As a mother, having children changes everything. Patients that have gone through medical procedures such as breast implants may wonder how their implants may be affected by the many changes that also occur during pregnancy.
If you are concerned about whether your breast implants will change after pregnancy or not, you are not alone. This is a common concern among women who have had a boob job done.
Read the following article to understand what happens to breast implants after pregnancy.
Breast implants are not affected by pregnancy itself
For the most part, during the growth and delivery of the baby, breast implants are not affected.
Compared to the rest of the body, breast implants are not affected by changes caused by the pregnancy. For the major part, breast implants just sit-and neither shrink nor grow.
Implants might be less noticeable
Since the milk ducts in the breasts engorge with milk during pregnancy, the breasts will become bigger naturally. These changes occur around the implants creating some noticeable differences.
As the breasts become bigger, the implants become less noticeable. However, this is temporary and the implants will be noticeable once breastfeeding is done and the breasts return to their normal size.
Breastfeeding is not affected
If you are concerned about breastfeeding after getting breast implants, this is good news for you. This is because breast implants are not known to affect the ability of a woman to breastfeed.
Statistically, 50 percent of women can feed their babies exclusively on their breast milk and this is the same percentage of the women that have done breast surgeries including implants. Therefore, breast implants do not appear to affect breastfeeding.
It is important to have a surgeon who understands the importance of placement since where the implants are placed and the location of the incision is critical when it comes to the future of breastfeeding. This is because breast augmentation affects the nerves around the nipples or milk ducts, which may affect breastfeeding.
It is necessary to discuss with your surgeon the location of the breast implants if you have not had the surgery yet.
The shape of the breast might change
After breastfeeding, the shape of the breast may not look the same.
This is because the breast tissue shrinks back and the breasts involute once the woman finishes breastfeeding. Sometimes the elasticity of the skin may not be sufficient making the skin unable to shrink back to where it used to be.
Once the breastfeeding is done, you can discuss with your doctor if you want to change the shape of your breasts.
Surgical fixes to restore breasts and implants after pregnancy and breastfeeding
The breast may appear different after finishing breastfeeding. Fortunately, you can fix it. However, it is recommended to postpone any of the procedures until after you have finished having children as the results may be affected by any additional pregnancies.
Breast lifts
This is the most common way of solving any changes that occur during pregnancy and breastfeeding whether you have implants or not. A breast lift eliminates sagging or breast ptosis by tightening the tissues that cause changes in appearance and removing the excess skin.
This process will not affect the implants as it can be performed easily with the implants.
Exchanging the implants
Having children mostly causes breasts to deflate and many mothers may seek breast implants to restore the fullness of their breasts. However, some women may already have implants and deflation still occurs. For this reason, they can still have a larger implant to fix the changes.
Exchanging existing implants for larger implants is possible to restore the breasts to the size it was before pregnancy.
Every Pregnancy is Different
Breast implants may affect your future visits to the doctor as it may affect screening by making it difficult to see some parts of the breast. Therefore, it is important to let your doctor know that you have breast implants before any medical procedures are done.
If you have any specific concerns about pregnancy, breastfeeding and implants, visit your doctor to get enough information. But for the most part, breast implants do not change after pregnancy.
