Breast Surgeon Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Tarola Plastic Surgery

Kick the smoking habit before your procedure

Did you know that smoking can impede the healing process after a plastic surgery procedure? That’s right, for the best possible outcome after your surgery it’s best to kick the habit to the curb. Surgeons at the University of Texas found that women smokers who underwent breast reconstruction after cancer surgery had higher rates of necrosis – tissue death – at the edges of the skin flaps near the wound site. Toxins in cigarette smoke impede wound healing and also have an adverse effect on the circulation. Any operation where there is injury to large flaps of skin poses a problem to smokers, because wound healing could be impeded.

At Tarola Plastic Surgery we’d advise to give up smoking for at least four (4) weeks after your surgery to help minimize complications. In some cases, since such operations are not usually medical emergencies, doctors may even refuse to go ahead with the surgery until the patient quits smoking.

Can breast implants freeze if they get too cold?

The technical answer to that question is yes, silicone breast implants can in fact freeze if it gets too cold. However, the freezing point of silicone is -67 degrees Fahrenheit (-55 degrees Celsius). In order for breast implants to get that cold in a persons body, well… they’d be dead before that ever happened. In a nut shell, you have nothing to worry about with regards to breast implants freezing.

Will you lose sensation in your breasts or nipples if you get implants?

It is possible to lose nipple sensation after breast augmentation. This loss is more commonly temporary, but there is a reported permanent sensory loss in up to 15% of women with breast implants. The nerve that provides nipple sensation runs along the chest wall as it approaches the side of the breast before it travels up into the breast to the nipple. In order to avoid injuring this nerve during the breast augmentation procedure, surgeons typically use blunt dissection techniques. However, it is still possible that the nerve can be severed and nipple sensation lost.

Do breast implants make it harder to detect a lump?

The answer to that question is often, no. A woman performing regular self-breast examinations usually finds a mass before her doctor, whether they have breast implants or not. After having breast implants, a woman needs to re-familiarize herself with her breasts. Implants cause the breasts to have a different texture, new folds or bumps from the shell and/or valve on the implant. But after a woman knows her new breasts, having implants does not get in the way of her noticing a change that might be cancer. In fact, recognizing breast changes can sometimes be easier for women with implants because the implants push the breast tissue to the outside of the breast, making a lump easier to feel. In addition, women with implants might even be more likely to notice changes to their breasts because they are often more aware of their breasts and changes to their body.

What are my options if I’m not satisfied with the outcome of my procedure?

This can vary tremendously depending on the circumstance. For example, it can depend on whether the surgery was covered by insurance or completely cosmetic with money out-of-pocket. It also depends on why the patient is dissatisfied. With cosmetic procedures, surgeons will often not charge for any revisions necessary to repair or correct a complication. However, the patient may incur additional facility or anesthesia fees. These issues are dealt with on a case by case basis but we usually try to accommodate our patients to the best of our ability.