Breast augmentation revision surgery recovery is more involved than breast primary breast augmentation because of two major aspects.
a) The first principle is a capsule alteration for implant pocket manipulation which is required to heal the new capsule. The capsule is used as a guard that holds the new implant pocket position.
It can be incised by a capsulotomy, cut out by a procedure called a capsulectomy, or even sewn back together or sometimes tightened, which is a procedure called capsulorrhaphy. A capsule alteration by sewing the implant pocket, or the capsule, back together, for example, is popular when getting a breast lateralization.
A breast lateralization is when the implants fall into the armpits. A breast lateralization will actually maintain the capsule and allows a surgeon to sew the capsule tight to eliminate the lateral open space. This would simultaneously then open up the medial capsule to allow for readjustment of the pocket position from lateral to medial.
This capsule then needs time to heal, approximately 4 weeks, so recovery for a breast augmentation revision is prolonged versus a breast augmentation. As far as recovery and your activity, you can go back to working out your lower body at 2 weeks for a breast augmentation revision versus 4 weeks for a breast augmentation. We don’t want you jumping as that risks the ripping of the capsule.
b) The second principle for a breast augmentation revision is the breast lift. Often, a Breast Augmentation Revision needs a breast lift. A breast lift entails longer incision lines than just a breast augmentation, which also means that you cannot sweat for 4 weeks, versus the two weeks a breast augmentation would require.
The incision line healing is critical not only because of the longer lines but also due to the cut around the nipple and areola being more visible. We must optimize incision line healing more so with a breast augmentation revision.
Here we present our 31-year-old patient who underwent a breast augmentation revision surgery with 616cc smooth moderate plus profile gel implants.