This is a good question and it applies to you whether you are contemplating an augmentation, lift, or reduction. The problem is that there is no hard and fast rules to answer this issue.

One obvious issue is if you are breast feeding. If you are breast feeding you cannot have surgery, period. So that is easy.

Now, once you stop feeding, or if you have decided to use formula, it gets a little trickier. Basically we need to wait until you think your breasts have plateaued. As you know, when the hormones of pregnancy kick in, your breast enlarge. After, when things settle down, most women find that their breasts are about the same size, but they have lost some of their upper fullness. Some women loose a fair amount of volume, especially if they breastfed, and some stay larger but this seems to be the minority of women. You need to wait until your breasts have stopped changing and that is the point where surgery becomes reasonable. For some women that time is as short as a month for smaller breasted women and as long as 6 months for others. In general though, if I had to give a number, I would recommend you wait about 3 months before you proceed.

Lee Corbett, MD
CorbettCosmeticSurgery.com
502.721.0330

All posts on this blog are authored by Louisville breast implant surgeon Dr. Lee Corbett.