Your Guide to Breast Augmentation and Breast Lift Surgery
Learn About Breast Augmentation and Lift Surgery, Candidacy, Benefits, and Recovery From Dr. Tyler Frew at Balikian Plastic Surgery
For many women, the breasts are a defining part of their figure. After pregnancy, weight changes, or time, breasts can lose shape, fullness, or position. Dr. Tyler Frew helps women restore balance and confidence with procedures that enhance shape and contour.
Two of the most popular options are breast augmentation and breast lift surgery. Sometimes the best results come from combining the two. Here is what you need to know to choose the right path for you.
What Is Breast Augmentation?
Breast augmentation enhances the size and refines the shape of your breasts using silicone or saline implants. In select cases, fat transfer can also be used to achieve a subtle, natural enhancement.
You may be a good candidate if you want to:
- Restore breast volume lost after pregnancy or weight changes
- Enhance naturally small breasts
- Improve symmetry between breasts
- Achieve a fuller, more defined upper breast curve
This procedure is tailored to your goals, giving you a natural, proportionate look that complements your figure.
Benefits of Breast Augmentation
Breast augmentation is about more than size. It’s a highly personalized procedure designed to help you feel confident and balanced in your own body.
With advanced surgical techniques and modern implants, results can look beautifully natural and long-lasting.
Key benefits include:
- Restored Fullness and Shape – Regain a youthful contour and softness to your breasts.
- Improved Symmetry – Correct unevenness for a balanced, harmonious appearance.
- Customizable Results – Choose implant size, shape, and placement to achieve your ideal outcome.
- Enhanced Confidence – Feel more comfortable in your clothes and proud of your silhouette.
- Longevity – Today’s implants and techniques provide results that last for many years with proper care.
Breast augmentation blends artistry with precision, delivering results that align with your unique vision of beauty.
Breast Augmentation Transformations
What Is a Breast Lift?
A breast lift, or mastopexy, restores a youthful breast shape by raising and reshaping breasts that have sagged.
During the procedure, excess skin is removed, supporting tissue is tightened, and the nipple is repositioned to a more natural, youthful level.
You may be a good candidate if you want to:
- Correct sagging or drooping
- Restore a youthful breast shape without increasing size
- Improve nipple position and forward projection
- Rejuvenate breast contour after pregnancy, weight changes, or breastfeeding
A breast lift focuses on improving shape and position, helping your breasts look naturally youthful and proportionate.
Benefits of a Breast Lift
A breast lift is about creating harmony and restoring confidence, not necessarily changing your breast size.
This procedure redefines your breast contour, giving you a perkier, more balanced appearance that complements your natural proportions.
Key benefits include:
- Youthful Shape and Position – Lifted, rounded breasts create a naturally refreshed appearance.
- Improved Symmetry – Correct unevenness and align nipple position for a more balanced look.
- Better Fit in Clothing – Enjoy improved comfort and confidence in tops, swimwear, and dresses.
- Natural-Looking Results – Results are designed to complement your existing breast tissue, not change your identity.
- Long-Lasting Improvement – With proper care, a breast lift can provide lasting results even after pregnancy or weight fluctuations.
A breast lift is a transformative way to reclaim a youthful breast shape, enhancing your natural beauty and restoring confidence.
Breast Lift Transformations
Quick Comparison
Breast Augmentation focuses on increasing size and enhancing volume, while a Breast Lift raises and reshapes sagging breasts for a more youthful contour. Here’s how they differ:
Primary Goal:
- Breast Augmentation: Adds size and fullness.
- Breast Lift: Elevates and reshapes sagging breasts.
Addresses Sagging:
- Breast Augmentation: Helps with mild sagging only.
- Breast Lift: Corrects moderate to severe sagging.
Implants Needed:
- Breast Augmentation: Uses implants or fat transfer.
- Breast Lift: No implants required, but can be combined with augmentation.
Typical Scarring:
- Breast Augmentation: Small incision, often hidden in the breast fold.
- Breast Lift: Incisions around the areola, sometimes extending vertically to the fold.
Recovery:
- Breast Augmentation: Light activity in 1–2 weeks.
- Breast Lift: Light activity in 1–2 weeks, with slightly longer overall healing time.
This side-by-side comparison makes it easier to see which procedure or combination can best achieve your desired breast shape and confidence.
When To Combine Both
After pregnancy or weight loss, many women lose both volume and position. Combining augmentation with a lift restores fullness and elevates the breast to a more youthful placement.
This combination:
- Creates fuller, perkier breasts
- Improves firmness and shape
- Balances chest and waist proportions
By combining augmentation with a lift, you can achieve a complete transformation that restores both youthful contour and natural harmony to your figure.
Recovery Expectations
Recovery varies by procedure choice. Your plan is tailored to your body and lifestyle.
- Augmentation only – Light activity in about 1 week. Resume exercise in 4 to 6 weeks.
- Lift only – Light activity in 1 to 2 weeks. Avoid upper body exercise for 4 to 6 weeks.
- Combined – Slightly longer downtime. Most patients return to work in 1 to 2 weeks and resume full activity at about 6 weeks.
With Dr. Frew’s modern techniques you can expect minimized scarring. Reduced downtime. Natural looking results.
How To Decide
Choosing between a breast augmentation, a lift, or a combination begins with understanding what you want to change most about your breasts.
- You want a size increase and more upper fullness. Consider augmentation.
- You are happy with size but not position or shape. Consider a lift.
- You want both more volume and a higher, perkier shape. Consider a combined augmentation with lift.
A personal consultation with Dr. Frew will clarify which option matches your anatomy and goals.
Start Your Transformation
Breast Surgery FAQs
How do I decide between augmentation, a lift, or both?
Augmentation restores or adds volume. A lift raises and reshapes sagging tissue. When volume loss and sagging coexist, combining augmentation with a lift can deliver the most balanced result.
Will implants alone fix sagging?
Implants can address mild sagging, but moderate to severe ptosis usually needs a lift to reposition the nipple and tighten the envelope for a perkier shape.
Is it safe to combine augmentation with a lift in one surgery?
Large reviews show single-stage augmentation-mastopexy has acceptable complication and reoperation rates when patients are carefully selected and technique is tailored.
Which incision is most common and why?
Many surgeons favor the inframammary fold because it is well hidden and studies associate it with lower capsular contracture risk compared with some other access points in select techniques. Dr. Frew also prefers the fold incision.
Should implants go above or below the muscle?
Placement is individualized. Subfascial or subpectoral placement can reduce rippling in thin patients, while prepectoral approaches avoid animation deformity. Contemporary reviews compare planes and emphasize matching the plane to tissue thickness and goals.
Can fat transfer replace implants or be added for refinement?
Yes. Autologous fat grafting can provide subtle, natural fullness or fine-tune symmetry, and it can be combined with implants. Systematic reviews show low major complication rates, with variable volume retention and expected radiologic changes that do not typically affect screening.
Will I be able to breastfeed after augmentation?
Most women can breastfeed, though some studies note a higher chance of lactation difficulty after augmentation. Findings vary by incision and technique, so planning is individualized.
Do implants change how mammograms are done?
You can still be screened. Radiology teams use implant-displacement views, often called the Eklund technique, to visualize more breast tissue. Tell your imaging center you have implants.
Are breast implants lifetime devices?
No. The FDA states implants are not lifetime devices and some patients will need additional surgery over time for issues like rupture or capsular contracture.
What is capsular contracture and can incision choice influence it?
Capsular contracture is firm scar tissue around an implant that can distort shape. Evidence links higher risk to certain access sites in some settings, with multiple studies suggesting lower rates for inframammary access compared with periareolar in selected cohorts.
Who is a good candidate for a lift without implants?
Patients happy with overall breast size but unhappy with position or shape often benefit from a lift alone. If volume is also lacking, a lift can be combined with augmentation for a fuller upper pole and youthful nipple position.
How do you choose implant size and profile so results look natural?
Sizing is based on chest measurements, soft-tissue characteristics and try-on sizers rather than chasing a specific cup size. Dr. Frew emphasizes frame-based planning and trialing different widths and projections to match your proportions.
Elite Surgical Skill in Breast & Body Aesthetics
Dr. Tyler Frew is a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon specializing in aesthetic surgery of the breast and body.
He is known for delivering natural-looking results through advanced techniques in breast enhancement, tummy tuck, liposuction, and mommy makeover procedures.
Dr. Frew combines surgical expertise with compassionate, patient-focused care, helping each individual restore confidence and achieve their personal aesthetic goals.
Learn More About the Art of Plastic Surgery
Richard V. Balikian, MD, FACS
Double Board-Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon
Balikian Facial Plastic Surgery: Richard V. Balikian, MD, FACS
Tyler Frew, MD
Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon
