Natural Breast Augmentation

Natural breast augmentation also goes by the name fat transfer breast augmentation. It is a fairly new form of breast enhancement surgery that uses your own body fat to increase the size of your breasts without the need for breast implants, thus the term natural breast augmentation. However, not everyone is a candidate for natural breast augmentation since you must have enough easily harvestable body fat in other locations that can be moved to your breasts.

Do you want to be able to take fat from your thighs, and use it to fill out your bust line? Do you want to fight back against age changes and gravity, but are worried about getting breast implants? If so, natural breast augmentation may be an option for you. Thanks to new developments in how breast augmentation surgery is performed, if you qualify, you may be a candidate to have fat transfer breast augmentation, also known as natural breast augmentation. This is simply breast augmentation without breast implants.

While most of us have heard about (and seen) silicone breast implants and saline breast implants you’re probably less familiar with natural breast augmentation through fat transfer. This new approach to breast enhancement uses only tissue from your own body to give you the proportions you’re looking for, and can be an alternative to conventional breast implant surgery if you qualify. You can see results of conventional breast enhancement surgery using both silicone breast implants and saline breast implants in our gallery of breast augmentation before and after photos.

Natural Breast Augmentation is New But Promising

In 2009, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons released a report detailing the use of fat transfer and injection for reconstructive and cosmetic purposes, offering guiding principles to surgeons and patients about the use of fat transfer for natural breast augmentation. The report noted that physicians and surgeons have been using fat transfer successfully for more than one hundred years to treat cosmetic defects, and that natural breast augmentation is just one way of applying these successful techniques. Additionally, the report concluded that fat transfer breast augmentation injections were safe and effective, with few adverse side effects. That translates into great news for women who want to naturally enhance their bust line and have enough body fat to harvest for that purpose.

Liposuction Instead of Breast Implants

Unlike traditional saline or silicone gel breast implants, when you choose fat transfer breast augmentation no foreign material is permanently placed in your body. Instead, a plastic surgeon will uses liposuction to harvest fat cells from areas you choose like your abdomen, hips or thighs, and transfer it to your breasts, giving you fuller breasts with a natural look. After the fat is removed from your abdomen, buttock, or other target area, it is purified and treated to increase the likelihood that the fat will incorporate into the breast tissue. Your breast augmentation surgeon then reintroduces the treated fat under the skin of your breast to provide the lasting, soft fullness you’re looking for.

Because fat transfer breast augmentation is performed by making small injections of fat under the skin surface, there are no incisions. And that means that scarring is truly minimal. For some women, the injection sites are completely unnoticeable. However, a skilled plastic surgeon can minimize the scars of traditional breast augmentation surgery, especially by hiding the incisions in the aureola. After natural breast augmentation, you’ll notice some changes immediately, but the final result takes time to develop. The final result is usually seen a few months after the procedure, once the transferred fat has settled in the breast. Additionally, many plastic surgeons will recommend that women who undergo fat transfer augmentation where a special undergarment for a few weeks after surgery. This helps ensure the survival of the transferred fat, and helps mold the breast into a soft, shapely chest. Once the transferred fat is incorporated into the breast tissue, it provides a lasting, natural result.

The procedure is performed under general anesthesia, and can be done in your doctor’s office, an outpatient facility or a nearby hospital. The length of the procedure will vary depending upon the amount of fat transferred, and the type of procedure you and your plastic surgeon tailor to best address your needs. In general, women who have fat transfer breast augmentation experience slight discomfort at the the liposuction site and injection sites. It can usually be controlled with over the counter pain medications from your local pharmacy without a prescription. Most women return to their usual activities in about 48 hours of having natural breast augmentation, while surgeons recommend that they refrain from heavy lifting or intense exercise for two weeks after surgery. Note that many plastic surgeons are able to send patients back to work after 48 hours with traditional breast implants surgery as well.

Finally, because of the liposuction fat harvest, it’s like getting two procedures in one. In the first procedure, your plastic surgeon uses liposuction to remove fat from the stubborn parts of your body that have not responded well to diet and exercise. Your plastic surgeon then uses the harvested fat, instead of breast implants, to perform breast augmentation.

Breast Implants Are Still Better for Most Women

One of the difficulties with natural breast augmentation is common to all fat transfer procedures: much of the harvested fat will not survive transfer and will fail to be incorporated into your breast. That means that you have to have a lot of excess fat in other parts of your body to make natural breast augmentation feasible. Medical device companies are working on techniques to increase fat survival in all fat transfers. It is likely that the techniques will improve over time, but it is hard to predict right now. That’s part of the reason why fat transfers are a relatively new cosmetic procedure, since physicians and scientists have only recently refined the fat purification and treatment process needed to ensure adequate fat survival and lasting soft results for you. Since there is no set way to treat the fat, and the techniques your surgeon uses to increase fat survival may vary, you’ll want to ask about it in your consultation. However, because your surgeon only uses your own tissue, whatever cells don’t survive fat transfer breast augmentation will be easily reabsorbed by your body. In some cases, you and your surgeon may choose to repeat the fat transfer process to replace fat cells that did not survive initially.

Natural Breast Augmentation Provides Peace of Mind for Some

While study after study shows that breast implants are safe, some women are still fearful about putting a foreign object in their bodies. Many women are interested in natural breast augmentation because it eliminates concerns about having a foreign object in your body. It also means that there’s no need to worry about how your body will react to breast implants, leaks, rupture or a need to replace implants after time.

In the end only you and your doctor can determine if fat transfer breast augmentation is best for you. Still, natural breast augmentation can be a great option for women who desire a small to moderate increase in breast size, want to fill in voids left as a result of a lumpectomy or other skin dimpling, would like to restore fullness to their bust line after significant weight loss, or simply want to fight the natural signs of pregnancy and aging. If this sounds right to you, think about scheduling a consultation and ask your plastic surgeon about natural breast augmentation through fat transfer surgery. Make the call, and get soft, full shape you want. You can use our resources to find a plastic surgeon near you.