Breast Enlargement Surgery Recovery

Although everyone does recover in a slightly different fashion following breast enlargement surgery, most people do recover very well and are back at work within two weeks of their operation.  However, it does take four to six weeks for the swelling to go down fully and the final appearance to become apparent.

What will you experience immediately after your surgery?

Immediately following your surgery you will wake up with a specially designed surgical bra in place and should be in no pain. This is because your surgeon will have infiltrated local anaesthetic into your breast tissue whilst you were asleep and this will last for eight to ten hours following your surgery.  One breast may be slightly more swollen or firm than the other and this is nothing to worry about initially.

How will you feel later that day?

Approximately eight hours after your surgery you may notice some discomfort which most people characterise as tightness in the chest area.  In most cases this will be treated with simple painkillers such as paracetemol and possibly Nurofen. 

You may well go home on the night of surgery, but some people do prefer to stay in hospital for the night after undergoing their breast enlargement surgery.

What you should do to aid recovery in the first week

When you go home you will be given painkillers for the week and detailed instructions on who to contact if you do have any concerns.  During the first week it is important to gently walk about and mobilise your legs to minimise the risk of any blood clots in your calves.  We advise you to avoid driving during the first week and also any strenuous activity which could raise your blood pressure thereby increasing your risk of bleeding.

Everything you need to know about your one week appointment

Your first follow-up appointment will be one week after your surgery when you will come into the clinic and the nursing staff will remove the brown tape over your incision and trim the ends of any residual soluble stitches. The brown tape will then be re-applied and you will be able to wear a comfortable support bra, although we do not recommend an underwired bra at this stage as the wires can press against the scars causing discomfort.

The most important thing at this stage is that your bra should fit comfortably and not compress you in any way whilst maintaining support. 

At one week we will advise you that you can start driving again and resume other, light activities.  If your job is not manual you will be able to return to work at this stage, but if your work does involve lifting and physical work we do recommend that you stay off work for two weeks following your breast enlargement surgery.

How to aid recovery after two weeks

After two weeks you will be able to resume light exercise and, if you are working out, we recommend that you concentrate on the lower body and gentle aerobic exercise rather than high-grade upper-body physical exercise involving the pectoralis major muscle.

How you will be feeling from week three and onwards

If your implant has been placed behind the pectoralis major muscle it is likely you may have slightly more discomfort following the operation than if your implant was placed in front of the muscle.  However nearly every patient has almost returned to normal, everyday activities after three to four weeks following breast enlargement surgery and by the time of your six week follow-up appointment when we take the post-operative photographs the swelling should have dissipated and you should feel back to normal.

Many patients have said that, by this stage  they feel that their bust suits their physique and they find it difficult to remember how they looked before surgery.

If you want to know about recovery from a personal point of view...

Generally breast enlargement surgery recovery is relatively rapid and if you would like further information of recovery following breast enlargement surgery please look at the testimonials on the Aurora website where previous patients talk about their experience of surgery with us.

More information

If you would like to hear previous patients' experiences of breast enlargement procedures performed at Aurora Clinics you can visit the testimonial section of our website.

If you would like to see how a breast enlargement procedure is performed, please view some of our breast enlargement surgery videos on this procedure.

Many people find it very useful to listen to our free information CD about breast enlargement procedures and these can be obtained by completing the enquiry form or sending an email request to info@aurora-clinics.co.uk