Breast Augmentation Review After Giving Birth

Surgery date – Monday, November 15, 2021

Before surgery body measurements – Height 169 cm / Weight 58 kg / Bra size 75A

Surgery time – 12:00 PM

I gave birth at a young age, and because I had no information at all, I didn’t know that my breasts would change after breastfeeding. Before breastfeeding, I had pretty breasts that weren’t large, but were full all the way up to the upper part. Back then, I never imagined I would end up having breast surgery. When the baby cried, I breastfed, and since people around me said breastfeeding for up to a year was good for the child, I just did that. My baby grew beautifully, but my breasts became a mess. At some point, when I looked at my naked body, I saw myself in the mirror with breasts that had lost their volume. At that moment, I felt my self-esteem hit rock bottom, and I decided to have surgery to regain my confidence.

I searched everywhere on the internet, YouTube, and cosmetic surgery apps. I kept looking, over and over, in an endless loop. Then I found a hospital where I wanted to get a consultation, and after that consultation, I decided to have the surgery. It took a long time to gather information about breast augmentation, but once I had the consultation, it didn’t take long to decide on the surgery.

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(At the time, I had no idea my breasts would turn out like this)

Day of surgery

Because I chose an inframammary incision, I decided to have the surgery under sedation anesthesia. Fasting for 6 hours. Actually, I usually don’t eat breakfast, so fasting wasn’t that difficult. But not being allowed to drink water was hard, and because I had to drop off my child at daycare in the middle of an empty stomach and all the tension, I arrived at the hospital completely exhausted.

I arrived at the hospital around 11:30, changed clothes, and had pre-surgery photos taken, and then the doctor drew on my breasts to design them. That was when the tension was at its peak. I was so nervous that when the doctor said he would make them pretty and told me not to worry, I felt like I might cry. I went back to the recovery room, waited a little, then followed the nurse into the operating room and heard that the anesthesia was about to begin. That was the last thing I remember. When I came to, the surgery was already over, and I was helped back to the recovery room by the nurse.

I think it was just after 1:00 PM then. My chest felt heavy and tight. Actually, because my child had often fallen asleep on my stomach, I didn’t feel anything like heaviness or pressure after surgery. It just felt tight. When I lifted the patient gown slightly to look at my chest, I saw that my breasts had become larger, there was tape on them, and I was wearing a supportive compression bra.

I had read posts saying that sensation didn’t return after breast surgery, so I gently touched different parts of my breasts, and thankfully, I still had sensation everywhere. It was just a little numb. Relieved, I rested for about two hours, and since I was doing much better than I expected, I asked the nurse for a cup of water, drank it, and then checked out. Rather than being in pain, I was just hungry. The hospital prescribed medication with antibiotics and painkillers, and after telling me to make sure to take them well after eating a light meal, I finished a bowl of rice noodles near Apgujeong Station, took the medicine, and went home by taxi.

The pain started that evening after I got home. It may be different for everyone, but in my case, it felt like the day after doing extremely intense exercise when I hadn’t exercised at all. It felt like severe muscle soreness. The entire upper body ached with muscle pain, and after dinner and taking the medicine, it thankfully became manageable. Fortunately, my parents said they would take care of the child for about 3 days, so I didn’t have to worry about anything else and could just lie down and rest.

I usually preferred lying on my side or stomach rather than on my back, so this was the hardest part. Having to lie on my back, and sleep that way too. When I heard I shouldn’t lie on my side for a month, I thought that would be the hardest thing, and sure enough, I had to stop myself from instinctively trying to turn onto my side without realizing it. Since I had moved around on an empty stomach since morning, felt nervous, and then had the surgery, exhaustion hit me hard, and thankfully, fatigue won over the pain, so I slept well.

Day 1 after surgery

When I tried to get out of bed, I couldn’t spring up on my own. I had to roll onto my side just to get up, and when I tried to stretch, I couldn’t. I wanted to stretch out comfortably, but I couldn’t. When I tried to straighten my back, I let out an “ouch” scream. I thought, yes, I really did have surgery. It wasn’t so painful that I couldn’t go about daily life. It just felt like my whole body was swollen. I could feel my body swelling, and because I was so tired, I didn’t want to do anything. After handling only the bare minimum of housework, I lay back down in bed and rested.

Day 2 after surgery

Why does the stomach come out...? I had seen reviews saying the swelling goes to the stomach, making the stomach stick out more than the chest, and that was me. The muscle-soreness-like pain wasn’t very pleasant, and then my stomach swelled too, so I definitely wasn’t feeling great. More than being happy that my breasts had gotten bigger, everything just felt uncomfortable. I went to the hospital for my first treatment. I took off my clothes, removed the compression bra, peeled off all the tape, disinfected the area around the inframammary incision, sat down leaning back in a chair, and received a red laser treatment. That was the first time I looked down at my own chest. I was overwhelmed. I thought that if I was this satisfied, the pain would be forgotten.

The hospital told me to bring a thin cotton T-shirt, because if I wore the compression bra directly on my skin, it could rub. With the nurse’s help, I put on the cotton T-shirt, wore the compression bra again, put on my outer clothes, finished the treatment, and went home. So this is what treatment is like? It didn’t seem like much was done, but somehow it felt refreshing. I think it was because they removed the tape.

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They told me not to remove the Steri-Strip tape on the incision area, and to shower with a large waterproof bandage, so on the way home I bought a large waterproof tape and used it for my first shower. Before surgery, the shower stream hit my stomach before my chest, but now I noticed it hit my chest first, and I was happy. I was satisfied. Maybe because I felt satisfied, the pain seemed to lessen too. I ate meals and made sure to take my medicine properly. The hospital said that if the pain continued even after finishing all the prescribed medication, I could take Tylenol additionally, but it wasn’t painful enough for that. I think I understand what they mean when they say an inframammary incision causes less pain and a faster recovery.