Answers
"I am considering having a breast lift. What is the recovery time and would there be a need to use implants?"
— Elizabeth Hall-Findlay, MD
Banff, AB, Canada
Recovery time (assuming everything went well with no complications) would be 1 - 4 weeks for the initial recovery - but of course it takes months for everything to soften and settle.
There would be two reasons for an implant. The first would be the obvious one - to increase size. The second is less obvious - to increase upper pole fullness - breast uplifts alone are not very good at making the upper pole of the breast any rounder or fuller. Some surgeons prefer to stage an uplift and an implant (mastopexy-augmentation) and there are good reasons for both approaches - patients are best to follow their individual surgeon's advice.
