Breast Lift

Several factors can influence the appearance of the breasts over time, including pregnancy, breastfeeding, and changes in weight. This can lead to a decrease in cleavage, which is defined as the space between the breasts. A breast lift removes excess skin and fat in the breasts and reshapes them to produce a firmer, more youthful profile. While many patients enjoy this result, if you are specifically after more cleavage, a breast augmentation may be the ideal treatment for you.

Breast Augmentation

Breasts that are closer together on the chest wall create the appearance of more cleavage, and this result can be achieved with breast augmentation. During your initial consultation with Dr. Bounds, you will be able to discuss how you would like to look after surgery. If improved cleavage is important, Dr. Bounds can create an individualized treatment plan with your goals in mind. For example, if your breasts are naturally farther apart from each other and you have a smaller amount of cleavage, Dr. Bounds can decrease the distance between the breasts by placing your implants closer together.

What Happens During Surgery?

Before your breast augmentation surgery, Dr. Bounds will examine factors such as your skin quality and breast tissue, the distance between your breasts, and your choice of breast implants. During surgery, Dr. Bounds will use one of two techniques to place your implants: subglandular, which involves implant placement over the chest muscle, and submuscular, which describes implants that are placed under the chest muscle and glandular tissue. He will also determine which adjustments will need to be made during surgery to ensure the implants are at the right distance from one another to create the desired amount of cleavage.

Contact Dr. Bounds Today

If you are ready to enhance your cleavage and overall appearance, it is time to book your consultation with board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Kevin Bounds. Our friendly staff is eager to help you as you begin or continue your cosmetic journey. Contact us today by calling our office or requesting an appointment online.

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To Enhance Breast Size and Shape

Every female body is unique, and that includes her breast size. If you are unhappy with your breast size, breast augmentation can help you improve confidence in your appearance. Likewise, implants can correct a lack of fullness in the upper “pole” of the breast. It can also correct specific abnormal developments, including tubular breasts, which have an elongated shape.

To Correct Breast Asymmetry

Breast asymmetry is more common than you may think. If your breasts are two different sizes, you know the inconvenience of choosing the right bra or wearing a bathing suit and you may wonder how noticeable your asymmetry is to others. Breast augmentation can correct asymmetry by using an implant to make the smaller breast the same size as the other — or, by using two different sizes of implants to make both breasts your goal size. Your confidence improves when your breasts look more harmonious.

To Restore Breast Volume

After pregnancy and nursing, many women experience a loss in breast volume. Breast augmentation can reverse this unwanted effect by restoring the breasts to their pre-childbirth appearance (or improving upon it). If a pregnancy- or nursing-related decrease of skin elasticity has resulted in breast sagging, you may choose to incorporate a breast lift procedure as well. This combination of procedures is also popular among women who have experienced massive weight loss. When breast augmentation helps you to reattain your former proportions, your self-esteem is likely to rise.

To Balance the Figure

Body positivity is a powerful movement that embraces body types of all shapes and sizes. When curvier women with smaller breasts are unhappy with an imbalance in their figures, they may choose to enhance their breasts for better proportion with the waist and hips. With breast implants that appear natural for your body type, you can feel more confident about your figure and comfortable in your own skin.

What Age Do Women Undergo Breast Augmentation?

According to the most recently available statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the age distribution of breast augmentation patients is as follows:

• 35% age 30 to 39
• 27% age 20 to 29
• 28% age 40 to 54
• 7% age 55 to 69
• 1% age 70 and over

These figures indicate that a choice to undergo breast augmentation has little to do with age or stage of life. Wherever you are on your journey, breast augmentation may help you improve quality of life by enhancing your confidence. It should be a choice you make for yourself, as a healthy woman with realistic expectations about your results.

Contact Plastic Surgery of Virginia Beach About Breast Augmentation

If you are considering breast augmentation, contact Dr. Bounds in Virginia Beach to discuss your options. Schedule your consultation by calling (757) 496-7373 or filling out our online contact form.

The post Why Women Choose Breast Augmentation: How a Fuller/Larger Bust Can Increase Self-Esteem and Confidence appeared first on .

1. Review Photos of Dr. Bound’s Patients

Part of your breast augmentation consult includes looking over the results of other women who chose Dr. Bounds to perform their procedure. You can see photos of women with similar attributes to visualize your potential results after recovery.

Choosing your plastic surgeon is a critical part of the process, and it’s essential to choose a board-certified plastic surgeon with extensive experience in breast augmentation surgery for a safe, reliable outcome. Dr. Bounds specializes in breast surgery and is board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS). ABPS is the only board for plastic surgery recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties.

2. Receive Information About Breast Implant Types

Dr. Bounds will explain the types of breast implants available to you. One of your implant choices is the filling. Saline implants are silicone shells filled with a saltwater solution (saline), and silicone implants contain a cohesive silicone gel that is more form stable. Saline and silicone implants offer different benefits, which Dr. Bounds will discuss with you.

3. A Brief Examination

During your breast augmentation consult, Dr. Bounds will perform a short exam of your breasts and evaluate your anatomy. The goal of breast augmentation is typically to increase breast size for a more proportionate figure. Sometimes, your anatomy may limit breast implant size to avoid an unnatural appearance.

4. Try on Implant Sizers

It’s important to have an idea of what your final results will look like after breast augmentation to ensure you choose the implant size and type that is best for you. Dr. Bounds will have you try on implant sizers inside a non-padded  bra to help you picture what you will look like with bigger breasts. You may try several different sizes to compare your options and make the right choice for you and your anatomy.

Schedule Your Breast Augmentation Consult in Virginia Beach

If you’re interested in breast augmentation, contact Plastic Surgery of Virginia Beach to schedule your consultation with Dr. Kevin Bounds our board-certified plastic surgeon today.

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Some women’s post-pregnancy breast anxieties center on issues of sagging, stretching and loss of skin integrity. However, trusted Virginia Beach plastic surgeon Dr. Kevin Bounds has found that this is not always true — many new mothers miss the “fuller” look of the breasts they experienced during the months of nursing their baby. In such cases, breast augmentation or breast lift can restore the feel, form and volume that breastfeeding created.

Northern Exposure

“Upper pole fullness” is the term doctors use to describe a fuller, rounded appearance for the upper hemisphere of the breast. Enhancing upper pole fullness can make breasts appear lifted; even as it creates the curves, contours and dramatic dimensions that are a perfect match for plunging necklines. Dr. Bounds is skilled in recreating this fashionable and natural feel with careful selection and precise placement of breast implants. 

To achieve a successful result, a surgeon must consider the profile of the implant, measured as the ratio between an implant’s width and height. High-profile breast implants extend into the upper breast hemisphere, providing a foundation for greater fullness.

A surgeon must also consider a woman’s natural physique, breast base, chest breadth and even the distance between nipples. A shorter distance is preferred, but improved upper hemisphere fullness is still possible with breasts and nipples that are farther apart. Surgical technique is also key. Depending on the dimensions of the torso, implants may be placed in an elevated position, preferably under the chest muscle.

The Breast Lift Option

If a woman has significant sagging, breast augmentation may not be effective in building upper pole fullness. This is especially true if the nipple position is lower than the inframmammary crease at the base of the breast. In such cases, greater fullness and more attractive cleavage is best achieved with mastopexy, or breast lift.

The goal of breast lift is to reverse sagging and reclaim a natural shape by elevating the breasts on the chest. This more youthful positioning can actually produce the illusion of larger volume, even though the breasts may have slightly decreased in size during the procedure. By improving symmetry and returning low or downward-pointing nipples to a natural appearance, breast lift can greatly improve the breast profile, while creating upper hemisphere fullness that is based on projection and elevation, rather than size.

To learn more about breast surgery options, schedule a personal consultation with Dr. Bounds in his Virginia Beach office by calling or emailing today.

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Its enduring popularity is based on its proven record of opening new dimensions in size, shape and fullness for women seeking breast enhancement, with a safe and convenient technique that has been refined over many decades. Below, experienced Virginia Beach plastic surgeon Dr. Kevin Bounds reviews the benefits, choices and procedural details of breast augmentation.

An Array of Choices

Patients have an abundance of options when selecting implants, with various sizes and shapes. Extra high profile gel implants provide the greatest fullness and projection per unit of volume. At the time of your consultation you will see why these implants are becoming more popular. 

Silicone and saline are the basic types of implants. Saline is essentially salt water, and the silicone variety uses a gel that many patients report has a more natural feel. Silicone gel implants today are cohesive; that is, they are held in their shape by forces that were not utilized years ago when the silicone gel was in liquid form. Both saline and silicone implants are constructed with a vulcanized (heat strengthened) silicone shell which is thin but strong. Each type of filling is contained within this silicone shell. Saline implants are slightly less expensive than the silicone varieties.

The final choice patients make is size. Practice bras and Dr. Bounds’ album of before-and-after photos can help you select a size that will provide the ideal enhancement for your particular frame.

Surgery and Recovery

Your breast augmentation will be performed in our on-site surgical suite in Virginia Beach, under  general anesthesia with a board certified anesthesiologist. For most breast augmentation procedures, Dr. Bounds makes an incision near the crease of the natural fold under the breast, and inserts the implant under the chest muscle. The length of time for the surgery averages around two hours.

Pain, soreness and swelling are the natural result when an implant is inserted into a sensitive area of your body, such as beneath chest muscles. Swelling crests within 48 hours, but won’t completely subside for months.

During the first week of recovery, you will be wearing a surgical bra which may be holding in place tubes to drain any accumulation of fluid for the first night after surgery. The bra provides support your breasts need to heal and settle. Because of swelling, your breasts will appear elevated on your chest; it will take time for them to drop into their final position. You should be able to cautiously return to your normal routine, along with work or school, in about a week.

To learn more about breast augmentation, schedule a personal consultation with Dr. Bounds in his Virginia Beach office by calling or emailing today.

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The patient above requested this procedure a year after her breast augmentation.

The post Here you can see one of our patients who was very happy with her beautiful results after her breast augmentation. appeared first on .

Case 1:
24 y.o. 5’5” 130lbs 325cc moderate plus gel. 13 months post op

During her initial consultation, this patient walked into my office and was a little shy. One year later she walked into my office with a very attractive outfit that was consistent with her new found confidence. I thought to myself “what a difference a year makes!”

Case 2:
24 y.o. 5’6” 116lbs 275cc moderate plus gel. 6 months post op

My patient pictured here had a similar presentation to our patient above, and another very beautiful result. She said to me “this was one of the best decisions of my life, and it didn’t even hurt.”

While this experience (no discomfort) is unusual, her newfound self-assurance and happiness with the results of her breast augmentation is not unusual at all.

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I spoke with her today now three months after her surgery. She is doing exceedingly well. She said to me that the breast augmentation has really helped her feel like “herself” in a more complete way…. “the picture in my head now is matched by my physical reality.”

I am including her photos here because I think she’s right!

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Breast Augmentation is one procedure women often choose to enhance their figure as it increases or restores breast size using saline or gel implants.  Some of the reasons you might be considering an augmentation are:

• You want a better proportioned or more attractive figure. You believe your breasts are too small and/or you feel self-conscious wearing a bathing suit or low cut tops.
• You want your clothes to fit better. Clothes that fit your hips are too large at your bust-line.
• When pregnancy, weight loss or aging has negatively affected the size and shape of your breast. Your breasts have become smaller or less firm after having children or losing weight.
• To achieve symmetry in your breast if they are different sizes.

What are your choices when considering Breast Augmentation?

One of the most important choices you make in having a breast augmentation procedure is who is to be your plastic surgeon.  Consider the asking the following questions when making your selection, and the answers should all be YES!

• Are you trained specifically in the field of plastic surgery?
• Are you certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery?
• Do you have hospital privileges to perform a breast augmentation?
• Is the office based surgical facility accredited by a national accrediting agency.
• Are you a member of the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons?

 Other questions you should be able to have answered are:

• Am I a good candidate for breast augmentation or breast enlargement?
• Where will my procedure be performed?
• What are my implant choices and where will the incisions be?
• Can I review before and after photos of the surgeon’s own patients to review results and see what might be appropriate for me?

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What is a Mommy Makeover?

Pregnancy causes different changes in every mother’s body. Many of these changes are permanent and irreversible without body sculpting surgery. Each mommy makeover is a bundle of procedures and surgeries chosen specifically for each individual in order to help them attain their goals. For that reason, prices, recovery times, and scheduling vary depending on the mommy makeover that is best for you. Some common procedures included in mommy makeovers include Botox, breast augmentation, liposuction, tummy tucks, vaginal rejuvenation, and other surgeries and procedures that target stubborn fat pockets.

When Should I Do a Mommy Makeover?

Sine each mommy makeover is a unique set of procedures, there is no exact guideline to determine when to get a mommy makeover. Dr. Bounds will discuss the timeline that is best for you. Nonetheless, here are some general guidelines that may help you decide when to get a Mommy Makeover.

First, remember that it takes the body a few months to reach a “new normal” after pregnancy. The body new mothers see a week after childbirth is not the body they will see after several months. For example, stretched skin often contracts and excess weight naturally sheds after you return to your normal routine. Additionally, your breasts may change more after pregnancy than they did during pregnancy, especially if you begin breastfeeding. As a result, Dr. Bounds recommends that women wait until after they are done breastfeeding before considering any plastic surgery that may target breasts. Breast-feeding must end at least several months before any breast surgeries.

Additionally, some procedures like abdominoplasty or tummy tucks are best left until after women are completely done having children. Some mommy makeovers can be designed for women who plan to have more children later in life, but more extensive procedures like tummy tucks are best suited for women who have had their last child.

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