Breast Augmentation: What to Expect the First Week After Surgery

Posted on November 17, 2018 by Joyce

“From small beginnings come great things.” – author unknown

From resting and eating to lifting and love-making, here’s what you can expect – and do – from the first day after your breast implant surgery to your first post-op visit one week later. Top tip: Listen to your body.

RECOVERING
How will you feel after getting breast implants from Denver breast augmentation surgeons? Women most often describe the feeling as discomfort, not pain. Those who have had children say they feel like they did when their breasts were fully engorged with milk after childbirth. Women who haven’t had kids describe the feeling as tightness, burning or pressure. The discomfort usually starts to ease up on the fourth day after surgery. Until then, you can take the medications that are prescribed to make you comfortable during the recovery period. Read more about breast augmentation here.

RESTING
You’ll be home the same day after your surgery, and you need time to rest and heal. That doesn’t mean you have to stay in bed, but you should take it easy for one week. Listen to your body and the instructions given to you post-op – not to the voice in your head that tells you the living room needs vacuuming. If you need an excuse note from chores, your doctor should be happy to write one for you.

♥ “I was so scared of having extreme pain and I only had a little discomfort. It’s just been 8 days and I feel great, sexy and beautiful.” ♥

EATING
Although patients very rarely report nausea and vomiting after their surgery, it’s best to start off with clear soups the first evening. Although it might be tempting to order a pizza, avoid fast food for the first day. By lunchtime the day after surgery, you can eat whatever you want – even a big meal.

DRESSING
Generally, patients will wear a sports bra day and night the first week after surgery, except for when they take a shower. The band at the bottom of the bra helps to re-establish the crease under the breast. View our Before & After photo gallery to see what this looks like.

♥ “The recovery was way faster then I thought.” ♥

SLEEPING
You don’t have to sleep on your back or sit up all night after breast augmentation surgery. You can sleep any way you want from the night of surgery on, including on your stomach, if you are comfortable enough. You won’t pop or displace your breast implants by sleeping on them; they are extremely durable. [WATCH OUR VIDEO: Do I Have to Sleep on My Back?]

WASHING
You can take a shower the day after surgery, but you should wait until the third week to take a bath. If you soak in a tub, the water could penetrate the incision and cause an infection. By contrast, the shower water runs off the incision and doesn’t soak into it.

♥ “I went home shortly after surgery, had absolutely no nausea (ever!) and ate dinner regularly. The next day I was up and walking around, even left the house to get a mani pedi. The recovery has been incredibly easy.” ♥

DRIVING
Anesthesia stays in your system for at least 24 hours after surgery, which means you’ll be a little groggy. You might also be taking medication for discomfort the first few days. If you aren’t taking any narcotics, you can probably drive as early as Day 3.

LIFTING
For the first few days, you will need to depend on someone else to lift your baby or toddler. On the third day (if you had surgery on Monday, Day 3 is Thursday), you can pick up your child to transfer them to a crib, high chair or car seat. This rule is to ensure your comfort and minimize the risk of bleeding around the implants. You should not carry your child for extended periods until a couple of weeks after surgery

LOVE-MAKING
No sex for a full week. Sexual activity could raise your blood pressure and cause bleeding around the implants. At the first postoperative visit, your doctor should examine you to make sure you are healing well – before they give you the go-ahead.

♥ “My recovery was smooth with very little discomfort.” ♥

WORKING
Most patients are back to work in an office setting by the fifth day after surgery. Patients who use their arms a lot – including hairstylists, waitresses, and nurses – are comfortably back to work by the end of the second week.

Note: Each doctor has his or her specific post-operative protocol, and it’s imperative that you follow your doctor’s instructions, which might vary from what I have written here.

Redditors Asked Me Anything: Breast Implants, Cadavers, Rockin’ Hooters & More

Posted on January 1, 2018 by Joyce

I’ve answered hundreds of questions about breast implants in my office and in my book, The Scoop On Breasts: A Plastic Surgeon Busts the Myths, but answering questions on Reddit? That’s another story!

On Dec. 13 at 4 p.m., I hosted a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything!) session. I was introduced like this:

IamA Guinness World Record Holding Breast Surgeon. I’ve examined at least 56,000 breasts during my 25-plus-year career as a plastic surgeon. I’m an expert knife and tomahawk thrower. AMA!

I might not have gotten as many questions as Barack Obama, Jerry Seinfeld or Arnold Schwarzenegger did when they were on Reddit, but I probably had as much fun. Here are a handful of the questions I was asked and my responses.

♦ Tinkletwit: Did you train on cadavers? If so, was the former person aware that they’d be getting implants in the afterlife?

Drted: Two years ago, I trained other surgeons on a cadaver in a workshop at Louisiana State University. They wanted to learn my approach to simultaneous breast augmentation and lift. About the afterlife? I didn’t know so I googled it and found this on HuffPost: “Most programs won’t allow you to donate your body for a specific purpose. You give them the body and they decide how to use it.” So I guess the person didn’t know she would be getting new, perky breasts.”

♦ Nine_2_nine: I’ve nursed three babies in four years for 12 months each, so my boobs are pretty much shot. I’m considering fixing them sometime in the next 7 years or so. How would my boobs age as I age? Would they eventually sag? Would I be an old lady with rockin hooters?

Drted: As you age, you lose skin elasticity. Everything begins to droop a bit and go south. If you have breast implants, they won’t stay up high. They’ll move south, too, along with your breasts. You’ll be a rockin’ old lady with normal hooters!

♦ DrPolitick: What’s the farthest someone has traveled to get boobs from you?

Drted: India first, and then Ireland. (My office is in Philadelphia.) A woman from Oregon rented an RV and took a family road trip to Philly so I could do her surgery. I’ve had patients from many places in between, but these are pretty much the farthest.

Jerry Seinfeld didn’t talk about breasts during his Reddit session, but he did on Episode 56 – The Shoes – of Seinfeld. Watch it here.

♦ ChamberofSarcasm: How often do techniques change? In the 80s we had silicone and big scars on the underside of breasts. Then they went in the nipple, then the armpit. Do you think there’s a best method? Is there still a challenge or complication to be addressed or solved?

Drted: Techniques change maybe once a decade. For example, the silicone implants of the 1980s were more liquidy. Now they are more cohesive – like the gummy bear candy that doesn’t leak. Breast implants are always being studied and researched for safety. I feel that the best incision is in the crease under the breast because I don’t have to go through any breast structures to place the implants.

♦ Guacamole Bay: Have you ever done breast with with a tomahawk?

Drted: For breast surgery, I prefer to use smaller, sterile and balanced instruments. But if I were ever sculpting a wooden totem pole, I would consider using a tomahawk!

♦SameArkGuy: Have you ever not wanted to work on someone’s breasts because you thought they were already good?

Drted: There have been times when I thought a woman’s breasts looked good as they were, but she wanted enhancement and I felt I could accomplish her goals. My experience is that women know what they want, and my job is just to listen.

♦ ChamberofSarcasm: Do you feel a sense of competition with other surgeons? Like a brain surgeon or ortho?

Drted: With other surgeons I feel more camaraderie than competition because they understand what’s involved in the responsibility of cutting into a person.

♦ 2009_G8GXP_for_sale: What’s the youngest and the oldest age of patients you’ve done the procedure on?

Drted: The youngest was 18, which is what the FDA recommends, and the oldest was 72. She wanted to feel as good on the outside as she did on the inside.

♦ Solutionsfirst: What’s the #1 thing that would significantly make the overall process of surgery or surgery in your field significantly better?

Drted: Although it’s important to keep improving surgical equipment and techniques, what’s most important, I think, is improving doctor/doctor and doctor/patient communication. For example, some doctors think that patients might be discouraged by hearing about the risks and be prepared for them. We’re all grownups, and we want to know all that can happen so we can make an informed decision and know what to expect.

To read Dr. Ted Eisenberg’s entire Reddit, conversation, click here.