Any surgical procedure does have side effects, and while there is a chance that breast augmentation can affect the ability to breast feed more than likely you will be able to continue to breast feed normally and safely. Choices you make, along with your surgeon, can minimize the chance that breast-feeding will be affected.
Two types of incisions for breast augmentation are around the nipple, and the inframammary incision, which is on the crease on the bottom of the breast. The inframammary incision causes no division of milk glandular tissue or ducts, and reduces the risk of any negative effect on breastfeeding. Incisions around the nipple do divide some of the milk glands, which makes it a little more risky, but breastfeeding has a high chance of being successful with either incision.
As far as the risk to babies breastfeeding from mothers with breast augmentation, this is an area that has been aggressively studied and to date no risks have been identified. I can safely say that it is safe to breast feed with breast implants.
Many women with breast implants choose not to breast-feed and I suspect this percentage may be higher than that of the general public. I assume that there is a fear that breast-feeding will “ruin” the results of their surgery. While it is true that pregnancy can cause a droop of the breasts this is a natural occurrence in women with or without a previous “boob job”. There was an interesting study about three years ago that suggested pregnancy affected the breasts similarly with or without breast-feeding, even though my experience suggests otherwise I found the study to be interesting.
There is a possibility that surgery can affect your future ability to breastfeed, however chances are more than likely that you will be able to breastfeed successfully after your procedure. You should talk with your surgeon and work out a plan that will enable you to enjoy the results while minimizing the possibilities of complications.
Dr. York Yates is a plastic surgeon specializing in Utah breast augmentation and other cosmetic surgery procedures.
