things to do before and after breast augmentation

the women i see for breast augmentation, everysingle one of them says, "i don't want to be too big." my job is to help them figureout what that means, because everybody's concept of what 'too big' is is very different. myjob is to give them education and options. i think there's a whole lot of stuff thatgoes on here that's really important for breast augmentation. i think the operative portionis important too; but the operative portion, once we've made a plan here, is much morestraightforward. the hard part, the decision making, the information,all the choices, all that happens here, and i really want to help the patient figure outwhat it is she wants. sometimes they want me to just tell them what they need, but iwant to help them figure out what it is that

they want and what they're hoping to get outof breast augmentation. so, when it comes to figuring out an actual size implant we'regoing to put in for a patient, then we're going to figure that out in the office. idon't want to waste time in the operating room, when they're asleep, trying to figureout what i think looks good. we're going to make clear on the front end and i'm goingto do whatever we decide. many women who are interested in breast augmentationare scared that if they get breast implants they're going to look over-done. what i realizeis that they equate breast implants with looking over-done; whereas, in fact, there's manyother women who have breast implants that just look good, and the woman who's consideringit doesn't realize that those people have

implants. while a few women are looking fora large, noticeable change, many women want a very subtle, natural-appearing change, soi want to help them understand what their options are and figure out what decisionsare available to them, what size implants would be available to them. i spend a lotof time trying to help figure out what it is that she wants and then, hopefully, getthat for her. so, in general, one of my goals might be fora woman, if she's had a breast augmentation, six months later she's at the pool and twopeople see her who don't know her, and person number one says, "do you think she's had workdone?" and person two would say, "i don't know. maybe, maybe not, but who cares? shelooks good." the goal is to look good; it's

not to look over-done or plastic. one of the things that people are concernedabout is their recovery. i have to tell you, most of my patients don't hurt very much.of course, some people hurt more than others, but most people have a pretty quick returnto work. they're sore for about a day or so and after that it's usually not too bad. ongeneral principles, we usually ask people to take it easy for two weeks; but, duringthat time, they're able to go to dinner, and go to movies, and hang out, and work, anddo whatever they do as long as they're not being too aggressive with their physical activities.