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Breast augmentation is a great plastic surgery procedure to enhance a woman’s breasts’ size and shape. Although an implant is placed at the time of surgery, whether round or teardrop-shaped, the skin and muscle must stretch to accommodate the underlying implant volume. This is what many women online called the breast implant drop and fluff process. In essence, it is the body’s process, accommodating the new implant and getting used to the new breast volume.

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Interested in Breast Augmentation w/ Dr. Marin?

Dr. Marin has performed hundreds of successful breast augmentation surgery to patients in La Jolla and San Diego who want to enhance the size of their breasts.

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Breast Augmentation in San Diego

The Tissue Accommodation

Accommodating breast implant volume occurs at the cellular level. The body is uniquely capable of adapting to tissue changes underneath the skin. This is most readily seen during pregnancy with the expansion of a woman’s abdominal skin.

We also see the tissues accommodate after:

These natural processes take time, and thus most patients do not appreciate the eventual skin stretch and accommodation. This slower growth rate is in contradistinction to breast augmentation, where all of the breast growth happens immediately at the time of surgery.
drop and fluff implant settling

The Breast Implant Settling Process

After the implant placement, the implant’s force on the overlying tissues sends a signal to the body to realign collagen and muscle fibers to help reduce tension. The muscle and skin’s initial tightness usually results in the implant sitting high and often with a somewhat square shape. This is due to the lack of adequate skin available and muscle length to stretch over the new implant’s curvature.

Frequently, the breast’s initial appearance actually looks smaller as the skin and muscle exert a compressive force on the implant. Effectively, blunting its appearance and sometimes being a source of concern to patients as they feel their implants are too small.

The accommodation process takes time as new collagen must be built and remodeled according to the underlying forces. In most instances, this usually occurs between 3 and 6 months from surgery. Although the process begins to happen immediately, the implants’ final position is likely not to be seen until many months after the procedure.

Breast Augmentation Mastopexy 1 beforeBreast Augmentation Mastopexy 2 After
Breast Augmentation Mastopexy 2 BeforeBreast Augmentation Mastopexy 1 after

Depending on your anatomy, sometimes doctors will suggest certain treatments to help facilitate this process. The vast majority of plastic surgeons recommend some form of breast massage after surgery. This helps stretch the breast tissue even more and facilitates the skin’s relaxation at a faster rate.

Doctors may also employ a breast strap on the upper part of the breasts to help push the implants to their proper position. This is not used in all patients and can be based on the implant or the patient’s pre-operative anatomy. This is individualized by each surgeon and something you may or may not be asked to do.

Implants of a larger volume or higher profile can take longer to drop and fluff due to the greater need for tissue stretch. This is fairly evident as it makes sense that a larger implant will require more tissue accommodation.

Exceptions to the Process

Patients who have previously undergone breast augmentation surgery and are changing sizes may experience less of the dropping and fluffing period. The reason for this is that the first procedure has already stretched the natural breast tissues. Also, patients who have their implants placed above the pectoral muscle (subglandular) do not need the muscle to stretch and see this process occur more rapidly.

Finally, patients who have breastfed children often have excess skin due to the tissue’s last stretch during pregnancy. These patients frequently need a lift or tightening of the skin, but some only need an implant to fill the lost volume. However, these patients can take just as long to drop and fluff if the implants are placed beneath the pectoralis muscle (submuscular) since it has never been stretched.

breast implant placement dr marin

Pros and Cons of Breast Implant Placement

There are three different locations implants are placed during a breast augmentation surgery. In this article, Dr. Marin detailed how these placements differ with one another, and which one is best for you.
Read the article here

During the recovery process, there is often a temporary imbalance between the breast skin and the chest muscle as one has been previously stretched and not the other. This, again, can create some concern from the patient as the breasts do not look ideal until the muscle has sufficiently accommodated the underlying implant. We often see this process taking 3 to 4 months as well to see the final results.

Request Your Consultation

To learn more about your breast augmentation options and the drop and fluff process, you can schedule an appointment online, or you can call 858-638-9800

*The content in this blog is developed to spread the awareness towards plastic surgery. Our blog is not intended to serve as a replacement for an actual in-office consultation with Dr. Marin. As such, the information within this blog reflects the unique cases of our individual patients.

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TO OUR MARIN AESTHETICS PATIENTS:

In light of the state wide restrictions on non-essential businesses to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, we are rescheduling all of our elective appointments until the global circumstances improve. Our necessary post-operative appointments will be made, as needed, to address immediate surgical concerns such as suture removal and acute postoperative issues. All non-acute follow up appointments, fillers and Botox will need to be postponed until after the quarantine period mid April. Our office will reach out to all patients who need to be rescheduled.

We will be offering new patient virtual consultations online and via Skype that can be scheduled through our website or by emailing info@marinaesthetics.com. Also, we will offer follow-up appointments in the same manner to help manage our patients’ concerns while still respecting the need for social distancing.

We appreciate all of your understanding during these difficult times for all of us.

Stay safe,

Dr. Main and the Marin Aesthetics Team