confidence and self-esteem from a sense of pride in their bodies. If you are in good health, there is no upper age limit for breast augmentation.

3. Implants Can Improve Sagging Breasts

It’s common for breasts to sag as you grow older, and breast implants alone won’t correct this. If you’re concerned about sagging breasts, a combined breast augmentation with lift may be a better solution. A breast lift removes some of the loosened skin and shifts the breasts up. Combining the two procedures gives you the volume enhancement you’re seeking, plus a younger-looking silhouette.

4. All Breast Implants Need Replacement After 10 Years

It’s true that breast implants don’t last forever. However, it’s a myth that they have an “expiration date” after which you must have them removed or replaced. Indeed, it’s common for implants to last without problems for 15 years or more.

What causes implants to need replacement is leakage or rupture of the casing. If a saline implant leaks, it deflates — a cosmetic problem, but not a medical one. If a silicone implant leaks, the implant shape doesn’t change, but doctors recommend surgery within a year or two to remove it. In either case, it’s your choice whether to replace the implants or have them removed, perhaps with a breast lift.

5. Breast Implants Interfere With Breastfeeding

When performed by a skilled plastic surgeon, breast augmentation should not affect your ability to breastfeed. If this is a concern for you, the surgeon might decide on an approach to the procedure that further minimizes the risk of future breastfeeding problems — by placing the implants behind the chest muscle, for example. Implants don’t affect the quality of breast milk, either. Studies have analyzed the breast milk of mothers with implants and found no evidence of impurities.

6. Breast Augmentation Is a Simple Procedure Any Cosmetic Surgeon Can Perform

Breast augmentation, like any plastic surgery procedure, requires a surgeon with extensive medical training and experience and with the skill and aesthetic sensibility to create beautiful results. As a first requirement, look for a board-certified plastic surgeon. Beyond that baseline credential, seek a surgeon who has extensive experience performing breast augmentations, and whose gallery of before-and-after pictures shows individualized and natural-looking results.

Schedule a Consultation to Learn More

Livingston Plastic Surgery in Houston has earned widespread recognition as one of the top plastic surgery centers in Texas. Dr. Christopher Livingston and his team deliver superior results and create an exceptional patient experience. Call us at (281) 501-1812 or contact us today to schedule a consultation.