Breast augmentation refers to a surgery to enlarge the breasts. You can go for breast augmentation:

• If the volume of your breasts has reduced or shape has changed following childbirth, weight loss or by aging
• If you are unhappy with the natural shape and size of your breasts
• In case of a significant difference in sizes of breasts

Breast augmentation may be done at any age after your breasts have attained full development. However, for solely aesthetic reasons you have to be over 18 years to undergo this procedure. You may supply the surgeon a picture of breasts that you want yours to look like after the surgery.

The surgeon will go about breast augmentation by making a small incision underneath your breast, just next to pigmented region around your nipple, alternately in the armpit. He will then slip in a pouch with saline solution or gel through the opening and then close the incision by stitches. The purpose of making the incision in pigmented area or in underarm is that the scar stitches will leave is least conspicuous. To save the pain, the surgeon will give you general anesthesia (put you to sleep) or local anesthesia to make the breasts numb. The whole procedure might take 1-2 hours.

Being a surgical procedure, breast augmentation has all the complications the other surgeries have. There may be infection, excessive bleeding, damage of certain nerve, and limited motion of arm, shoulder etc. Besides these, there may be ‘capsular contracture,’ in which the scar tissue tightens up. Although saline implants have now largely taken over silicone implants, but if used, silicone implants may bring in some more complications that are exclusively associated to them. They may harden, cause inflammation, or lead to autoimmune reactions in some people, causing lupus, arthritis, or scleroderma.

Finally, you should not consider breast augmentation to last a lifetime. The implant could rupture and leak out and reduce the size of breasts again. Only a good implant may last for 10 or more years.