Breast Implants and Pregnancy - Info You Need to Know

Pregnancy can have an impact on the body beyond the appearance of a growing stomach. Pregnancy, and the breastfeeding process after the birth of the baby, can change the size, shape and appearance of the breasts. Are you pregnant now and have breast implants? Are you thinking about becoming pregnant but not sure if having a baby will change your breast implants? If so, take a look below for the answers, info and insights you need to know.

Pregnancy – How it Impacts Breast Implants

The first thing you should know is that your breast implants will be fine throughout the entire pregnancy process. In general, breast implants are created and designed to be resistant to issues such as ruptures, deflating and leaking. They are resilient enough that any pressure placed on them by the growth of breast tissue is not likely to result in breast implants gaining a different shape or rupturing under the skin.

You do need to know that the natural amount of weight gain you will experience during pregnancy, along with the changes that happen to the breast tissue, can result in weakened breast tissue. The fact that the breasts expand, and then contract, can make the breasts start to sag or alter their shape.

Pregnancy and Breast Implants – Should You Wait to Get Pregnant?

In general, the answer to this question is “yes”. It is a good idea for patients to be fully healed from a surgery before they become pregnant. Waiting anywhere from three to six months after breast implant surgery to get pregnant gives the breasts a better opportunity to handle the changes that are associated with pregnancy.

Breast Implants and Breastfeeding

During surgery to place breast implants, they will be put in a space that is located under the chest muscles or under your breast tissue. This means the placement of the breast implants will not interfere with the function of the mammary duct.

What does this mean for you?

The body should be able to produce breast milk during the postpartum period. It also means you should be able to breastfeed in the same manner as you would without breast implants. The ability to produce milk depends on how the surgery was performed by your doctor.

For example, if the incision is created across the darker part of the breasts (which in known as the areola), the production of milk might be impacted if the milk ducts are cut. This is also true if the incision is made across the nipples during surgery or the breast implants are located right under the glandular tissue or on top of the chest muscle.

Sagging Breasts after a Baby – Can it Impact the Breast Implants?

Thanks to natural changes to the hormones during pregnancy, the breasts can grow and changes during the pregnancy as well as in the months following the pregnancy. When the breasts enlarge, the surface area of the skin grows which means sagging can occur thanks to excess skin that is left after the postpartum period (and the breasts reduce to a size that is closer to their appearance before the pregnancy).

Even with these natural changes, there should not be many alterations that happen to the breast implants.

Restoring the Look of the Breasts (Whether You are Pregnant or Not)

There are many patients that decide to replace or remove their breast implants even if they have not been impacted by being pregnant. The shape or the position of the implants can become altered over time. In addition, some patients simply decide they do not want the same size to the breasts provided by the original set of implants. There are some patients that remove their breast implants completely or they want to gain a bigger size to the breasts which requires a larger set of implants.

The replacement of the breast implants can be paired with a breast lift (AKA mastopexy) to reduce the look of sagging breasts by centering the breast tissue on the implant.

Breast Implants and Pregnancy – When to have Kids

The decision about whether or not to wait until after having kids to get breast implants is an individual decision. If you want to get breast implants placed in your body before having kids, that is certainly a valid decision.

If you want to wait to get breast implants until after you have children, that is also a valid decision as the implants can be combined with a breast lift to provide ideal results.

It is important to remember that the pregnancy process should not have a negative impact on your implants no matter how many changes occur during the pregnancy period (and once it is over). If you are still unsure about whether or not to get breast implants due to the desire to become pregnant, schedule a consultation appointment with a board-certified doctor that is experienced in performing breast implant surgery. The surgeon can give you insights into the procedure that have been gained from years of experience in placing the safest breast implants in the body.

- MA