Breast implants more popular than face lifts, experts urge women to look for best shape

Click to read Dr. Lista's comments on this article.

By Marylin Linton
QMI AGENCY, May 10, 2010

It’s what’s up front that counts – at least it is for hundreds of thousands of North American women who annually seek breast implant surgery.

According to the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, breast implant surgery was the top cosmetic surgery performed in 2009 with close to 312,000 procedures done.

It makes you wonder what these women are looking for. Is bigger really best?

Yes, says starlet Heidi Montag when asked why she gave up her former implants for new ones to make her boobs even more gigantic.

“The most common thing that women say to me is, ‘I don’t want to be too big.’ There are lots of women who have breast augmentation but who end up with big ugly breasts,” says Dr. Frank Lista, a certified plastic surgeon and medical director of the Plastic Surgery Clinic in Mississauga, Ont.

According to Lista, the type of women who seek out breast implants has changed from 25 years ago: “It used to be the realm of strippers and porn stars, but today I see normal 40-year-old women who consider surgery in order to obtain a more natural shape for their breasts after having had children or hitting a milestone birthday.”

Even though today’s implants are without the horror stories of previous years where lawsuits and safety concerns plagued manufacturers, all is not rosy in big boob land: Sharon Osbourne, one woman whose implants may have taken years off her front, is so fed up with her own that she’s having them removed and rumored to be giving them to hubby Ozzy to use as paperweights.

Nonetheless, results from a recent survey – Canadian Women’s Attitudes toward Breast Implants – reveal that breast implants are four times more appealing to women than a face lift, eye lift or collagen injections.

The motivation for choosing implants, says Lista, are totally misunderstood.

The most common misconception, that size matters and women want bigger boobs, is just not true, he says. “A beautiful breast does not have to be big, but it needs certain key characteristics.”

The first, he explains, is the position of the nipple on the breast mound: “It should be just below the midline or equator of the breast. Too low or too high and it doesn’t look good.”

A great looking breast also has to be the right size for the body: “You can’t take someone who is five feet tall and create the same breast on someone who is six feet tall.” A breast is not like an upside-down bowl, stresses Lista. There’s always a straight line slope between the upper part of the breast and the nipple, then from the nipple to the crease there should be a gentle curve. “If you can create those shapes, you create a beautiful breast.”

Part of a surgeon’s job is to educate his patient. Lista finds it unbelievable that so many women seeking breast implants still choose a size based on a celebrity photo, a cup size, or a friend’s experience. “Very few seem to realize that breast implants should fit according to each patient’s body, tissue and skin characteristics.”

So don’t bring a photo of Tori Spelling. Her implants, in his view, are “terrible.”

Terrible implants mean you can see the edges of the implant through the skin or you see the rippling effect of a botched job. If you’re the patient who’s on the receiving end of a shabby implant, your breasts may feel like they are rock solid – a no-no, says Lista.

Bringing a photo to communicate what you’d like in your surgery is just one tool of many, he says. In his work with patients, he shows them line drawings of various breasts and looks at cup sizes.

In the breast implant survey, conducted by Allergan, maker of Natrelle breast implants, three out of four women said they believed there was an ideal cup size. Half of all women believed it was a C. “People don’t understand how bra sizes work. Every bra manufacturer is a little different. So it’s hard to talk about numbers with people. Patients are visual, so we need to talk about a look and not just a number.”

Breast To Know

“I have never seen a woman’s health jeopardized because of implants,” says Dr. Frank Lista of his 25 years of performing cosmetic surgery. “Breast implants are the most researched implantable devices in history.”

Still, there are side effects for up to 5% of people: They include scar tissue complications, loss of sensation, rupturing or deflation and implant displacement.

If you are considering implants, make sure you go to a qualified plastic surgeon. Questions to ask include: How many breast implants have you done? Do you have hospital privileges to perform these types of procedures, and, if so, at which hospitals?

“Make sure you can communicate what you want – big, small or natural. And have a realistic expectation,” says Lista. “If you have no breasts at all to begin with, don’t expect to come out with a D.”

Plastic surgery is not covered by provincial health plans. Breast augmentation can cost anywhere up to $10,000.