Breast Augmentation and Incision Placement

Today, women are choosing breast augmentation to enhance their profile and improve the appearance of breasts that show signs of aging or changes after child bearing. Today’s innovative breast augmentation procedures are designed to deliver natural-looking results with minimal pain and downtime.

Many concerns of patients when they come in for a consultation for a breast augmentation is where the scar/incision will be. Breast augmentation is surgery and it is impossible to avoid scarring with any surgery. Scars occur with any operation and take time to fade. In most patients the scars are thin and fade but rarely patients will form hypertrophic or raised, red scars.

The incisions can be made in a variety of locations. The most suitable location will be up to the discretion of the physician performing the breast augmentation procedure and the patient. Incisions can be one of the following:

  • Trans Axillary – Under Arm Incision. Our most popular incision for women with no breast droop. Fades very well in the armpit and no incision on the breast. Dr. Van Raalte has been using this incision for over 20 years.
  • Inframammary – Breast Fold Incision. Our most common incision when there is mild breast droop or ptosis as it allows us to correct the mild droop better.
  • Periareolar – Areola – Nipple Incision or the Trans-Umbilical Endoscopic – Belly Button Incision. We rarely recommend because we feel the complication rate is much higher.

Saline implant incisions may be as little as 2 cm or less than an inch. Gel implants do require a larger incision, about 2 inches.

See our photo gallery and patient information sheet on our website.

If you would like to make an appointment for a consultation please call Christina at 322-8877.

Plastic Surgery Hot Topics… Fraxel®.

A couple words from Dr. Van Raalte about Fraxel®.

In plastic surgery there is something new advertised every week. In fact, concerns are that the marketing and hype precede the research.

Lately, I became concerned when I saw a number of patients that had Fraxel® treatments. I had not adopted this treatment because my investigations had shown it took four Fraxel® treatments to get the result of one TCA peel. In addition, each Fraxel® treatment took at least four days to recover and the cost was twice as much. True a TCA peel took about two weeks to heal but one two week period was better than four 4 day periods.

Since then the patients I have seen that had Fraxel® elsewhere tell me it took at least a week to recover from each treatment. And there were still complications like discoloration and scarring, and the results seemed limited, and cost more.

I am sure there are some cases where Fraxel® is better. But for most a TCA peel is better, cheaper, and one recovery. There is no expensive laser to pay for.

However, the companies that make the lasers have to sell and market these devices and therefore the hype.

Dr. Van Raalte and the Midwestern Association

Dr. Van Raalte was elected Vice President of the Midwestern Association of Plastic Surgeons on May 16th in Chicago. The association hosts a yearly meeting for scientific papers and presentation on basic science, reconstructive, and plastic surgery research. CONGRATULATIONS!

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