A breast augmentation gives you the opportunity to fulfil your wish of having more beautiful breasts. Breast implants can help you balance your proportions, which in turn increases your self-confidence.

Safe breast implants

A breast augmentation by fitting silicone implants is a reliable and common procedure. Apart from increasing the size of the breasts, it makes them firmer and gives them more volume. We only work with safe brands of breast implants: Mentor and Motiva. Both the shaped and rounded implants are filled with a cohesive gel. This gel has a number of benefits. It ensures that the breasts feel natural when touched.
For breast augmentations using Mentor implants, the manufacturer provides a lifetime guarantee against rupture and leakage. You will be issued with a certificate to this effect after the procedure.

Related treatments

If your breasts are too droopy, you may also consider a breast uplift. A breast uplift can also be combined with a breast augmentation. Another increasingly popular option is to combine a breast augmentation with a tummy tuck. This combination is also referred to as a mommy makeover. Simply ask your plastic surgeon about these options.

Alternative treatments

A breast augmentation with silicone implants is not a medically necessary procedure.
As an alternative to plastic surgery, you can opt to use external breast prostheses or padding, have water-filled breast implants (which have almost the same consequences and risks as silicone implants) or expand your breasts with injections of your own body fat.
These alternative surgical procedures also entail risks and potential complications. If you are interested, your plastic surgeon can provide you with more detailed information on the risks associated with these alternative procedures.

Plastic surgeon

The consultation is always held with the plastic surgeon who will be carrying out your procedure.
During this first consultation, you can discuss what you would like to have done with respect to the breast augmentation. Your plastic surgeon will answer your initial questions and go through your medical history with you. They will then take photos for your medical file, and will examine your breasts. They will take the measurements of your breasts and measure the thickness of your skin. Based on all this information, they will come up with a proposal for you, specifying the type of implant (rounded or shaped), whether the implant is to be placed over the muscle (subglandular) or under the muscle (dual plane), and the desired volume.

In front of a mirror, you will be given the opportunity to “try on” the chosen size, to ensure you make the right choice with respect to the implant to be used. If you feel your breasts are too saggy, the plastic surgeon can tell you about the option of a breast uplift or a combined breast uplift and breast augmentation. You will then be in a position to make a well-informed decision.
The plastic surgeon will show you before and after photos of breast augmentation procedures they have previously performed, and you will then have a further opportunity to ask any questions you may have. A summary of your consultation will then be set out in a treatment plan, and the overall costs will be discussed with you directly. The consultation will take approximately 45 minutes, and aims to inform you as clearly and fully as possible.

Consultants

Following on from your first consultation with your plastic surgeon, you will have an appointment with your consultant. The aim of this appointment is to tell you about the general aspects to be arranged with respect to your breast augmentation. 

An incision is made underneath the breast in the future breast crease. The plastic surgeon then creates a pocket (space) in which the implant is placed and positioned.

Positioning of breast implants

The implants can be positioned in different ways. The plastic surgeon may opt to position the implant completely over the pectoral muscle, completely under the pectoral muscle, or half under the pectoral muscle. The last option is known as dual plane. During your consultation with the plastic surgeon, you will discuss which position will have the best result for you.
The most important criteria in deciding whether to place the implant under the pectoral muscle are thickness of skin and volume of fatty tissue. If the skin is not thick enough, the implant may be visible if the implant is positioned above the pectoral muscle. This creates an unnatural result. Once the breast implant has been positioned, the pocket is closed and then the skin is stitched together with absorbable stitches.
The wound is then taped with steri-strips, over which a transparent watertight plaster is placed.

After a breast augmentation, you will usually stay at the clinic for a further 3 to 4 hours. You will be free to go home when the nursing staff and anaesthetist give their approval for you to leave. After the procedure, you may eat and drink easily digestible food, such as water, tea and rusks.

Sports bra

After the breast augmentation, you will be given an appropriately sized sports bra to wear. This sports bra is provided by the clinic free of charge. It is important that you wear the sports bra for the next 6 weeks, day and night.

Recovery

You may feel pressure or a tight feeling in the breasts. You may also have a burning feeling in the nipples. For some people, their breasts and nipples remain numb for a while. One breast may be slightly more swollen than the other. One breast may also be more painful than the other. The swelling will be at its peak on the third day, after which it will gradually start to subside.
You generally need 3 to 7 days to recover from a breast augmentation. If the implants are positioned under the muscle or in a dual-plane position, recovery will take slightly longer.

Scar cream

At your first check-up, you will be given a scar care cream to take home with you. Once the wound has closed and the scabs have disappeared, you can start applying the scar cream. If you apply this cream to the closed wound twice a day, you increase the chance of the wound healing nicely.

The final results of a breast augmentation will not be visible until after a couple of months. Initially, you will feel some discomfort, but after a couple of months you will be able to enjoy your breasts, with their nicer shape and fuller volume. Many women feel a boost in their self-confidence after a breast augmentation.

The results of a breast augmentation are generally permanent. The implants are intended for lifelong implantation. As long as your breasts keep feeling supple and have a nice appearance, there is no reason to replace the implants. After ten years, you may come back to the clinic for a check-up.

Scars

The scars after a breast augmentation follow the skin crease underneath the breast. The scar is 5 cm long on average. The plastic surgeon will do everything they can to ensure that the scars are virtually invisible. The scars will initially be red and swollen, but this will start to fade after a couple of weeks. The scars will then be barely visible. It is useful to know that a scar takes 1 to 1½ years to completely calm down. Take care to keep the scars out of the sun, and treat them carefully. The clinic will give you a special scar care cream to take home with you. After the first year, always use factor 30 or higher when you are in the sun, to protect your skin.

It is important you are aware that every surgical intervention can entail risks and complications. Plastic surgery procedures are in principle carried out on healthy people, so the risks and chances of complications are low. We make sure any risks are reduced to an absolute minimum, by providing plenty of information, taking a thorough medical history (noting your case history, including medication, any problems experienced in previous operations, allergies, etc.) and applying our professional procedures.

Breast augmentations are successfully performed on many people each year at the Boerhaave Medical Centre. The chances of any complications arising are luckily rare. You can help reduce certain risks by carefully reading through the instructions you are given prior to your breast augmentation.

Possible complications of a breast augmentation may be:

• Haematoma (blood clot under the skin which has to be removed)
• Adverse reaction to the sedation
• Haemorrhaging
• Infection
• Capsular contracture
• Ruptured implant
• Change in sensitivity
• Permanent scars
• Damage to underlying structures
• Unsatisfactory aesthetic result.

Capsular formation

Scar tissue forming in the body around the implants may tighten the breast, making the breast feel hard and sometimes painful. Excessive hardening of the breasts may occur soon after an operation, or not until years later. It is not possible to predict whether this tightening will occur, but the risk of it occurring increases with time (after 10 years, there is a 10 to 12 percent risk). Capsular contracture may happen on one side or both sides. It is more common with implants positioned above the pectoral muscle. It can be treated by having an operation to either replace or remove the implant. However, capsular contracture may still reoccur after surgical procedures to treat it.

Smoking

Patients who smoke or use tobacco or nicotine products (such as nicotine patches and chewing gum) at the time of their surgery have a greater risk of complications, such as skin loss and impaired wound healing. People who are exposed to passive smoking may also have an increased risk of complications such as these. What’s more, smoking may have a negative effect on the anaesthesia, which may in turn lead to an increased risk of bleeding. People who are not exposed to tobacco smoke or nicotine-containing products have a significantly lower risk of such complications. It is important not to smoke for at least 2 weeks prior to the operation and to keep this up for the entire recovery process.