Can I Get Very Large Breast Implants?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am 42 years old and have had 600cc implants for over a decade. While the number makes them seem big, and they are not small, I am 5’9” and weight 140 lbs. I now would like to go up to 1000ccs or even 1250ccs. What do you think?

A: When one considers very large breast implants (at least based on the volume measurement), the most important long-term issue is whether the breast tissue will hold up and support them. If not, the implants will eventually drop (bottom out) and this will become a really difficult problem to correct. For most women going to that size initially would be impossible given the amount of breast skin that they have. But in someone with existing implants there has already been some significant expansion. So the concern then becomes where releasing the existing capsule to enable a larger size to be placed will exceed the surrounding soft tissue support. The other issue is that such a larger implant size will have a larger base width to it so one shoudl expect that the sides of the implant will go past the outer chest wall area and closer into the swing of the arms. (which many women do not like) The last consideration is that these will have to be saline implants as the largest prefilled silicone breast implant size only goes to 800cc. The largest saline implant size is 960cc but that can be overfilled up to 1100ccs if desired.

All of that being said, it is not a question of whether it can be technically done but whether it should be done. Having breast implants in place, you are in a good position to make an educated decision about what new size breast implants you want.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana