When the breast implant is placed above the muscle, the recovery is usually a lot easier and less painful. However, with under the muscle breast implants, you will normally have a longer recovery time, and for several days you may experience quite a bit of discomfort.
The under the muscle or submuscular approach involves placing the implants below the chest muscle. This is usually a good option for women with little native breast tissue, as the muscle offers greater coverage. The results tend to look more natural than breasts that are placed above the muscle.
The truth is, whether implants are placed over or under the muscle, it will have very little to do with sagging. Sagging is commonly caused by weight gain or loss, pregnancy and gravity over time. It's easiest to remember it this way – it's the breasts that sag, not the implants.
For most women, placing the implant partially underneath the chest muscle wall offers a more natural contour.
Your breast implants will either be placed over the chest muscles or under them. Under muscle placement or sub-fascial implantation creates a more natural feeling. This is due to the presence of actual tissue above the implant.
However, if you choose saline-filled breast implants placed over the muscle, you will be more likely to experience visible rippling. This occurs especially when there is not enough coverage from breast tissues (usually in thin women).
Silicone implants require a larger incision and cannot be adjusted after placement. On the other hand, silicone implants look and feel more natural, even when placed above the muscles of the chest, and are unlikely to ripple, wrinkle, bisect, or otherwise become aesthetically impacted.
The Pros of Over the Muscle Breast Implants
There's no risk of distortion when you flex. Post-operative healing tends to be less painful and requires less time because the underlying muscle is left intact. Our plastic surgeon can create more cleavage using the subglandular technique.
Consider Smooth Silicone Gel Implants
The majority of breast implant patients feel that silicone implants look and feel more like natural breasts. They tend to be softer, and less prone to wrinkling and rippling than saline implants.
More specifically, should your implants be placed above or below the pectoral muscle to achieve the most natural-looking results? For qualified patients, placing breast implants above the muscle (submammary position) can often create exceptional results.
Women with moderate existing breast tissue might be good candidates for an over the muscle implant. This usually calls for at least a B cup. Having enough breast tissue or “good fat” in the chest makes you a good candidate for over the muscle placement, which comes with a shorter recovery period.
If you are concerned about the length of time needed for recovery, consider over-the-muscle placement, which does not displace the muscle and allows the body to heal faster.
Most silicone and saline implants are FDA approved for 10-20 years, but this does not mean that you have to get them replaced every 10-20 years. You can safely go beyond these time frames, and most patients only have to have 1-2 replacements in their lifetime.
Can Implants Placed Under the Muscle Be Moved to Over the Muscle? The simple answer is yes the implants can be moved over the muscle. The most common reason to move the implants above the muscle is in active patients that develop an “animation” deformity.
Having implants under the muscle tends to be more painful than over the muscles as your surgeon will need to make an incision in the muscle, as well as the breast tissue, to create the 'pocket' that your breast implant will fit inside. You can expect to feel the most pain in the first one to three days after surgery.
Breast Width
To achieve a natural look with breast implants, you want an implant that is about the same width as your natural breast. Choosing a wider implant can cause an unnatural appearance.
Optimal Breast Position Around 6 Months to A Year
While every woman is eager to see their new results, it is important to understand that optimal breast augmentation results can take up to a year to achieve. Your implants will continue to drop and fluff during this time.
Silicone implants tend to look more realistic in both their shape and their movement. Saline breast implants have a more rounded shape, and they do not jiggle quite as much. Saline implants have the potential to get a slight rippling or wrinkling look around the edges which can be visible through the skin.
Implants may be placed either over the muscle or under the muscle, and there are several factors which help determine the optimal implant placement for each individual patient, including: Your body type. Your current health. The actual size (cc's) of the implants.
Placing the implant below the muscle does typically make the implant look slightly smaller as the muscle will give the implant a touch more of a natural slope. It also compresses the implant, which makes the breast look slightly smaller.
Breast implant removal recovery
Generally, recovery from explant surgery is similar to recovery from mastectomy. Recovery time can last from two to six weeks or longer, depending on whether your surgeon removed one or two implants, and whether you had aesthetic flat closure or flap reconstruction immediately afterward.
Use the Right Silicone Implant Material
Women seeking a more natural appearance often opt for silicone since the material feels more like natural breast tissue. Silicone teardrop implants aren't round like standard implants. Instead, they have a sloped contour and texture that mimics the shape of natural breasts.
When you first wake up from your breast implants surgery, your new breasts will likely be high up on your chest and feel hard to the touch. Don't be alarmed; this is completely normal, and your newly augmented breasts will eventually settle and soften, typically within 6 months. Read on as Dr.
In general, silicone breast implants feel most like youthful breast tissue, firm, but yielding. Saline breast implants are the next most natural feeling. Some people will tell you they feel like water balloons, but that's not quite right.
Additionally, some patients receiving breast implants have reported a variety of systemic symptoms such as joint pain, muscle aches, confusion, chronic fatigue, autoimmune diseases, and others. Individual patient risk for developing these symptoms has not been well established.