Women who have small and/or asymmetrical breasts often opt to undergo a cosmetic plastic surgery procedure, specifically breast augmentation. Unfortunately, some patients experience unpleasant results and/or complications after their procedure. Typically, when the outcome is not satisfactory, a secondary procedure may be necessary. Therefore, when considering a revisional procedure it is important to find a surgeon with experience and training in this surgery.

The most common reasons a patient may undergo breast implant revision are due to implant rupture, capsular contracture, implant visibility, and/or incorrect implant size. Others may simply wish exchange saline filled implants with silicone gel breast implants. In addition, patients who have had their primary implants for seven to 10 years may wish to have new implants placed in order to achieve a more youthful appearance. The revision surgery commonly involves removing the original implants; in certain circumstances, the breasts may require time to heal before placing the new ones. Once the breasts have healed, a qualified cosmetic plastic surgeon can complete the breast implant revision procedure.

Those in the Miami area who seek an experienced breast surgeon may wish to contact Ary Krau, M.D., F.A.C.S. Further information regarding this procedure is available on his website. You can schedule an initial consultation to discuss your options.

by Dr. Gabrielle Young, M.D.

Today, at BreastImplants-Info.com, we’re taking this opportunity to showcase an article written by both a plastic surgeon and former breast augmentation patient, Dr. Gabrielle Young. Given her unique perspective on the procedure, we felt it would offer our readership great insight into the science behind breast implants, having elective cosmetic surgery in a recession and the social pressures of looking “just right” that teenage girls and young women face daily. (Special thanks to TampaBay.com / St. Petersburg Times.)

Here’s one possible upside to the economic downturn: Fewer teenage girls are getting breast implants.

According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 4,108 girls ages 18 and under had the procedure in 2008, compared with 7,882 the year before. Given the current economic outlook, 2009 may see further declines.

But as a doctor who has breast implants myself, I find it shocking that so many girls whose bodies are still developing are undergoing major surgery they do not need and may not fully understand. And I’m even more stunned that parents who should know better are indulging their daughters.

The physical risks of the procedure are well documented. Studies by implant manufacturers show that many breast implant recipients have at least one serious complication within the first three years, including infections, bruises, fluid collections, capsular contracture (painful hardening of the breasts), disfiguring scars, loss of nipple sensation, substantial stretch marks, irreversible thinning of the skin and migration of the implant.

Breast implants can interfere with self-examinations and mammograms, making early cancer detection far tougher. Implants also can make breast-feeding difficult or impossible.

Painful Choice to Advance Career

When I was 25, an aspiring model, it became clear that my B-cup breasts weren’t going to get me where I wanted to go in my career. So I opted for a conservative augmentation, to a C-cup.

I was expecting some discomfort after the surgery. No one prepared me for the feeling of constant sledgehammers crushing my breasts.

I had chosen to have my implants placed under the muscle, meaning my pectoral muscle was cut to place the implant in the proper position, to give my breasts a more natural look and feel.

It actually felt like my chest had been placed in a vise and squeezed. I had to be in a cloud of narcotic medications just to make it through the day.

My breasts were so swollen, I looked like I was wearing a personal flotation device for an emergency plane landing. I could not pick up a 3-pound weight, drive to get groceries or even put on lipstick for more than two weeks.

Once the pain ebbed, I was pleased with my new C-size breasts. They were ideal for my frame. But I allowed myself to be convinced by other swimsuit and fitness models that I should go bigger — all the way to double Ds. I was not discouraged by my plastic surgeon, but I don’t know that I could have been talked out of it anyway.

I had the second surgery less than a year later. The pain was worse the second time around. Despite that, I was happy with the results, because I thought it was what I needed to be a model.

Projecting the Wrong Image

Now I am a doctor, and my swimsuit-model figure doesn’t project the image I want to have.

Here’s just one of many stories I could tell: As a resident physician, I was speaking with a terminally ill patient about his treatment options. When I looked up at my attending physician, he was staring at my double Ds, which I had tried to conceal beneath two compressing sports bras and baggy surgical scrubs. The patient asked him if he agreed with my comments, and he could only blush. He had no idea what I had said.

The decision to go bigger was for the short-term goal of advancing my modeling career. I did not anticipate the long-term effects it would have on my professional life. No matter where I go, or what I say, people still look at me like I am a porn star, not a doctor.

And, like all breast implant recipients, I am facing surgery to have them replaced one day, because implants do not come with a lifetime guarantee. But I won’t change sizes, as once an implant is placed it is difficult to change sizes.

It’s Parents’ Job to Say ‘No’

From the time they can turn on the television, our children are bombarded with images of kids growing up too fast, images like Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, and My Super Sweet Sixteen. It’s hardly surprising if girls feel like they are waging an internal war over beauty and self-esteem. And if they decide a quick little operation can help, and their parents won’t say no, who will stop them?

Most surgeons won’t perform augmentations on girls. In fact, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons doesn’t even track statistics on implants for girls under 18, since the group has taken a position against the practice. But clearly, not everyone is following suit.

These are our daughters, and the future professional women of our country. They are not specimens to be cut with a scalpel and modified simply to help them gain social acceptance or, even worse, self-acceptance.

If economic reality is helping more parents say no to young girls who want bigger breasts, that’s a good thing. But the economy will turn around eventually. Will parental responsibility turn with it?

Dr. Gabrielle Young recently completed her residency at the University of Louisville and is an osteopath. She plans to practice in the Tampa Bay area. For more information, visit her Web site, www.drgabrielleyoung.com.

Breast augmentation continues to remain one of the most popular cosmetic surgery procedures in our country today. Even recent reports from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) reveal the breast augmentation surgery is now the most popular cosmetic surgery procedure, knocking off liposuction. However, the results of these procedures have always produced mixed reactions from the women who have or want them.

While many women feel younger, sexier, and more alive as a result of their enhanced new figure, others lament about the lack of a natural appearance provided by their breast implants.

Vaser® Hi Def Breast

This struggle to achieve a more natural result has led many cosmetic surgeons to continually improve the procedure in the search of better end results. Recently, a new advancement in augmentation procedures is providing women with breast implants that more closely resemble a natural feeling breast.

This procedure, the Vaser® Hi Def Breast, adds a new twist to the typical enlargement surgery by combining it with liposuction. This advancement has led to a greater satisfaction rate among women opting for surgery, as their new breasts have a more natural and attractive appearance.

Vaser Hi Def Breast employs ultrasonic technology to remove specific fat pockets in the breast tissue, while leaving other fat cells and neighboring nerve tissue untouched. This enables your cosmetic surgeon to more subtly sculpt your breasts, giving them a more youthful, firm, and natural look.

The Ideal Candidate for Vaser® Hi Def Breast Augmentation

This procedure is not right for all women. As with traditional implant procedures, it is important to consult with an experienced cosmetic surgeon to make sure you are a good candidate for Vaser Hi Def Breast. As part of this consultation, your doctor should talk with our about your medical history and your goals for your surgery.

Ideal candidates for Vaser Hi Def Breast are women who:

• Are in good overall health
• Are physically fit
• Have reasonable expectations for the surgery
• Have good overall self-esteem

As with any major surgery, there are risks that accompany this breast augmentation process. A good candidate needs to understand these risks and be willing to accept them. Also, candidates must recognize that this procedure isn’t meant to drastically alter your appearance to make you feel like a completely different person. It is intended to subtly alter your appearance so that you have fuller, more contoured breasts that help you feel younger and more attractive.

Researchers in Britain have found a new application for the highly controversial Stem Cell Therapy: Breast Augmentation!

No area of research in the medical and scientific communities has created as much of a debate as stem cell therapy. Despite the positive research results that stem cells have the potential to treat many different types of conditions including stroke, paralysis and birth defects, there is much contention surrounding the use of embryonic stem cells.

More recent stem cell research being conducted, however, is focusing on using (non-embryonic) stem cells derived from the patient’s own body. This research has shown promise for a variety of medical therapy options, including treating brain injuries in rats.

Thus far, scientists in the UK have been working on the new method exclusively for treating women with breast deformities caused by cancer and its subsequent treatment. The process involves harvesting stem cells from fat located around the woman’s stomach or thighs using highly specialized equipment. The stem cells than can then be mixed with another batch of fat from the patient’s body before being injected into the breasts.

The researchers claim that it can take several months before the breast achieves the desired shape and size. Researcher and breast augmentation consultant Professor Kefah Mokbel from the London Breast Institute, who is in charge of the project, will treat 10 patients from May. He predicts private patients will be able to pay for the procedure within about six months, at a cost of about £6,500 (approximately $9500.00, USD).

“This is a very exciting advance in breast surgery,” said Mokbel. “They [breasts treated with stem cells] feel more natural because this tissue has the same softness as the rest of the breast. Implants are a foreign body. They are associated with long-term complications and require replacement. They can also leak and cause scarring.”

Not all medical professionals are in agreement, however, that the new technique is quite ready for public use. Says Los Angeles plastic surgeon, Dr. Steven Teitelbaum, M.D.:

“Everyone expects to see major advances in these areas in the coming years,” “No doubt, this is the future of plastic surgery. But it is not yet the present.”

The use of stem cells in healthy women undergoing cosmetic plastic surgery is controversial, to say the very least. Medical boards and top physicians alike have warned that the breast enlargements should not be offered to healthy women until large-scale trials in cancer patients have shown that the new procedure is safe and effective. The treatment is not yet available to women solely for cosmetic purposes.

Eva Weiler-Mithoff, a consultant and plastic surgeon at Canniesburn hospital in Glasgow, is co-leading the British wing of a European trial of stem cell therapy for women who have been left with post-cancer breast deformities. So far more than a dozen British cancer patients have been treated and Weiler-Mithoff is impressed with the results. She does not believe this justifies offering the treatment to healthy women, however. According to Weiler-Mithoff, while breast cancer patients regularly attend follow-up appointments, young women who have had cosmetic surgery are less likely to do so and complications could be missed.

The same technique, however, has been used in Japan for six years, initially to treat women with breast deformities caused by cancer treatment and, more recently, for cosmetic breast augmentation in healthy women.

Until now, when fat was transplanted to the breast without extra stem cells (a procedure commonly known as fat grafting or transfer), surgeons had difficulty maintaining a blood supply to the new tissue. Surgeons believe the increased concentration of stem cells under this technique promotes the growth of blood vessels to ensure a sufficient blood supply circulates to the transplanted fat cells.

Mokbel is confident the therapy is safe and that, after carrying out about 30 procedures, the London Breast Institute will be able to offer the procedure to private patients. Mokbel says that he believes only modest increases in size can be achieved using the stem cell process and points out that only gains in cup size will be made, no improvement in firmness and uplift will be achieved. Or not yet, at least.