Dr. Robert Whitfield outlines five questions to ask before breast surgery: what each step does and its limits, what devices are involved and their risks, whether you need skin removal, how fat transfer affects volume, and whether combining treatments helps. The goal is informed choice, not upselling.
If you're considering an explant, a lift, a fat transfer, or natural breast augmentation, ask your surgeon to explain what each part of the plan is intended to do. Ask what it can and cannot do. Ask whether a device is being used for the skin, fat, the texture, any other targets, and what is that device and its risks and benefits. Ask whether, if you have significant loose skin, is it better just to have a skin excision at a later time? And ask how fat transfer can affect the volume. If there's no skin tightening, ask whether combining treatments improves the plan. How much time does it increase in the operating room? And so the goal is not really to convince anybody to do anything extra. The goal is just to explain these exist as options to provide like a different treatment in an area that may have been concerned. And while we're taking care of one, provide options for the other. The goal is always just help understand that these are choices and how they fit together.
