What is water-drop breast surgery? 

Breast augmentation Korea

Things to consider before breast augmentation surgery

What is a water-drop breast surgery? This might seem like a very simple question to answer but there are many who do not know exactly about it. Today I would like to share about the difference between the water drop breast surgery and one that is not.

1) The name of ‘water-drop implant’

There are many people who refer to this as water drop implant, but this is not an accurate term. We call this implant, an Anatomical shape implant.

This means that the implant is shaped as the shape of a breast. The English speaking countries refer to it as Tear drop implant as well. The term ‘Water drop’ is used in Korea mostly.

Breast augmentation Korea - water drop implant

2) When was it developed?

The water drop implant is not a new product. This was made in about 1992 by McGhan (currently known as Allergan) and Mentor.

They named is as cohesive gel by using sticky silicone gel on the implant and developed it into various types such as the one with a surface that is round shaped and another which is cohesive gel with tear drop shape that is anatomical.

So the water drop type implant that we use today is about 20 years old and is not a new product. It was certified late here in Korea.

Breast surgery Korea KIES-U

3) Which water drop implant is good to use? 

The advantage of the water drop type implant is that the outer layer of the implant is well made to maintain its shape. (Round type is also made to main the original shape but is not as effective as the water drop type) So the shape is maintained after a long time.

Another is that the upper breast volume is maintain although the patient gets older or has sagging breasts. (Round type shrinks at the top so it cannot fill up the upper breast volume effectively)

Next advantage is that if you are a thin person with less volume in the original breasts, this would lead to a more natural look of bigger breasts.
Another advantage would be that one can choose the different types of implants according to different body types. (This cannot be done with the oval shaped implant)

These are few of the biggest advantages, listed above.

Breast augmentation Korea KIES-U

4) What are some problems of water drop type implant? 

There aren’t many disadvantages of water type cohesive gel compared to the round type cohesive gel.

Water drop type implant is more stable and strong in its shape therefore it require bigger inlet so one needs to dissect the skin more. Some young patients might think that there is less volume in the upper breasts compared to what the round type can provide. Also, the price is more expensive.


5) How is the water type different from round type when having breast augmentation?

A lot of clinics have rather strong advertisements that try to communicate that there are differences in the technique, but this is not true. There is no difference in the technique or procedure with using the round type or the water drop type. Same dissection and same closing are required. The only thing one should be careful of is that the water drop implant needs to be put in in a certain direction. This is the only difference.

Some inexperienced people think that the water drop type implant requires some different method. Both round type and water drop type require same surgery method and after surgery treatment.

Breast augmentation Korea KIES-U

6) Why is water drop type expensive? (The cost of using water drop type) 

There was a big problem is huge difference in prices of the implants. All the implants are manufactured by foreign companies. There are many companies involved in various stages of importing the implants to our country. The products are manufactures in Europe, shipped to Singapore and then brought in to Korea. So this leads to big differences in the prices of the products.

But the price of the water drop implant has dropped a lot since September 2012. The usage has become popular and many companies hurried to import the implant leading to price competition. Now, you can find water drop type implant with price that is not much different from the round type.

The reasons why I tend to recommend the water drop type is because it is more advantageous for Asian patients who have tight small chest that require more safety, secureness, and durability. It is more advantageous for sagging breasts as well.

This is all for today, thank you.

About breast size - breast augmentation Korea 

There are many patients who do not know how the breast sizes change after the breast augmentation.

The doctors say that he/she would use 300cc or 275cc, but the patients do not know how the breasts would change along with the different sizes of the implants.

About 13~14 years ago, the internet shopping started.

At that time, people didn’t know how to buy the clothes on line just by looking at the clothes through the internet. Most people though that one must wear the clothes to buy one.

This was something unimaginable at the time, however, this internet shopping industry has grown tremendously in the past 10 years. Now, there are many who buy clothes on line. People are more comfortable with the internet shopping and they are aware of different sizes.

Internet shopping website providing explanation on sizes

There are some common sizes in shoes such as 235, 240, and 245. As for bra, there is a band size 70, 75, 80, and cup size of AA, ,A, B, C, etc.

A size is something that a person remembers as she buys things with that particular size.

But breast surgery is different from clothes in that a person would have a breast surgery just once in her life time and it is also difficult for her to know what size other people use.

I have divided the size of the implant into 3; small, medium, and large; because the patients are not aware of different cc. Below is the explanation of different sizes. (Most patients do not choose small and X-large so one can say that there are only 3 sizes)

Natrelle anatomic shape implant cannot be officially imported to Korea

　 　


This reference may help you understand the increase in size.
The difference in the cup size is difficult to estimate, as explained before.


Most of the women in their 20’s select high medium size. The next popular choice is large size followed by medium size.

This is similar with those in their 30’s as well, but there is relatively high percentage of large sized implants. The numbers are the same. (Most patients decide to get breast augmentation after giving birth and breast feeding their babies, therefore the patients tend to select large sized implants)

Most of the patients in the 40’s have re-surgeries or want to fix the sagging breasts therefore they tend to choose medium and large sized implants.

In Korea, an average patient would be 163cm tall, wears 75A bra and the diameter of the breast is about 11 ~ 11.5cm.

However, most of the patients want their breasts to be larger than small or medium sizes therefore choose high medium sized implants the most.

There aren’t many of those who have large enough breast diameter to use the large sized implants here in Korea.

I think this would kind of give you an idea of what sized implant you could use.


Today’s post was to provide a measure guide to those of you who do not know how cc is related to the size that you could have.

There is no scholastic reference for this, but I looked at many catalogues to come up with the measurement matrix to give a simple explanation that has led to positive feedback.

However, there is a downfall in this, it is a profile of the implant.





As you can see in the image above, ‘Low profile’ refers to long diameter and low height implant, ‘High profile’ refers to short diameter and high height, and there is a ‘Moderate profile’ in between the two.
People who study after breast augmentation at home through the internet do not know about this also.

Another point is that although you use the same 275cc implant, meaning although the volume is the same, the shape would not be the same once the implant goes into the body due to the different profiles.

We will explain more about this profile at a later posting.


It is already summer in Mid-May. I think one can expect how the weather would be in the next two months. Most people are already in short sleeves and pants. Are you worried about showing off your body? I am!

This is all for today. Thank you for reading.
 

[Breast augmentation Korea]

Those who need recovery in 24 hours _ Career women

Everyone at our country is busy. But there are those who are busier than others. I would like to share about a quick breast surgery recovery for those career women in such need.

Let’s look at some occupations that I can think of.

Housewives who need to take care of their children
Flight attendants
Nurses / doctors, and other medical related
Skin therapists, beauticians
Athletes
And so on.





Those women who gave birth, breast-fed babies before and currently have babies that are about 5 years old have sagging and less volume breasts that lead to stress.
But is there anything more difficult than raising kids? Housewives are those who have the most need for 24 hour recovery.
It is recommended that you stay away from the children on the day of the surgery. Some simple house works are possible if necessary. You will be able to somewhat take care of the kids on the very next day. In about 3 days, most patients would not have any difficulty taking care of their children.



Flight attendants must be able to do their everyday job quickly enough. They have one of the most difficult physical jobs. Also, their daily schedule is rather irregular therefore they do not have much free time as well.
The frequently asked questions is something like, “when can I start carrying heavy luggage to put it in the glove compartment?” You can take care of luggage that is about 5kg within 3 days. But you would need to wait about a week to carry anything heavier than that.


Flight attendants are mostly worried about bleeding or other emergency problems that may arise during the flight or in a foreign country. Such problems can be avoided by 24 hour recovery system that is carried out by approaching the 밑선. Such women need to select surgery system that controls hemorrhage and minimizes pain.




There are many medical related patients who visit me as well. For example, it is difficult for nurses or doctors who have irregular schedule to get much time off from their work. Physical labor is intense and stressful. Also this is a very difficult occupation in that there are many lives at stake and you have to leave or delay your job.
These patients also need 24 hour recovery system. One must be comfortable and recover quickly to help the others.
If you can get 3 off, then you can consider having a breast surgery.
Other simple procedures can take place on the day of the surgery, but one cannot make beds or move the beds right away. The patient needs to rest about 3 days and then start doing these activities.



There are many skin therapists and beauticians who visit me as well.
These occupations do not require lifting of heavy object, however, they need to move constantly and they use their hands and arms a lot. So most of these patients are curious about how easily they can move their arms after the surgery. Such activities do not have any limitations in work on the day of the surgery, and if you are one with good fitness, then you can get back to your work normally on the very next day of the surgery.
You might even forget that you had a surgery.




Athletes ask a lot of questions as well.
There was a pro golfer who god cohesive gel breast implants. The biggest question was when she could get back to playing golf after the breast augmentation. I believe that she went back on the field with 3 days. She could not carry the golf bag herself, but she could swing the golf clubs without any problem.
Aerobic exercise such as walking or running lightly can be done by anyone on the very next day of the surgery.
Weight training would take some time. You need muscular strength in order to do this. The breast augmentation involves the chest muscles therefore; it takes some time for recovery.  Normally I recommend the patients to do weight training after two weeks.



I also recommend 2 weeks for those who enjoy swimming. There is no problem with getting into the water, but staying in the water continuously for 2 or 3 hours is a different story.

Today, we looked at the breast augmentation according to different occupations .It is not impossible to get the breast surgery when you are working. This is all for today.

Thank you very much.

[Information about Breast augmentation surgery Korea]

Is it good or bad to use drains after a breast augmentation surgery? Is it necessary?

These questions are asked often because the patients get different answer from all the hospitals that they visit.
 



Some doctors say that using drains are necessary
Some doctors do not require it. So the patients are very curious about this.

I do not have an absolute answer, but I usually recommend that the patient does not need one.
I will share the reason for this on today’s post.

 
Why do the doctors have different opinions?

Breast augmentation is one of the most popular beauty surgeries around the world today.

Therefore, there are various types of techniques, and implants. Also, there are different views about the breast surgeries as well.

This is why the doctors have different opinions. There are a numerous number of doctors and all these doctors have different thoughts and approaches.

But one thing for sure is that the implants and the techniques have developed much continuously. So there is a major trend through this development.


Breast surgery used to be a day long, scary surgery on the whole body, but this is changing into a day time surgery, i.e. you can recover in 24 hours.
 


Surgical drain is a drainage tube. Substances in the body need to be quickly removed from the body.

Drains are a linkage from the body to the outer environment therefore there is a high change that the pocket or the implant gets infected. This infection leads to inflammation and capsular contracture.

I believe that it is best to close the pocket of the implant as soon as possible.

Now, we do not use the drains for 90% of the patients.
If there is a patient who needs a drain, I think that it should be removed as quickly as possible.

Instead of thinking about whether using the drains are good or not, the important things is that the doctor needs to do the surgery good enough so that drains are not necessary.



Thank you for reading today’s post.
Have a great day.

How large does the breasts become after the breast augmentation?

Q. I will be using cohesive gel 275cc (or 300cc) and my breasts are currently AA cup. How will the size change?

Let’s look at how we measure the cup size before we answer the question above. When the difference between the upper breasts circumference and the lower breasts circumference is about 12.5cm, we call this B cup. The cup size increases for every 2.5cm.



Although the top bust is big, visibly big, but if the under bust is small, your cup size can be A or AA.

If your top bust is not so big, but the under bust is very small, then your cup size could be G or F.

So the answer for the question above is:

Breast cannot be measures by the cup size that determines the size of your underwear, and you shouldn’t measure in such a way either. Also one cannot estimate how much the upper bust gets bigger with the implant.



Implant size and volume; Volume differs from one person to another although they use the same sized implants, therefore one should rely on the experience and the judgement of the surgeon (Cohesive gel 250cc, 275cc, 300cc implants)

1)    When the implant is put it, it get pushed down by the skin, muscle, fat, etc therefore the original shape of the implant is not maintained. So if you measure the upper bust size, it will not be aligning with the size of the implant.

2)    Our body has liquidity and flexibility, therefore if a substance gets inside the body, the substance will press down on our tissue. The bigger the implant is, more it will press down on the skin, therefore, it is difficult to estimate the breast size. The degree of pressing down differs from one person to another.

3)    I tried to make an formula that will measure the size differences before and after the surgery by looking at the chest as a oval. One needs to calculate the indefinite integral to get the circumference of the oval but this is complicating so I came up with a simpler version as below.




L is the circumference of the oval. A is the major axis and B is the length of the short axis.
You can see the change in the breast size before and after the surgery by looking at the image below.




The problem here is that one cannot estimate the ‘b’ unit. One cannot know what level of the implant would come across the line that passes through the two nipples and also one cannot know how much the implant would press on the tissue. So we cannot apply this equation before the surgery.

4)    There are many errors and variables as above, so we cannot know how much cc of implant would lead to a particular cup size (how much the circumference of the breast increases).

5)    However, many people ask this question. So I would like to use “volume” to share how large the breasts become.
If you use the implant, the cup size increases, but the volume does not only depend on the height, but it also considers the width. This means that the volume may not increase as much as the cup size.
Also, the purpose of the breast augmentation is not to increase the cup size, but it is to have more volume.

I tell my patients how much volume increase there is after the breast augmentation and this comes from my experience.

Your clothes have sizes such as 44 / 55 / 66. 44 is extra small, 55 is small, and 66 is medium size. The implants can be measured by volume is such a way.



This model wears 55 size. One can say that that she is using a medium sized implant.


Small size (~235cc) ;

Polytech TMS 220cc, Natrelle Midrange 222cc, and Mentor Moderate plus 225cc are in this group. The width of the implant is about 9~11cm. We recommend this when the diameter of the breast is 10.5cm.

Although you use a small sized implant, a person with A cup can become a C cup. The high profile implant is 235cc and the height is about 4.4cm, but the volume does not increase as much.

Small size implant leads to ‘appropriate big size’.

Medium size (240~265cc) ;

Polytech TMS 255cc, Natrelle Midrange 253cc, Mentor Moderate plus 250cc are in this group. The width is about 10.5~12.3cm. These implants can be used if the diameter of the breast is about 11cm.
Medium size implant leads to ‘relatively large’ size.

High Medium size (270~285cc) ;

Polytech TMS 285cc, Natrelle Midrange 272cc, and Mentor 275cc are in this group. The width of the implant is about 10.8~12.5cm. These implants can be used when the diameter is about 11.5cm. High medium leads to ‘large breast’.

How large the original breasts are, how tight the tissue is, and how high the implant are the determinants on whether your breasts become B cup or C cup.

Large size (290~315cc) ;

Polytech TMS 315, Natrelle Midrange 290, and Mentor moderate plus 300 are in this group. The width is about 11~13cm. The diameter of the original breast needs to be about 12cm. Also, the original breast tissue should not be too tight but loose so that the implant can be put in easily, shoulders need to be broad, and the chest size needs to be big for the person to use the large sized implants.

Large sized implants lead to ‘very large breasts’ with any cup size of B / C / D.

But fi you have small original breasts, and if your tissue is tight then your breasts may not be larger than B cup. This does not mean that you have a small volume. This just refers to how the cup size is measured.

Extra-large (320cc or more) ;

In US, it is common to use 400cc or larger implants. Patients with big sized body and sagging breasts use such implants.

It may seem like one should not use large sized implants for sagging breasts but since there is no volume on the breasts, the implants would put much volume.
So one needs to choose long diameter implant in such case.

The cup size is not important in breast augmentation. Cup size does not have any meaning. The cup measurement has limitation on how much the volume can be. One needs to know how the volume would be changed but the cup size is very subjective. Saying you are short or tall is subjective and this applies to breast size as well.

No matter how large the implants are, one may not feel that the breasts are large enough. A person who is 166cm tall and 48kg might feel that she is fat and go on a diet. It just feels that one cannot objectively judge her own body.

 
Today we looked at how large breasts become with the implants.

Thank you for reading.