In the excitement of planning for breast augmentation, many people don’t give much thought to follow-up aftercare. However, as our friend Jenny Eden of Eden Knows Implants and Bustmob points out, follow-up appointments play an essential role in making sure your breast augmentation is a success and that you love your results.
Don’t skip your post-op follow-ups! Your plastic surgeon needs to see you at specific intervals to ensure you are healing well. Plus, it’s the only way to get the green light to do the things you’re probably looking forward to most, like bra shopping!
Having breast augmentation isn’t like getting a haircut—you don’t just leave the surgery center with new breasts and only return when you’re ready to update your look again. Any reputable plastic surgeon will have you return for follow-up visits at certain points in your recovery to monitor your progress.
What’s a Typical Follow-Up Visit Schedule?
Every surgeon’s preferred timeline is a little different, but here’s a brief rundown of breast augmentation post-op appointments to expect:
- Immediately after surgery. Your plastic surgeon will visit you after you wake up to brief you on how the surgery went before sending you home.
- Sometime during the first week. During this appointment, you’ll have bandages (and possibly stitches) removed and your surgeon will check your incision sites.
- Additional follow-up appointments at 4 to 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and as needed thereafter. At these later appointments, you may have “after” photos taken and be cleared to resume certain activities.
Why Is Follow-up So Important?
Your plastic surgeon doesn’t schedule these appointments just for the heck of it; your surgeon needs to see you at specific intervals to ensure you are healing well. Plus, seeing your surgeon in person is the only way you will get the green light to do the things you’re probably looking forward to most, like hitting the gym and buying new underwire bras. Follow-ups are also the best time for you to ask specific questions as you settle into your new look.
Keeping up with your follow-up appointments and aftercare instructions is well worth the time, ensuring you get the best results possible. You can see some of our patients’ results in the before and after photos below:
Learn more about what’s normal (and what’s not) during breast augmentation recovery in our related blog post.
Why Keep in Touch With My Surgeon?
Maintaining an ongoing relationship with your plastic surgeon is important even as the years go by. While your breast implants should last for many years without issue, they are not considered to be lifetime devices. You may eventually want or need to replace your implants. Also, new breast implant options emerge onto the market fairly often; so by checking in with your plastic surgeon from time to time, you’ll be aware of the latest choices to update your look.
Schedule a Consultation
Considering your options for breast augmentation in Washington, DC? The best place to begin is by making an appointment with an experienced, board-certified plastic surgeon. At Center for Plastic Surgery, all our plastic surgeons are highly experienced in breast augmentation and know how to achieve beautiful, natural-looking results; any one of them will be happy to go over your goals and expectations during a complimentary consultation. Just call us at (703) 560-2850 or use our online form to request a consultation.
This is very helpful for me, it helped me with my surgery