Breast Implant Placement: Over or Under the Muscle
Board Certified Breast Implant Surgeon in Northern Virginia serving Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Springfield, Fairfax County & Washington DC
Breast augmentation is a great procedure if you are looking to improve the shape or size of your breasts. However, ensuring that you get the results best suited to you and your cosmetic goals requires that you make a number of important decisions, such as whether your breast implants should be placed over or under the pectoral muscles. Both options can produce quality results, but which one is right for you depends on your cosmetic goals. Your recovery will be exactly the same regardless of the implant location since Dr. Desman uses the Rapid Recovery Program. When you and Virignia breast surgeon, Dr. Desman discuss your goals during your consultation, one of the decisions you must make is the placement of your breast implants.
Submuscular Breast Implant Placement
Placement of the breast implant beneath the pectoral muscle is known as subpectoral or submuscular placement. The implant is usually placed beneath two-thirds of the chest muscle, but a full submuscular placement is also an option. This requires using more than only the chest muscles. Every breast implant incision option is available with a submuscular breast implant placement.
Some of the benefits of a submuscular breast implant placement include:
- More natural appearance and feel since edges and ripples are covered by the muscle
- Better results for women with small breasts
- Will not interfere with mammography results
- Small risk of capsular contracture, or scarring around the breast implant creating pain and need for a second procedure
- Lower chance of implant bottoming out, when the implant is too low and the nipple is too high
Some disadvantages of submuscular placement include:
- Implant will sit higher until chest muscles relax
- Athletic women may have a distorted appearance and chance of implant displacement during workout
Subglandular Breast Implant Placement
Subglandular breast implant placement is also known as submammary or over-the-muscle placement. The implant is placed between the mammary glands and the pectoral muscle. Every incision type is available with subglandular breast implant placement.
Advantages to subglandular placement include:
- Better option for women who are involved in weight training or body sculpting because implant won’t shift when chest muscles are flexed
- Easy to access if another surgery is needed
Disadvantages of subglandular breast implant placement include:
- Less natural appearance than submuscular placement
- Pronounced roundness of breast
- Capsular contracture more likely to occur
- Difficulties in mammography imaging
- Rippling or feeling of rippling more likely to occur, especially in women with little breast tissue
The disadvantages of each type of placement are very small. When considering breast augmentation, consider that the advantages far outweigh the risks.
If you would like to learn more about breast implant placement options, please contact the experienced breast augmentation surgeons at the Virginia Center for Plastic Surgery. We serve the communities of Alexandria, Virginia, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC.
