What To Expect Before And After A Breast Augmentation

Procedure 

Deciding to get a breast augmentation procedure may be the first step towards attaining body confidence. Once you have found the right plastic surgeon, you must start preparing for the procedure. Your Denver breast augmentation surgeon will give you the advice you need. If you have any questions, they should be able to answer them. Usually, the surgery has three main phases: consultation, operation, and recovery. You must prepare for each one of them. 

The Consultation Period 

During the consultation period, you get the chance to speak with your surgeon about your concerns. Ask them your questions about the procedure and what you should expect. Your surgeon can help you determine if breast augmentation is a good choice. They may use visualization tools to help you decide the type and size of your implant. 

The consultation period gives your doctor a chance to discuss the possible risks of the procedures with you. You may also discuss the payment options. 

On The Day Of The Procedure 

Do not eat or drink anything eight hours before your surgery as it could increase the risk of regurgitation. Get to the clinic before the scheduled time and wear loose-fitting clothes. Your clothes should be easy to button or zip. Ensure that you have someone to drive you back home as you can’t do it after the procedure. 

During The Procedure 

Breast augmentation is a simple procedure that may take up to two hours. It is an outpatient procedure and your surgeon administers general anesthesia. They make small cuts under your arms and breasts, and around your nipples. They will use antimicrobial soap to clean your chest and reduce the risk of infection. After inserting the implants, they use a small incision to close it up. 

The Recovery Process 

The recovery period after breast augmentation is short. Unlike in the past where patients had to wait for a long time before getting back to work, you can now resume your daily activities in a few weeks. 

In the first 48 hours, try sleeping upright to promote a speedy recovery. Do not indulge in any strenuous activities for a minimum of three weeks after the procedure. Surgeons suggest that you avoid raising your hands over your head to minimize swelling. You can resume your regular activity after eight weeks. 

Consider getting help with housework during the recovery period. You should have someone to drive you to and from the hospital in case you need medical help. 

Use ice packs to relieve pain and discomfort, and drink lots of water. Stay away from tight-fitting clothes as they could increase discomfort. 

In three months, you need to see your doctor again. They will take photos of your augmented breasts to determine the success of the procedure. This marks the end of your breast augmentation journey and you will now have the right breast size and bra fit. 

Set Realist Expectations For Breast Augmentation Procedures

Setting realistic expectations for your surgery helps you focus on your goal and minimizes disappointment. If you have questions about what to expect during the procedure, seek the opinion of your surgeon before getting your breast augmentation surgery.

How To Detect Gynecomastia

Gynecomastia 

Not to be confused with a breast enlargement due to buildup of fat, gynecomastia is a condition in which the patient develops oversized or an enlarged gland or tissue in their breast, due to a hormonal imbalance. While harmless, the condition can be quite embarrassing, uncomfortable or even scary. Many times it goes away on its own but if it doesn't, one can visit a medical professional for further assessment and treatment because the disorder is oftentimes a symptom of an underlying serious condition. A West Palm Beach plastic surgeon can help you get rid of the disorder if it's not responding to treatment or provide a permanent solution. Take time to understand the risk factors that cause gynecomastia, and ask as many questions when you visit your doctor. 

Recognizing Symptoms 

Assess your body by feeling your breasts for soft lumps. With gynecomastia, the breast tissue develops in one or both breasts. The enlarged tissue may be located directly beneath the nipple, thus it can be felt with your fingertips. If you have the condition, you'll experience a soft, rubbery lump in the breast. If you feel any lump in your breast, make an immediate appointment with your doctor. A hard lump could indicate the presence of a tumor. The lump can occur in either or both breasts and it could be of different sizes. 

As you assess the lump, note the tenderness, and soreness, especially when you press the breast. Gynecomastia feels sore when you touch the lump. If you feel a lot of pain, make an immediate appointment with the doctor. It's quite possible that being obese or overweight can contribute to gynecomastia. 

Medical Diagnosis 

Gynecomastia is not dangerous by itself. However, it could be an indication of something more serious. See a doctor right away if you experience pain and swelling in the breast, discharge from one or both nipples, and a hard lump in your breast. Pain could be a symptom of a cyst or an infection. A discharge could indicate breast cancer, an infection in the breast tissue / chest muscle, or a disorder in the endocrine system. A hard lump could also indicate breast cancer. 

On visiting the doctor, discuss your health history with as much openness as you can. It will be much easier for your doctor to understand the condition if they get thorough information about your medical history and overall health. Tell the doctor about any other symptoms you may have, any related health problems in your family, or any medical problems you've had in the past. You can also enlighten them on the kinds of medication you're using. 

Assessing Risks 

Some people have a higher risk of developing gynecomastia than others. Look at your history, overall health or age. You are most likely to develop gynecomastia if you're undergoing puberty or are between the ages of fifty and seventy. There is also the risk of infant gynecomastia but it usually goes away on its own. If you have any condition that affects the body's production of testosterone, you could be at risk of developing gynecomastia. You're also at risk if you have a liver condition, hyperactive thyroid gland, or if you have certain types of tumors especially in the testes, adrenal gland, and pituitary gland. 

In addition to that, take note of the kinds of medication you're taking, as certain types of prescription drugs can cause the disorder. If you take certain hormones or steroids, it can increase estrogen production leading to gyno, AKA man boobs. Consult your doctor to assess your risks of moobs.

Free Home Chest Workout

Enjoy this free home chest frugal workout to strengthen, tone, and build up your pec muscles. It's also great for building up some muscular endurance. Not everyone has a full home gym or gym membership so doing a comprehensive total chest training workout isn't possible. This is the next best thing that doesn't require any equipment, just your body weight and a couple items around the house. 

x = 1 set

Do modified pushups (from your knees instead of toes) if necessary

1x Warmup set of 15-20 Pushups

3x Wide Pushups pronated grip (knuckles facing forward)
3x Wide Pushups neutral grip (knuckles facing outward)
2x Close Grip Knuckle Pushups neutral grip
2x Incline Pushups (feet up on stair, chair, or bench)
3x Chest Flies (use gallon jugs of water or similar for weights)
3x Incline Chest Flies (add mid-upper back support if needed)

1x Burnout set of 20+ Pushups

You could also through in some dips here and there if you have some makeshift parallel bars, such as 2 stools or raise stable chairs to hold you up. 

Make sure to stay even and that you aren't compensating on your stronger side or you could end up with uneven pecs.

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Total Chest Training: Maximizing Strength, Size, & Toning

Chest training is as easy as 1, 2, 3 sets of bench press right? WRONG! Training your chest, or more accurately described as pectoralis major and minor, requires a fully integrated approach like any other muscle group or training goal. Whether you are training your chest for strength, muscle mass, or toning it takes a variety of training techniques and exercises to do it right.

Arnold Schwarzenegger had a huge and ripped chest... he did more than just bench press

Traditional barbell bench press is usually the first place a person starts when training their chest. That or the basic pushup. While both of these exercises have their place, they are not usually the most effective methods of building up pectoral strength and size. In fact, check out any academic study performed with electrodes placed on the pectoralis major muscles and you'll find that barbell bench press and pushups stimulate more deltoid and triceps than pecs! What did scientists that stimulated pectoral muscle fibers more than anything? Dumbbell bench press and cable chest flies! So obviously you want to focus on those two exercises as the backbone of your workout, although you can certainly incorporate plenty of other chest exercises as well for a well-rounded and varied chest workout.

Dumbbell bench press is king for many reasons. Besides being a major pectoral muscle stimulator, it also allows greater freedom of movement which is better on the joints. The increase in required stability and coordination over barbell bench press also requires more calories because more muscles are needed to perform the movement. And finally, dumbbell bench press is much harder to cheat on or perform unevenly when compared to its barbell counterpart. With a chest press machine or a barbell you can often maintain a straight bar even if you are pushing much harder on one side, (usually your dominant side). You continue the set because the bar is straight but you end up becoming stronger on your dominant side, and weaker on your other side. This leads to size disparity and chest/shoulder/rotator cuff injuries in many lifters. Also, dumbbell bench press still allows you to lift a very large amount of weight, much more than cable chest flies will allow. Incorporate both dumbbell bench press and dumbbell incline (only 15-30 degrees of incline to emphasize chest over deltoids) bench press. Aim for 3 sets of each after you are warmed up but early in the workout so you're not too fatigued.

For a toned and even chest you gotta train right!

Next on the priority list comes cable chest flies. You can perform both cable and dumbbell chest flies in your workout, but put more emphasis on the cable flies. Why more stock in the cable flies? They provide constant tension throughout the entire range of motion unlike dumbbells, which provide require almost no muscle fiber recruitment during the range of motion point where the dumbbells are directly over your chest (although you still see a lot of people tapping the dumbbells together at the top of dumbbell chest flies). Chest flies of either type also provide a little more of a stretch and range of motion compared to chest presses which can be good for maintaining shoulder flexibility. You can isolate the chest even more by setting up a bench near the cable machines, this way you can avoid wasting energy on body stabilization. Make sure to contract the muscle as hard as you can and not just go through the motions half-assed.

So now, if you warmed up correctly (see example workout below) and do 9 sets of these exercises correctly, you should start to be getting some major chest fatigue. You can then finish them off and hit your deltoids/triceps as well with some flat barbell bench, incline barbell bench, dumbbell chest flies. You won't be able to lift as heavy on these lifts, but you won't have to. If you want to emphasize lifting heavier weights on barbell bench (for improving your 1 Rep Max for instance), than you'll have to perform these sets earlier when you are more fresh. Now, even if you've screwed up until this point and still have some gas in the tank, do some pushup and bodyweight dip burnout sets for the total muscle failure that will require your body to adapt by the muscle recovering bigger and stronger than ever. And by failure, I mean you fall on your face (preferably on a mat or carpet) trying to do your last pushup because the lactic acid buildup is so high and your body's energy systems have been completely taxed.

Final Advice

While you're primarily focusing on stimulating pectoral muscle, most chest pressing / flies / dip / pushup movements do tend to involve significant amounts of deltoids and triceps. So guess what, if you want to improve your chest workouts and lift more weight or get more reps, you'll certainly need to strengthen your triceps and deltoids as well. If you like to train your triceps and deltoids on your chest day, that is also a very effective muscle group split. This article and example workout below are for those looking to do a very high intensity chest workout once per week. Another thing to note is you won't be doing much chest training at all if you don't take care of your shoulders with proper stretching, deltoid strengthening, proper lifting technique, and most importantly rotator cuff strengthening (think internal and external rotations). Also, your chest training won't yield the results you're looking for if you don't compliment it with proper nutrition, stretching, rest, and healthy lifestyle.Hope you enjoyed the article and enjoy the workout example below. Feel free to customize it more specifically to your goals. Get that chest in shape and good luck!

(x = 1 set of usually 6-12 reps for muscle mass emphasis)

Chest Workout (once per week) Example:

Warmup: 20 Pushups Wide Stance

Warmup: Dumbbell Front and Lateral shoulder raises with light weight

Warmup: Light set of Dumbbell Flat Bench Press (15 reps)

3x Dumbbell Bench Press

3x Dumbbell Incline Bench Press

3x Cable Chest Flies (resistance bands if needed)

2x Barbell Bench Press

2x Barbell Incline Bench Press

2x Dumbbell Chest Flies

2x Dumbbell Incline Chest Flies

Burnout set: Bodyweight Dips until failure

Burnout Set: Wide Pushups until failure

*Note: This is a simple yet effective workout example. As with any workout regimen, you will need to change up the workout every 4-8 weeks to avoid adaptation and plateaus. This is done by manipulating the exercises performed, angles, grips, repetition scheme, rep speed, modality used, rest between sets, weight, bands/chains, frequency of workout, and other variables or advanced training methods such as compound sets, drop sets, super sets, monster sets, and negative reps/sets. All important topics for other articles!

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