I often get asked by patients who are thinking of having breast augmentation if they should have the procedure before having children or if it is better to wait until after and if pregnancy would have an impact on the implants.

Every person is different but your breasts will definitely change during and after pregnancy.

Having breast implants can affect the changes in several ways:

1.Breast Tissue Will Act Normally. Breast implants are placed behind the breast tissue, so the breast tissue will still act normally when you have your baby. Breast tissue itself usually increases in volume as you start to produce milk after you have a baby. Some people’s breasts get very large during pregnancy and breastfeeding, others less so. How your breasts ‘behave’ after childbirth often runs in families (believe it or not!) so you may be able to get an idea by talking to your own Mum, sisters or aunties to see how their breast tissue reacted following pregnancy.

2.Your breasts are going to get bigger. If you breast feed for a significant period of time, they will stay larger during that time. If you choose not to breastfeed, your breasts will usually get smaller quite quickly within a couple of weeks. But the essential thing is that the breasts will have got bigger and then shrunk again, causing inevitable stretching and shrinking of the skin.

3.You Are More Likely to Experience Drooping. Although breastfeeding doesn’t disturb the breast implant, you are more likely to get droopy after having children if you have a breast implant. So if you hadn’t had the breast implant, you’d have still got bigger and then got smaller again but without the implant they would have been smaller. Less gravity = less droop! This is, however, very individual and all women react uniquely so it is hard to predict your exact outcome.

A lot of Aurora Clinics patients who have breast implants and then subsequently go on to have children don’t seem to have any problems. But it is important to be fully aware that if you’ve got breast implants and you have children, you are taking a greater risk of developing slightly more droop in the long term than if you didn’t have implants.

RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT BREAST IMPLANTS AND PREGNANCY

For this reason, we do generally recommend waiting until after you have finished your family (if at all possible!) to have your breast enlargement surgery. This should ensure the best, most long-lasting results possible.