• The Ideal Breast
• Why have a breast augmentation?
• Alternatives to breast implants
• The Desire for Larger Breasts
• Common Reasons Women Choose Breast Augmentation
• Breast Appreciation
• Restoring Breast Volume after Pregnancy and Nursing
• Breast Augmentation and Age
• High Patient Satisfaction
• Breast Asymmetry
• Breast Volume
• Breast Augmentation in Asymmetrical Breasts
• Sagging Breasts (Ptosis)
• Saggy and Too Large
• Saggy and Too Small

The desire to have fuller breasts is quite understandable in view of the importance of the breast to a woman's sense of femininity and attractiveness. To deny this is to deny the reality of female form and sexuality. Fortunately, we live in a time when it is possible to safely enlarge breasts, so that women with small breasts need not be at a social disadvantage. With breast implants an option since the mid-1960's, it is hard to imagine a time when this was not available for women who were under-endowed. We live in a time when the "playing field" can be leveled (or perhaps "unleveled") so breast-challenged women can compete.

Women who come to see the plastic surgeon have done so after considerable reflection. There is an element of embarrassment coming to a plastic surgery office and disrobing. Women are already dealing with some guilt about considering such a "self indulgence." Often, they are thinking about how friends and family are going to react. In the back of the mind are horror stories they've read or heard about. It is a wonder they work up the nerve to come in at all! And, yet they do, which shows the strength of the emotional need. In the past, women have endured really awful treatments, such as silicone injections that led to painful lumps ("granulomas"). This was the only option for women who were born just a decade or two too early or in a country without modern standards of practice.

Contrary to popular belief, most women are not having a breast augmentation to satisfy others. Our survey found that 89 percent of women are having the surgery for their own reasons, ten percent for both themselves and an "other," and less than one percent just for the "other." And, it is not a snap decision- they have usually been thinking of it for years. On average, our patients have considered it for five years before having the surgery. Sometimes they have been saving up for a long time, or waiting until the kids are off to college and they feel they can reward themselves. I am reassured by consistently hearing women tell me that their husbands are supportive, but in most cases, not pressuring them to do it- "he loves me whether I do it or not." But, if I want to do it, he's all for it." Of course, the procedure is such that both partners can enjoy the result. Usually, husbands sit quietly and a little timidly in the examining room. - I have never heard a husband object to the concept of larger breasts.