Plastic Surgery Q and A

Question: I went for an appointment with a plastic surgeon and he only puts breast implants in through the nipple on all of his patients. I have small light pink nipples and I am nervous about having a noticeable scar on them. Are the nipples the best place to put the implants in through?
Answer: The best place to put the implants through varies from patient to patient. I don't believe that one approach to breast surgery is the,'Best' for every patient. Because I perform breast augmentations using all 4 options, Nipple areolar, Tuba, Axillary, or Inframammary, I carefully evaluate each patient's individual needs and educate them on the best surgery approach for them. If my patient has good measurements and is selecting an average size breast implant, I prefer to let my patients have the option of deciding where they would like their small incisions placed.

Plastic Surgery Q and A

Question: What does half over and half under mean?
Answer: It is a term describing the breast implant location relative to the pectoralis major muscle. The breast implant is not totally sub muscular.

Plastic Surgery Q and A

Question: I had an inverted T breast lift with another plastic surgeon. After letting my scars heal for about a year I went and had them lasered to try and make them less noticeable. What a huge mistake! Now my scars are darker and brown. It looks worse. If there is anything Dr. Corbin would recommend to help me I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Answer: Because there is no magic eraser to erase the scars, I would recommend cutting the dark scars out and starting over again with fresh scars. No surgeon can control or determine how a patient will scar. After surgery many of our patients use a topical formula called Scarguard. This is believed to help scars heal better.

Plastic Surgery Q and A

Question: I have one child and am planning to have another baby in a year or so. After my first baby and breastfeeding my breasts are so small and droopy. I really need a breast lift. What would Dr. Corbin recommend?
Answer: If you are planning on having more children in the near future I would recommend you wait to have your breast lift surgery. As you have seen from your first pregnancy, the appearance of the breast can change dramatically after childbirth so waiting until you are finished having children in usually the best advice.

Plastic Surgery Q and A

Question: Over the past 2 years I have had three breast surgeries with my plastic surgeon. She recommended the implants from the 410 study. I went along with her recommendation, but I am very unhappy with the scars, the size and the shape of my breasts. After my last surgery she switched me to smaller implants, but did nothing to change the size of the pocket that the larger implants were in. After about a month I noticed that the shape got worse and very distorted looking. I went on another consultation and the doctor thought the breast implants shifted. Is this possible?
Answer: Yes sometimes breast implants may shift from their original position. This shift may change the appearance of the breasts, giving them and unusual shape and look. (especially the pre-shaped anatomical breast implants) Implant shifting can happen for a number of different reasons: Injury to the breast implants, pregnancy, weight gain, weight loss or if the implant is not securely positioned in the breast pocket. Breast implant shifting is unusual, but can be corrected with surgery. I just corrected a patient with implants from the 410 study that shifted. The initial plastic surgeon did not tighten the pocket around the breast implants and they were moving around and flipped distorting the breast shape. I had to revise her pockets and replaced the anatomical (teardrop) shaped silicone breast implants with round silicone gel. The patient is very happy with the appearance and feel of her new breasts. For photos go to www.TheBreastExpert.com photo gallery redo section.

Plastic Surgery Q and A

Question: I read that textured breast implants rupture more frequently than smooth surface breast implants? What does Dr. Corbin think?
Answer: Luckily, we have very few ruptures in our practice, although of those we have had the majority is with textured surfaced implants.

Plastic Surgery Q and A

Question: What is a doughnut breast lift?
Answer: Some patients refer to the circum areolar breast lift as the,'doughnut lift' because the shape of the scars resembles the shape of a doughnut.