Breast Procedures
Dr. Ramirez offers a variety of surgical procedures to address the concerns that patients have with their breasts. These procedures include breast augmentation, breast reduction, breast lift and combinations of these procedures depending upon the patient's specific needs and body anatomy. Dr. Ramirez also offers the IDEAL IMPLANT® Structured Breast Implant that has the natural feel women want, without any silicone gel.
Over the last decade, silicon implants have been studied more extensively than any other medical implant product. The consensus is that they are very safe. Indeed, silicon implants are the most popular type of implants throughout world and new semi-cohesive silicon implants are now available that represent significant advances in implant technology.
In addition to implants, Dr. Ramirez offers fat injection as a way to augment and enhance the breast. If you are considering a breast procedure then call and make an appointment to see if you are a good candidate for fat injection, or if one of the other procedures would work best for you.
Breast Augmentation can be done by implants or by fat injection, depending upon what the patient's needs and wants. The fat transfer technique where Dr. Ramirez takes fat from unwanted parts of the body, process the fat and then injects the fat into the breast to increase the size and sculpture the shape is becoming more popular, since there is no artificial product that is introduced into the body.
In the past, some doubt surrounded the efficacy of injecting fat into the breast, based on the possibility that fat cells could hide cancer cells. Fortunately today's oncologists are able to differentiate calcifications formed by fat cells in the breast from calcifications formed by cancer cells.
The benefits of fat injection to the breast are significant and include the fact that when the fat cells take, they do so for life. In other words, saline or silicon breast implants have to be replaced after a given period of time, they are not meant to last for the duration of one's life. Furthermore, they may leak or rupture, or lead to capsular contracture. Fat injection avoids all of these side effects.
Now available in our office, the IDEAL IMPLANT® Structured Breast Implant has the natural feel that women want, without any silicone gel. After years of development and refinement, including contributions of clinical expertise from plastic surgeons, the IDEAL IMPLANT was approved by FDA and Health Canada. It combines the best of both - natural feel with the safety of only saline inside for peace of mind.
The IDEAL IMPLANT has a series of implant shells nested together and two separate chambers that hold the saline. This internal structure controls movement of the saline and supports the implant edges to reduce folding and wrinkling. In addition, the implant has been designed to contour to the natural curve of the chest wall. With the IDEAL IMPLANT, a women can simply look in the mirror and know her implants are intact.
Please call us today to come in for a consultation. Do your own side-by-side comparison of the IDEAL IMPLANT to the silicone gel implant.
Breast Lifts are performed to lift the position of the breast tissue itself as well as the areola and nipple. The need for a breast lift arises from a number of reasons; primarily, from sagging or drooping (called ptosis). There are several degrees of ptosis ranging from mild to severe, and Dr. Ramirez will discuss your case and corrective options in detail during your consultation.
For women with moderate to large breasts, most plastic surgeons perform lifts with a technique that is referred to as the inverted-T. This technique, unfortunately, leaves patients with significant scars. Dr. Ramirez has developed a new technique that he calls the Owl Lift (see below) to achieve the desired results of a successful breast lift with significantly less scarring.
Dr. Ramirez tailors each operation to your specific needs and desires in combination with your anatomy.
Dr. Ramirez has developed the Owl Lift, which combines many of the features of the peri-areolar incision and the vertical incision. A unique characteristic of the Owl Lift is its shape including a short longitudinal incision at the base of the operation that results in less tension and less scarring. Moreover, the Owl Lift technique does not result in a flattening effect that accompanies the traditional inverted-T procedure. Instead it yields a desirable conical shape with excellent breast projection while maintaining good vascular circulation and anatomy of the breast itself. This is very important, since the Owl Lift allows for more sensation to the breast, areola and nipple as opposed to the inverted-T technique.
As you can see, there is much more to a breast lift than lifting the tissues of the breast.
The techniques and incisions for a Breast Reduction are very similar to a breast lift.
The areas from which breast tissue is removed vary from technique to technique. The Wise pattern breast reduction (through a keyhole incision and inferior pedicle) is the most commonly used breast reduction technique. However, it does lead to a variety of problems including increased scarring (see inverted-T discussion above).
Another problem of the Wise technique is that the breast begins to sag over time because weight has been placed on the lower part of the breast as a result of the procedure. Moreover, the nipple position may be displaced, as well.
Dr. Ramirez has developed a technique that avoids these common problems. His technique results in very natural and healthy looking breasts.