The procedure for plastic surgery that deals with breasts are known as mammoplasty.
Now, the huge umbrella of mammoplasty involves a number of cosmetic surgery procedures, including breast lift, breast augmentation, breast reconstruction, breast reduction, and breast implant revision.
While all other procedures seem rather self-explanatory, there appears to be a bit of confusion between a breast lift and breast augmentation.
What’s the difference between the two?
What Is Breast Augmentation?
Breast augmentation, also known as augmentation mammoplasty, is a procedure performed to enhance the size, appearance, and contour of a woman’s breasts using breast implants.
This procedure is done on three kinds of women:
- Those who desire larger breasts
- Those who wish to restore the volume of their breasts after pregnancy or weight loss
- Those who want to correct an asymmetry in breast size
The breast implants used are made up of a silicone shell that’s been filled with either silicone gel or a saline solution.
What Is A Breast Lift?
Breast lift, also known as mastopexy, is a procedure performed to improve the shape of the breasts by lifting the skin and surrounding tissues of the breasts.
This procedure is done on women who have sagging breasts as a result of the skin not being strong and resilient enough to support the weight of the breasts.
Actually, the condition is known as ptosis, whereby there’s too much skin compared to breast tissue. The excess skin is therefore removed, before giving the breasts a lift.
A breast lift could be combined with a breast augmentation depending on the patient’s desired outcome.
Breast Lift Procedure
A breast lift procedure is more expensive than a breast augmentation procedure.
This is because the former requires a more involving surgical dissection, therefore requiring detailed planning, more time, and more advanced skills.
Several surgical techniques are often used for breast lifts, including:
Wise pattern: the incision is made in the shape of an anchor, going around the chest and below the breast.
LeJeour: the incision made goes around the areola and down.
Donut or peri-areolar: the incision goes around the areola only.
It is worth noting that with breast lift procedures, there will be some degree of permanent scarring, but there are products the doctor could prescribe, which help minimize the appearance of the scars.
Have you ever heard people joke that you could get a boob job done over the lunch hour? Yeah, that’s somewhat true for breast augmentation but not for breast lifts.
With breast lifts, you would spend between 2-3 hours on the surgical table.
It takes longer to recover from a breast lift surgery. plastic surgeon Austin reports that it would require a recovery time of about six weeks for you to be fully healed.
Breast Augmentation Procedure
Breast augmentation involves a relatively straightforward, minimally invasive procedure.
Before the surgery, the patient first determines her desired implants size.
During the surgery, a small incision is made either in the armpit (trans-axillary), in the areola (peri-areolar), or in the lower breast fold (inframammary).
Once the incision has been made, a pocked it created for the implants. The implants could be placed either under a chest muscle or over a chest muscle.
Implants are then inserted in the created pockets, and the incision is immediately closed.
When the incision has been made in the armpit, an endoscope will likely be used during the procedure.
An incision under the lower breast fold is often preferred because it provides optimal access to the breast tissue, and it has the least chance of complications. Besides, its location means that any procedural scarring is completely hidden.
With breast augmentation, expect to be on the surgical table for about an hour.
Being a less invasive procedure, recovering from breast augmentation surgery is simpler.
Depending on what your physician advises, you can shower after 24 hours, but you will still be sore for about a week.
Which Procedure Is Right for You?
In one procedure, you come out with higher, firmer, and shapelier breasts. In another procedure, you come out with larger, rounder breasts. So, which one of the two should you go for?
Well, deciding to alter your breasts is a very personal decision, so the only person that can best advise you on this is a board-certified plastic surgeon specializing in breast surgery.
The other thing to note is that breast augmentation and breast lift are two very different procedures, each having very different results.
If you have a problem with sagging when what you need is a breast lift, if you need breast enlargement, however, then what you need is breast augmentation.
