How Our Fitness Culture Is Affecting Breast Augmentation
Cultural shifts and societal trends determine patterns of behavior. For years, our focus on enhancing appearances led more and more women to get breast implants. Now, our cultural obsession with fitness is having the opposite effect. Increasing numbers of women are choosing to have their breast implants downsized or removed, or they are avoiding breast augmentation in the first place.
Breast Implants and Physical Fitness
Breast implants can have a profound effect on a woman’s experience while exercising. Some women who take up running discover that their breasts are so heavy that they bounce uncomfortably during the activity, making it an unpleasant or even painful experience. Strength training can be difficult, as certain upper body moves or exercises may not be possible with larger implants. Larger breasts can limit maneuverability, cause discomfort or pain, affect breathing, and reduce the quality and speed of many types of exercises. Larger breast implants can shift your center of gravity and exert more force on your spine, which creates additional issues for fitness-minded individuals.
Changing Body Ideals
Our cultural interest in fitness is accompanied by changing body ideals. There is a growing trend toward embracing the natural appearance, which has affected everything from makeup choices to hairstyles to breast augmentation. Today’s athletic women are less inclined to want the “fake” look of breast implants on their bodies. Instead of the round, prominent bustline that was so desirable in previous years, more women are interested in keeping their natural shape and softness. Society is celebrating a wider diversity of body types, which helps women feel freer to accept their natural appearance.
Breast Implant Removal or Downsizing
Women who wish to embrace the fitness culture and changing body ideals may downsize or remove their breast implants. Breast revision surgery can exchange larger implants for smaller ones to restore a more natural appearance. Dr. Schlechter can also perform implant explantation with breast revision surgery. With this approach, Dr. Schlechter will completely and permanently remove the implants to recreate a natural appearance. Depending on how long a woman has had her breast implants, various techniques (such as a breast lift with tissue removal) may be employed to produce optimal results.
Natural-Looking Breast Augmentation
While some women are downsizing or removing their implants, many others desire breast augmentation while maintaining a natural look. Breast augmentation with fat transfer can provide a subtle boost in breast size for women who desire breast enhancement without getting implants. For this procedure, Dr. Schlechter will extract fat via liposuction from another area of the body and then inject it into the breasts. This technique provides a natural enhancement with results that are more compatible with current cultural trends.
