Cosmetic Surgery Blog

Breast Implants Over the Muscle 

When I had my first breast augmentation surgery, I chose sub-glandular breast implants placement under my plastic surgeon’s guidance. Now at the time (June 1998), I must admit I did not know as much about breast augmentation as I do today. I was opting for transumbilical breast augmentation (TUBA; through the navel) which I am a huge proponent of, so if I could avoid the breast lift scars, I was surely going to do so!

He explained to me that I would be less likely to require the small lift I teetered on needing, and that placement of implants over the muscle would give me the round, “fake” shape I was looking for. Plus, he felt that my skin was elastic enough, and that I had enough breast tissue to handle a large set of overs, so schedule I did.

Firstly, thank goodness my boyfriend at the time was observing the surgery because I would have woken up with gi-normous breasts, instead of the enormous breasts I did wind up with. My surgeon liked big breasts and wanted to fill them up more, but my boyfriend objected and said, I think that’s big enough…32DD-bordering-on-DDD later!

They looked great, I loved them! I didn’t seem to need a lift afterall, although I didn’t realize this at the time, my breasts sat naturally low on my chest. The overs were natural looking and I had avoided the weird chest muscle movements you often see on ladies during their exercise routines at the gym. My boobs did not flex, yay me. All was great in Boobland! Until my breast skin started thinning out and they begin to sag. I feel even if I had unders the muscle breat implants (placed beneath the pectoral muscles), they would have done the same considering their sheer size. To make matters worse I had begun taking birth control which made them even larger, I was up to a 32F and borderline-miserable.

Under the Muscle Breast Implants Placement 

A few breast lifts and one breast implants replacement surgerylater (to high profiles), I am now looking into getting unders and much smaller implants—actually full submuscular unders utilizing the rectus abdominus fascia and serratus anterior muscles. My hope is to have a little support so I don’t find them on my knees 10 years from now. Not to mention I do have less breast tissue now than before, and my skin is much thinner.

• Breast cancer is not a factor in my decision for unders. I do not have a history of breast cancer in my family (no one has been diagnosed to my knowledge in every generation) so I feel my chances of breast cancer are very low. Plus I have already had a baseline mammogram.
• I have some tissue left, and even before during considerable weightloss I have never had a rippling issue due to optimal filling. So this is not a factor in my choice to get unders.
• I have never had a problem with capsular contracture (CC), even after 3 failed breast lifts where I had open wounds for months on end. Not to mention extensive root planing that could have contributed. I was fortunate not to have experienced any CC. So CC is not a deciding factor either.
• My reasons are solely the hope for increased support. Even if the above reasons are not a concern of mine, the complete submusclar coverage placement happens to lessen all three: better mammography detection, decreased incidents of CC, and less palpability of the implant, I must admit this is a bonus.

With my lifestyle, I feel that this is the best option. The only problem is that not many surgeons offer this placement. I will keep you all updated in my search and progress which will hopefully result in a near-future surgery!! I am getting antsy!