Breast implant massage video - Instruction on how to keep your breast implants soft after breast augmentation

Following a breast augmentation, is is imperative that women massage their breasts to keep the implant inside mobile and to ensure a soft, natural result!

To watch the Women's Plastic Surgery video on breast implant massage technique, click here.


POSTOPERATIVE MASSAGE INSTRUCTIONS FOR BREAST IMPLANT SURGERY

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We cannot over-emphasize how important your post-op massaging is in order to preserve your excellent results of breast augmentation surgery.


Massaging begins general at a week or two after breast augmentation surgery.  You will be taught by Dr. Horton and her staff how to massage directly only your own breast.

DO NOT WORRY, YOU CANNOT BREAK THE IMPLANT. It takes more than 50 times the force of a mammogram to rupture an implant!

You should be able to make your fingers meet through the implant in both the vertical and horizontal directions. You should also move the implant around in its pocket to keep the pocket open. The best time to massage is in the shower or when you are warm and relaxed. You should massage once or twice a day for five minutes.


If you have any questions about the massage technique or whether your implant is hardening, do not hesitate to contact us.

GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY MASSAGING!  See the video here:  http://womensplasticsurgery.com/video_massage-aug.html.

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Why Postoperative Breast Implant Massage is Important!

QUESTION:

about massage for breast implant
October 27, 2009 9:46 AM | Breast Augmentation

I am 5 weeks postop and I had a lift with silcone gel implants and was told I did not need to massage them . Is there a reason I was told this?

ANSWER:

Doctor/Professional Answers (1)

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drkarenhorton Plastic surgeon San Francisco, CA United States

Why Postoperative Breast Implant Massage is Important! October 27, 2009 10:16 AM

After a breast augmentation, we teach our patients to massage their implants each day in order to ensure that they stay soft and mobile, with the most natural results.

Implants can be placed under the pectoralis major muscle ("submuscular" or "subpectoral"), or on top of the muscle and under the breast tissue alone ("subglandular").

Sometimes, surgeons feel that having the implant under the muscle will do some of the massaging motion just by normal muscle movement and that massage of the implants by hand is not necessary.

In Plastic Surgery, there are few absolutely right or wrong answers. What I teach my patients is that implant massage helps to create a "pocket" that is larger than the implant itself. This will facilitate the implant to move around naturally inside its pocket and have a natural shape and motion, like a normal breast.

Implant massage also functions to some extent as a breast self-exam. Two studies of women with breast implants found that in those women who developed a breast lump, it was found earlier if they regularly massaged and felt their implants - which could be life-saving!

I recommend women massage their implants for a few minutes each day, for the rest of their life! After the scar tissue has completely healed and softened (by one year), massage could simply consist of lying on your tummy or rolling with your breasts against an exercise ball.

The purpose is to ensure the implants move around within their space and that the scar tissue does not contract around the implant ("capsular contacture").

There are videos on implant massage on my website you could refer to for reference: CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO.

Ask your Plastic Surgeon what their normal postoperative routine is and to demonstrate what you should be doing.

Karen M. Horton, MD, MSc, FRCSC

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