Birmingham Breast Augmentation - Tips for minimizing complications and achieving long term results

Breast augmentation is a conceptually simple operation. You dissect a space for the implant and put in the device. viola! However, the medical literature that has studied this rigorously demonstrates some alarming numbers in terms of how frequently people require re operations. By parsing this outcome data, a number of trends have become obvious.

1. Large implants are associated with more complications
2. Reoperations are associated with more complications
3. Operations should be planned with an eye towards long term tissue-implant interaction

In general, the smallest volume and narrowest width implant required is the preferred implant choice due to the effects of gravity and the passive stretch of breast tissue over time. As silicone implants are slightly less heavy per volume then saline devices and have less of a "settling" of the weight on the lower breast, they would seem to be preferable over the long term.

Careful and precise dissection of the space (or "pocket") that the implant sits in has clearly been shown to be an improvement over traditional blunt dissection. There is little role for that type of surgery, and is one reason why transumbilical (TUBA) breast augmentations (which require blunt dissection) are a poor choice. Gentle handling and preparation of the implant prior to insertion also clearly seems to play a role in decreasing hardening and rupture of the devices in the years after implantation.

In forthcoming blog posts, I'll discuss some of these technical issues in greater detail.

If you wish to set up a visit to consult for breast augmentation surgery, please call our office at

(205) 298-8660
Dr. Rob Oliver