What a Breast Augmentation?
A breast augmentation surgery places a saline or silicone implant in the breasts, either on top of or under the muscle. Both types of implants remain stable for up to a decade or even longer. Breast augmentation can give women rounder, fuller breasts but cannot restore sagging skin.
What is a Breast Lift?
A breast lift removes excess skin and tightens or raises the areolas to improve lift and leave breasts looking tighter, firmer, and younger. This procedure involves more scarring than a breast augmentation, with larger incisions to remove the excess skin.
What are the Differences?
Breast augmentation and breast lift are two very different procedures, and they achieve different results. Breast augmentation provides fullness, roundness, and shape. A breast lift offers firmness, tightness, and a more lifted position.
Both procedures happen under general anesthesia, and your surgeon can perform both together. This allows you to enjoy lifted, resculpted, youthful-looking breasts with increased volume and shape.
The results of a breast lift will not require additional surgery unless the person wants adjustments in the future. Breast implants can cause capsular contracture, where the pocket that holds the implant becomes tight with scar tissue, but good surgical techniques like Dr. Earle’s can help prevent this.
A breast lift will leave larger scars than a breast augmentation because excess skin and tissue must be removed. People who have serious concerns about scarring should speak to their surgeon at the time of consultation to review all options.
Unlike breast augmentation, a breast lift can improve the size and shape of the areola by adjusting and tightening it. A breast augmentation will make the breast larger or adjust its shape but will not improve the appearance of the areola.