Breast Augmentation: 3 Ways That Surgery Can Harm Your Chest's Appearance

Breast augmentation presents plenty of health risks. However, many women do not seem to care much about this type of risk, especially when they do not know many patients who have experienced problems. What may scare such women is the possibility that their appearance may be forever changed in a bad way, when all they want is to improve their looks with this kind of surgery. Before you get breast augmentation, find out how some risks can make your appearance worse than before.

One common issue that some patients forget about in their excitement to get bigger breasts is the possibility of severe scarring. Your doctor should let you know that you will likely have scars on your skin from this procedure for life. However, most doctors try to hide the incision so that others can barely see it, especially if you never want others to know that you had breast augmentation. Therefore, the incision may be made in the armpits, under the creases of the breasts, or around the areolas. This means that hardly anyone will see the scars unless they are very close to you. You should know, however, that it is hard for doctors to guarantee that your scarring will be mostly hidden, as they may have to make a longer incision than usual. In addition, while some scars fade nicely over time, others stay red or purple for years, so you run the risk of scarring that is more obvious than you would like.

Another issue that may arise is that the implants are asymmetrical. If you notice this problem, it is time for revision surgery, which you should not have to pay for if you return to the same doctor. However, it can take weeks or even months for this issue to become obvious since your breasts need that long to heal and get down to their permanent size. You may not even be the first person to notice it, as it may be obvious to other more observant people first. Then you have to schedule the revision surgery, and recovery from that, meaning that you may be stuck with asymmetrical implants for weeks.

Any time after you get implants, you may suffer from capsular contracture. This occurs when scar tissue builds up over each implant. This condition could end up in a ruptured implant since the surrounding tissue becomes firm and squeezes it hard until it pops or slowly leaks. Therefore, you will have to see a surgeon as soon as possible to get this problem solved, usually through surgery to replace the implant.

None of these potential risks are life-threatening or even very serious, but they can result in you spending more time and money than you originally assumed you would for breast augmentation. For this reason, you need to ponder more than just the typical health risks you hear about. As important as they are, know that even when you leave the operating room without any medical issues, your appearance may not get away unscathed.