Many patients ask if they should massage their breasts and move their implants through specific exercises because that’s what they have read on the internet or were told to do by their friends who had breast implant surgery by another surgeon.

Short answer: Absolutely not for 1 full month.

Background Knowledge

The “theory” behind this has to do with a process called capsular formation.

Every patient develops a soft non-visible and non-palpable capsule directly around their breast implant pocket. This forms regardless of implant type, antibiotics, or massage. It is your body’s natural reaction to a foreign body.
In 5% of patients a capsule will develop, for reasons not 100% completely understood, that may be palpable (you can feel it) or visible or both. It may also change the shape of your breast or cause pain. This is called capsular contracture.

Applying the theory

Some surgeons felt (and some surgeons still feel) that if you were to massage your breasts and displace your implants aggressively post-surgery that your breast capsule would be larger than the implant and therefore if capsular contracture did occur then your implant wouldn’t be compressed or change shape.

The Flaw in this theory

The flaw in this theory is that the massaging and implant displacement exercises also cause the newly created breast implant pocket to expand.
This results in your breast implant and breast being independent of each other rather than one unified structure. This results in a loss of projection of your implant, loss of symmetry between your breasts and positional changes on your natural breast tissue on your implant that is noticeable when lying down, bending or playing sports.

Recommendation

You don’t need to massage your breasts.
If you really want to it is very important that you do not massage your breasts for at least 1 month. Your newly created pocket is not mature yet and you do want to expand your pocket.
Please note that your cosmetic surgery will be custom tailored to your unique needs, individual results and recovery instructions may vary.

NEVER manipulate your implant. Performing specific implant displacement exercises can result in your implant flipping upside down or turning which can cause significant problems if you have shaped implants or higher profile breast implants.

Whether you’d like to book your breast augmentation surgery or you’re just getting started with your research, we’re ready to help. Get in touch with us to get more information + schedule your consultation.

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