So you decided you will do implants. Now where to put them? (Yes, yes. other than the obvious “on the chest” or “one on each side” answer).
You will see doctors put breast implants in front of the muscle OR behind the muscle. The muscle we are talking about is your pectoralis major muscle. It is the one you do push ups with (or for you moms out there, the one you use to hold your baby while you try to cook dinner). The muscle inserts along your sternum (the middle part) and along where your underwire goes (the inferior part).
The traditional teaching is putting the implant in front of the muscle gives more lift. So when you have kids, breastfed, etc etc and your breasts appear deflated, you will get more lift and perkiness from the implant if you go in front of the muscle. There is also less pain (bonus), and your breast implant won’t sometimes do a funny jump when you use your muscle (great!). The issue I find with putting breast implants in front of the muscle is rippling and wrinkling in the upper part of the breast and cleavage area. This is icky and tough to fix. It tends to happen slowly over time, as your tissue thins.
You are looking on this site because you don’t have much breast tissue, hence your need for implants.
Nothing substitutes for soft tissue coverage over the implant to get a good result.
That soft tissue is skin, breast tissue (you don’t have much), and fat (again, you likely don’t have much of that either). The only other cover is muscle. I like going under the muscle for many reasons.
1. Lower rate of capsular contracture / turning hard.
2. More tissue covering your implant in the cleavage and upper area. So when you wear a low cut dress or strapless top, you don’t worry about wrinkles, ripples, or implant edges.
3. Easier to do a mammogram. Behind the muscle lets you see more of the breast on mammogram than in front of the muscle. Very important, especially with a family history of breast cancer.
4. I think a more natural look.
Putting a breast implant behind the muscle does not lift as much as in front of the muscle. To get around this, many doctors do what is called a biplanar approach. Sounds fancy. What it means is we keep the implant under the muscle up top, and the implant is on top of the muscle on the bottom. For women in that droopy-i-might-need-a-lift category, I like to do this technique. I also use more release along the inferior border of the muscle for women with tubular and constricted breasts.
Personally, I never release the muscle along the sternum (the medial, cleavage area). I hate how it looks- I think it gives a fake, round look. Sometimes the breasts get too close or too far apart with this as well. Overall, I tend to favor more muscle coverage. It gives better soft tissue coverage over the implant. (Remember: soft tissue over implant=makes look pretty.) And I think it helps keep the breast from bottoming out.
So, what should you take away from this?
I favor under the muscle. All doctors do not do “under the muscle” the same way. Some cut the muscle more than others.
So how do you choose?
Look at the photos. And talk to your doctor about what technique is best for you and why.