Larger, fuller breasts is, of course, the main billboard promise for breast augmentation. Beyond the obvious enhancement, other positive benefits can emerge, some of great importance to a patient’s life. The Plastic Surgery Channel asked board certified plastic surgeons if there are important benefits beyond bust size, and if so, what are they?
The short answer is ‘Yes!’
It’s not a guarantee, but every board certified plastic surgeon interviewed for this story agreed: besides the immediate physical improvement for a woman’s breasts, augmentations help everything from happiness at home to satisfaction at the office.
“One of the most significant outcomes that comes from this is the confidence it builds in women,” says Ned Snyder, MD, an Austin-based plastic surgeon. “And this results in just feeling better in clothes, and a bathing suit but also in a career sort-of setting.”
Studies Confirm Breast Augmentation’s Potency
Plastic surgeons, anxious for proof of the experiences in their offices, have conducted several scientific, peer-reviewed studies examining how breast augmentation surgery improves a woman’s self image that goes beyond her new chest measurements.
“That’s what it’s all about for us. Helping folks feel better about their looks,” says Richard Baxter, MD, from his office in Seattle. “And there’s actually really powerful information about just how your appearance affect your self confidence.
“It affects your performance in the workplace and in life. There are really strong links there and I don’t think a lot of people who want to acknowledge that but how you look really does affect your life,” Dr. Snyder continues. “So feeling better about how you looks helps with those changes in life whatever it might be.”
Boosting your Self-Image with ‘Yourself’
When women decide to use their own fat for their breast enhancements, one surgeon has seen how that natural augmentation often helps his patients’ good feelings even more.
“What’s more natural than taking your own fat and replacing it?” shares Louis Bucky, MD, a plastic surgeon in Philadelphia. “Not only are we making the patient look better but patients feel better after large volume fat grafting with their own tissue. I think it’s one of greatest benefits. If you ask the last 60 patients that I’ve had large volume fat grafting through reconstruction, 95 percent of them are relieved.”
It’s really important to love the skin you’re in, and to feel confident and happy in yourself. For many people, this isn’t a terribly difficult thing to achieve. But for those who feel self-conscious about a part of their body, feeling confident can feel like an impossible dream.
Self-Image Improved, What About Your Sex Life?
According to a recent survey, 70% of respondents said their sex lives had improved since having breast surgery, with 61% stating that they were having sex more frequently.
The refilling of self-confidence spills into all areas of life, improving aspects that one might have never thought of in conjunction with breast augmentation. Having a more attractive chest can make you feel not just more confident, but more desirable, too! One does seem to follow the other.
Almost one million women in the U.S. have received breast enhancements in the last three years that cost between $6,000 and $10,000. On a scale of 1-10, 28% of the women who took part in the survey admitted their sex lives had improved by more than four points and 7.5 in 10 said the procedure was ‘worth it’.