4 Aesthetic Options After Breast Implant Removal

Whether you’re considering breast implant removal for personal reasons or because of a problem with your implants, you may be concerned about how your breasts will look after the implants are removed. 

Your breasts will certainly be smaller without the implants. In fact, they’ll return to the size they were before the implants were placed. But they won’t necessarily return to their former shape. For one thing, you are older now, and aging affects the form of the breasts — they tend to sag over time. If you’ve had children or gained and lost weight, that can add to the drooping effect. The implants themselves will also have caused your skin to stretch, and they may have displaced the tissue inside your breasts. It’s common for breasts to appear deflated after implants are removed, and yours may have a hollowed look where the implants were. 

Some of these immediate effects will improve with time as your breast tissue naturally shifts and settles. Other changes may need correction with plastic surgery to give you a look you feel great about. Here are four aesthetic options you may want to consider either as part of or after your breast implant removal.

1. Breast Lift

Many women who have implants removed choose to have a breast lift at the same time, especially when the implants were large. A breast lift removes excess skin that has been stretched from the implants — or simply due to aging or weight changes — and restores a more youthful shape. 

The term “breast lift” covers a wide range of procedures that reshape the breasts and eliminate sagging. It almost always includes raising the profile of the breast and moving the areolas to a higher position. It can also reduce the size of the areolas to be in better proportion with the breasts after implant removal. A breast lift will also reshape the tissue inside the breasts to correct any contour irregularities, such as the hollows that can be left where the implants once sat. If the implants displaced tissue to the sides or bottom of the breast, the procedure can pull this tissue back into the upper center of the breast for a naturally rounded look.

2. Fat Transfer

Fat transfer moves fat from a part of the body where you have excess — around your middle or on your thighs, for example — to a place where you need more volume. After breast implant removal, fat transfer can be used to give your breasts a fuller, rounder look.

The fat transfer process uses liposuction to harvest fat from a part of the body you’d like reshaped. The fat tissue is then processed for insertion into the area that needs more volume. The beauty of the procedure is that it offers both slimming and rounding results in different parts of the body and the augmentation to your breasts is made with your own tissue. The results are attractive and long-lasting and can add significantly to your breast volume.

3. Pectoral Muscle Adjustment

Some women who have had breast implants placed beneath the chest wall muscles (known as subpectoral placement) experience problems with the pectoral muscles that may need to be corrected after implant removal. The most common concern is the minor weakening of the muscles, which has resulted from their stretching over the implant. This is typically corrected naturally, with exercise, once the implants are removed. A more troubling — though rare — problem happens when the muscles are displaced by the implant. This can cause the breasts to take on a distorted appearance when the chest muscles are flexed. If this has happened to you, an additional procedure may be needed with implant removal to reposition and reattach the pectoral muscles in their normal position on the chest wall.

4. Replacement Implants

Depending on your reason for having breast implants removed, you might consider replacing them with implants of a different size, shape, or type. This can be a way to change your breasts to a look that suits your current desires or to replace an implant that concerns you for health reasons with one that feels safer.

Talk With an Expert

If you are considering breast implant removal or replacement, talk with Dr. David Kim or Dr. Eugene Kim at Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery about your options. They have developed an impeccable reputation for their stunning, natural-looking results. Contact them today at (310) 746-5475 or send an online request to schedule a consultation.