Breast augmentation is a major procedure that requires a lot of pre-and post-surgical preparation. While extensive planning goes into preparing for the surgery itself, your post-surgical recovery should be just as carefully planned out. Like any surgery, taking care of your body and listening to your surgeon’s medical advice will result in the most successful outcome.
From the moment you wake up from your surgery to getting back to your normal activities of daily living, you will need to adjust your lifestyle in order to make your way to a healthy recovery.
To make the most out of this timeframe, there are several important recoveries “do’s” and “don’t” that you should keep in mind if you’re considering either breast augmentation surgery or alternatives to breast implants.
Do’s of Breast Augmentation Recovery
1. Do treat your new implants with care
After arriving home from the hospital or clinic, your number one concern will be focused on taking care of your new implants. Here are some of the top tips you can use to care for yourself:
- Hygiene care: Follow your plastic surgeon’s instructions on hygiene care. This should include bathing instructions, caring for your wound dressing, etc.
- Wear a surgical bra: Steer clear of an underwire bra while you’re in the recovery process. Instead, you should be wearing a surgical bra to provide gentle support while also helping to minimize any swelling.
- Messages: There is a technique called ‘implant displacement’ that you can incorporate into your day after you’ve healed a bit following surgery This can help keep your breasts soft and supple early on in the process. Speak to your doctor about this beforehand.
- Get to know them: Your breast implants are brand new to you — get familiar with how they look and feel early on. This can help you better manage your expectations about how they will look after the healing process is over.
2. Do get plenty of rest
Rest is another important tip to help improve your recovery process. Our bodies typically heal much better and faster when we give ourselves plenty of time to rest. This will also help to minimize your risk of accidental trauma that could affect your breast implants.
When resting or sleeping, you should be laying on your back for the first 3-4 weeks of recovery. It is essential to avoid sleeping on your stomach during this time period because the implants have an increased chance of settling into the wrong place over the first few weeks. Also, it’s helpful to have pillows propped underneath your upper back to help encourage more blood flow to the site of surgery.
3. Do plan to take time off of work
Planning to take time off of work depends more so on what type of work you do. If you’re in a non-laborious job, such as any kind of desk job, you may be able to go back to work after the first week.
Any work that involves more physical labor should be avoided for at least 2-3 weeks. This time may be even longer for patients who have their implants placed under their pectoralis muscles.
4. Do eat a well-balanced diet and drink plenty of fluids
Your nutrition and hydration are two very important components of your recovery process. Eating well-rounded meals throughout the day can help you to both feel better mentally, and help to get you back to your peak physical capacity sooner. Additionally, drinking plenty of fluids can help your body to heal sooner.
5. Do continue to follow up on all post-operative appointments
Throughout your recovery process, you’re likely to have at least one or two follow-up visits with your treating surgeon. These appointments help to keep your doctor informed about how you are doing and feeling throughout your recovery, allowing them to address any issues in real time.
If there were any concerns about infection, this can be handled as soon as possible to keep you on the road to recovery.
Don’ts of Breast Augmentation Recovery
1. Don’t push yourself too hard during recovery
Your surgeon will provide you with a full recovery timeline which includes anything you should or shouldn’t be doing in the days, weeks, and months following your procedure. Over-exerting yourself too early may impact your healing process quite significantly. Instead, you should be slowly returning to your activities of daily living with ease. Remember, less is usually more!
2. Don’t expect immediate results
As mentioned earlier, it’s important to continue getting to know your new breasts following surgery. Throughout your recovery process, your breasts are going to continue to look different day by day.
Initially, they may not look as expected — it’s not uncommon for new breast implants to sit too high on the chest, resulting in more of an unnatural appearance. Give your body time to adjust while the implants soften and settle into position.
3. Don’t spend too much time in the sun
Avoiding sun exposure immediately following surgery is an important step in a healthy recovery. After your incisions have healed, it’s best to continue practicing good sun protection habits. This can help to maintain great long-term results, not to mention controlling for uncomfortable sunburns on your chest — we all know what that feels like!
4. Don’t ignore feelings of pain or nausea
Throughout your recovery process from breast augmentation surgery, you should continue to check in with yourself on a daily basis. It can be helpful to have a calendar handy to report daily levels of pain, nausea, or other abnormal symptoms.
If you’re experiencing any sort of symptoms that are either getting worse over time or developing out of nowhere, you may want to consider booking a visit to see your doctor.
5. Don’t drink alcohol or smoke tobacco
Much like maintaining well-rounded nutrition and having plenty of fluids is helpful to your recovery, avoiding alcohol and tobacco is just as important! Following surgery, you’re likely to be prescribed pain medication that should never be mixed with alcohol.
Throughout this period it’s best to avoid alcohol until you no longer need to take your pain medication. In addition, smoking tobacco is known to constrict blood flow, which will impede proper healing after surgery.