Myth #1: Breast augmentation has a bearing on your ability to have children or breastfeed.

This myth likely comes from worries associated with the changes a woman’s breasts undergo during pregnancy. Breast tissue undergoes expansion with pregnancy and women with more breast tissue may generally see some sagging after the breasts contract. This can lead to less-than-desired results so I generally advise the procedure after pregnancy, but doesn’t necessarily affect your ability to have children. It should be noted that there is a very minimal risk of altering your ability to breastfeed after augmentation.

Myth #2: Implants do not need to be changed or altered unless a problem occurs.

Although I would love to say that your implants don’t need any maintenance, many people actually do remove their implants. In fact almost half of all implants are exchanged or removed for various reasons by 10 years. Removals often happen due to sizing changes. Implants generally fulfill a cosmetic purpose and as our body ages our skin begins to sag and slowly lessen the lifting effects of an implant procedure. Thus we generally increase the size of an implant for patients who want lifelong results. Exchanges occur usually when a patient wants to switch from saline to silicone implants. Saline implants are filled with the liquid solution once already inside the body and thus require a much smaller incision than the silicone implants which are filled prior to a procedure. Silicone implants have the look and feel of real breasts so they have a smaller likelihood of wrinkles or other problems occurring.

Myth #3: Men don’t get plastic surgery.

This myth obviously comes from the high number of females who get plastic surgery procedures as opposed to males. Men often have a stigma about plastic surgery but some of these procedures help both men and women look their best without looking “done”. Although females still account for the majority of these procedures, over 1 million men get plastic surgery every year and are the fastest growing consumers of plastic surgery. Plastic surgery continues to grow in popularity every year, so hopefully we can see those numbers balance out over the coming years as more people accept the spread of plastic surgery.

Myth #4: Plastic surgery can’t look natural.

The origins and answer to this myth can be summed up perfectly by one of my favorite quotes: “You can only see poorly done plastic surgery.” Results should always look natural!

Myth #5: It’s called plastic surgery because we put plastic implants in people.

Had to save the best myth for last! Some of you may be surprised that the term “plastic surgery” doesn’t come from the materials we use during procedures or the misconception of the “plastic” look that poor procedures have popularized. “Plastic surgery” has been around a lot longer than most of you think, with the first procedures dating back as far as 800 B.C. The term comes from the Greek word “plastikos” which means to mold or to shape. Plastic surgeons are here to mold your facial aesthetics into the look you desire; definitely not to fill you with plastic.

Hope I was able to clear up some common misconceptions for you. If you’d like to learn more about plastic surgery, feel free to browse through my ‘Procedures’ where I highlight the most important details of every procedure as well answer basic questions in my Q&A.