Tips on Size

Dr. Loftus' Tips on Selecting Implant Size

Decide for yourself which size is right for you. Whereas you may take into consideration the opinion of your significant other or friend or relative, your implants will be yours alone, and you must be comfortable with your final size. Only you truly know what size you will be comfortable with. It is nice to get the input from a friend who watches you trying on sizers. However, that friend may be projecting onto you the size that she might best want for herself, and she may not realize this. It is nice to get the input and support of your boyfriend or husband. However, he may not be comfortable suggesting a size for you for a number of reasons. Conversely, if he does have strong input regarding your size, that may be a separate concern. Again, these implants are for you alone, and you alone must be comfortable with the final size that you pick.

Input from your plastic surgeon is limited in that your plastic surgeon will be able to identify whether the implant size that you have selected fits your chest wall and lines up with other indicators of size. However, it is very important to note that two women with the exact same anatomic features may select two very different sizes, and each may be very happy with the size that she selected, but would've been unhappy with the size that the other woman selected. For this reason, plastic surgeons have somewhat limited ability to select size for their patients, and the plastic surgeon's input really should be limited to determining whether or not the size that the patient selected is in line with other indicators.

Be sure to use implant sizers to determine your desired size. When doing this, you may find that you are comfortable with several different sizes, and this is common. In these cases, Dr. Loftus always recommends that each woman select the largest size with which she is comfortable. There are several reasons for this, including that whatever size you select, you will become accustomed to. As such, anything smaller may feel too small once you are accustomed to your new size.

It will not serve you well to be concerned that others will notice that your breasts are larger. The women who allow this concern to govern their choice of breast implants typically pick something much smaller than they ideally would have selected, and typically they are disappointed with the outcome. Also, they almost invariably find that no one has noticed that they had breast augmentation anyway. Again, be true to yourself.

As important as it is to get the size right, Dr. Loftus is a firm believer that it is most important to get the size range correct. In other words, there's not a single particular implant size that will alone make a woman happy. Instead, it should be looked upon as a range of sizes that will make any woman happy with her size selection. Again, within that range, Dr. Loftus recommends that you pick the largest size with which you are comfortable.

Each time you try sizers, you should not leave the doctors office until you have committed to a single size. You may subsequently change your mind, however it helps to start with a clear starting point.

Be sure to bring a variety of different tops to wear while sizing, as your breast size will appear very different in different clothing, and this will help you appreciate that.

When you are trying sizers, look primarily at size and do not look at shape of your breast or position of your breast. The purpose of sizing is, after all, size selection. Shape and position of your breast are mostly determined by your pre-existing shape and position. So do not let shape or position be a distraction while you are using implant sizers. Remember to focus on size alone.

Set your implant size in stone at least two weeks prior to surgery. Changing your implant size within two weeks of surgery will be based on emotion, not on your rational thought process, and is more likely to cause you to be disappointed with the outcome.

Using photographs of other women is not particularly helpful in size selection for you. Photos can obviously be used to show your surgeon what your goal is in size, however, that still does not help your surgeon know what implant size to select for you to make you that size. Plastic surgeons and patients who rely on photos are more likely to be disappointed with the outcome than those who use sizers exclusively.

This list of tips on size selection has been developed by Dr. Loftus and is used by her and her patients on a regular basis. Using these guidelines, Dr. Loftus has found that fewer than 15 out of 5000 patients have sought implant exchange for size. As the national average for reoperation to change size is between 15% and 20%, Dr. Loftus' statistics are somewhat compelling and strongly support that this list of tips is very helpful in getting the size right the first time.