Posted: July 6, 2016
Choosing the right implant is a simple 3-step process!
The hardest part a Breast Augmentation isn’t whether or not to do the surgery or not, but rather, what implant size to choose! Often times we find that patients get stumped at this point in the process.
To help make it easier…Doctor Corey has narrowed it down to an easy 1-2-3 Process.
First Step: Guessing
Wait…guessing? How is guessing the first step into my implant choice? Well, the good thing is you won’t be the one doing the guessing. Dr. Corey will do that at your first visit and with over 20 years of experience and thousands of thousands of implants surgeries, Doctor Corey is able to take into consideration your wants and desires along with a series of quick measurements to give you some choices to consider. He might be able to give you two or three choices which allows you to have an accurate starting point as you move into step 2!
Second Step: Rice Test
Years ago, Dr. Corey would give patients a silicone implant to try on in the office. But the problem was, that many times that implant just didn’t sit right in the bra and it just looked strange, and Dr. Corey found that he was scaring more patients than he was helping. Also , when patients came to the office they were only wearing one outfit. Not really helpful. But the Rice Test changed all of that. This is a take home assignment that helps give a woman an approximate idea of what she might look like in clothing with different size breast implants. It is done with knee high nylon stockings, rice (white or brown!), and Sharpy marker and a non-underwire bra. The great thing about it is they can be tried on with all different types of clothing and even worn out of the house for a "trial run"!!!
Using knee-high stockings fill them with rice to the desired amount of cc’s. Using ziplock baggies is not recommended due to the pointed corners of the bag. (cc conversions are below). Once you have them filled, try them on under a sports bra. The sports bra should not have padding or cups. The sports bra is helpful because it compresses the rice bags in much like the muscle will compress the real implants. Keep in mind that although this is a better option than placing an implant into your bra, as mentioned above, it is not an exact science and will only give you an approximate idea of the amount of cc’s you may want.
The implants come in increments of 30 cc’s. Keep in mind that 30 cc’s is equal to about 2 Tbs. You can combine the measurements below to equal the number of cc’s Dr. Corey has recommended for you. Don’t worry about being exact. You can round up to the nearest number. (i.e. If Dr. Corey has recommended 300 cc’s you can add 1 cup and ¼ cup which equals 295 cc’s)
Rice conversion:
1 cup = 236 cc
¾ cup = 177 cc
2/3 cup = 156 cc
½ cup = 118 cc
1/3 cup = 78 cc
¼ cup = 59 cc
1/8 cup = 30 cc
Many of our patients have tried this and feel it was very close to their final result.
Third Step: Day of Surgery Sizers
On the day of your surgery, after you are under anesthesia, Doctor Corey often times uses, NATRELLE® Re-sterilizable Breast Implant Sizers. These are designed for temporary intraoperative placement, to assist in determining the desired breast implant volume. Once these are in place, Doctor Corey will sit the table up, evaluate both sides and based on your goals and his artistic judgment, he will make a selection.