It’s essential to massage your implants after breast augmentation to ensure they remain healthy and natural in appearance. When performed correctly, massaging your breasts after implant surgery can create a pleasing aesthetic and also speed healing. This blog discusses the breast augmentation recovery process, who can benefit from implant massages, how to perform breast implant massages, and how long it takes for breasts to feel normal after surgery.
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Preparing for Your Breast Augmentation Recovery
Anticipating your breast augmentation results can be exciting, especially if you’ve planned to get this procedure for a long time. Preparing for surgery is essential. There are crucial steps to address, such as getting necessary blood tests, adjusting your medications if needed, choosing a board-certified surgeon, and consulting with that surgeon. However, the success of your procedure also hinges on how well you navigate the recovery process post-surgery.
Preparing for your recovery should involve planning to rest comfortably in your space at home. Purchase loose-fitting clothing and pre-plan meals for a few weeks. Additionally, you should also consider familiarizing yourself with breast implant massage techniques so you can be ready to perform them on yourself. Many women want to do whatever they can to keep their breast augmentation results in peak condition for as long as possible. Massaging your breast implants is one way to maintain your results at an optimal level by promoting your body’s natural healing process.
What Is a Breast Implant Massage?
After breast augmentation surgery, your breasts may feel new and strange for a while. Breast implant massage is something you can do to help activate the healing circulatory system in your skin. It allows the skin to recover and transform into a healed pliable surface. The massage techniques you must learn are basic, ranging from palpitating circular motions to more firm pressure squeezes.
How Do Breasts Feel After Breast Augmentation?
Immediately after your breast augmentation, your breasts will rest high on your chest and feel firm. This position doesn’t last, and your breasts will eventually drop to a lower level that will appear more natural. In this initial stage, your chest may feel stiff, and the breasts themselves may be numb or, in the other possible extreme, extra sensitive. During your recovery, it’s essential not to strain your body. Avoid lifting anything heavy. The stiffness in your breasts will change as your body continues to heal.
Who Can Benefit From Breast Implant Massages?
If you have either silicone or saline breast implants, you should still benefit from regular breast implant massages. Yet, not all breast implants are created equal, and not all should be massaged. For example, don’t massage textured breast implants since they are designed to lock into place in the chest.
It’s also crucial that before you start massaging your breasts, you check first with Dr. Batra to make sure the massage will benefit and not damage your results. Depending on the extent of your surgery and the incision placement, your surgeon may have reservations or warnings. Listen to these, if any, and follow whatever your surgeon recommends.
Why Is It Important to Massage Your Breasts?
The object of breast massages after a breast augmentation is to trigger the body’s healing response to help integrate the implant and keep it soft and natural. When your body senses the presence of a foreign material (i.e., the breast implants), it responds by stimulating the production of scar tissue, which can harden around the implant and create a much harder feel and appearance. Many surgeons recommend self-performing breast massages to reduce the growth of scar tissue and thus help your implants remain soft and flexible.
What Happens if You Don’t Massage Your Breast Implants?
Each woman’s body responds slightly differently to breast implants. Therefore, a single answer doesn’t exist to the question of what will happen if you don’t massage your implants. Some women will never massage their breasts and still have no problem with hardening after augmentation. Yet others may be more susceptible to scar tissue hardening and perhaps even deal with capsular contracture.
When Should You Start Massaging Your Breasts?
Up to one week after surgery, it usually isn’t recommended to massage your breasts at all. That’s because you must wait until your incisions have healed and fully closed after the surgery. Wear the compression garment your surgeon has recommended for this period. After the all-clear has been provided to proceed with breast massage, you can feel confident in taking the next step.
Once you begin, it’s important not to overdo the breast massage. Check with your surgeon for the recommended time and daily tempo. Twice a day for no more than five minutes total (about two minutes for each breast) is a common recommendation. While the most key benefits develop from the first three months of breast massages, some patients faithfully continue the massage for however long they keep their implants.
Top Massage Techniques After Breast Augmentation
Your surgeon may recommend a particular technique and even point you toward a recommended video lesson. Generally, the breast massage consists of a gentle circular motion that begins at a given point of the implant, usually the top center. This will stimulate healing circulation and help reduce swelling. Both hands should work on one breast at a time, with your dominant hand conducting the massage while your other hand cups and supports the breast comfortably. If, at any point, you feel what seems like contracted tissue, it is best to focus on pressing and stretching that out, hopefully preventing any scar from contracting and hardening.
It is wise to always consult with Dr. Batra before beginning breast massages because implants that are shaped or textured are not suitable, and massaging can affect their final appearance.
How Long Does It Take for Breast Implants to Feel Normal?
Though breast massage is usually helpful, the recovery process for breast augmentation will vary from patient to patient, regardless of how much effort you put into assisting it. It takes some time for the breasts to soften and drop to a natural position after surgery. Many patients faithfully participating in breast massage notice that their implants feel normal around six to eight weeks after their augmentation. However, if your breasts still feel hard after this time, check in with Dr. Batra to make sure that your implants are healing as they should be.
Want to Know More About Breast Augmentation in San Diego, CA?
To learn more about breast augmentation and the recovery process, call Coastal Plastic Surgeons at (858) 365-3558 or fill out our online contact form today.