Can I Schedule Breast Augmentation Surgery In Advance If I Live Out Of Town?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in breast augmentation and possibly breast lift. I live in Minnesota but my best friend lives in Indianapolis and she suggested you. I am wondering is I were to come to Indiana for the surgery if I could have a consultation with surgery the following day. Also, being from out of town, how often would I need to be rechecked?

A: There would be no problem with scheduling surgery and just having a consultation the day before. That is a common occurrence in my practice as we see patients from all over the world every week. To make that happen effectively there are certain breast augmentation questions that should be answered in advance. They include the following:

1) Are you interested in saline or silicone breast implants?

2) Are you interested in round or shaped (anatomic) implants if you prefer silicone?

3) Do you have an incisional preference for placing the implants of lower breast fold (inframammary) or axillary (armpit)?

4) What size result do you want? (pictures are helpful here of breast augmentation results you like)

5) What is your height, weight and current bra size?

6) Do you have any breast sagging? (this is a very important as if so a breast lift may be needed with the implants)

If you have the ‘perfect’ breast for augmentation (no sagging, nipples locate well above the lower breast fold) then presurgical photos may not be necessary. But if your breasts may be less than perfect or have known sagging, please send me some pictures of them so I can know in advance as to what you exactly need.

As for follow-ups, I like to do phone, Skype or Facetime conversations to accomplish that for my far away patients. Between pictures and e-mail communications, all the follow-up that is ever needed can be done at a distance. From these we can make the determination if you ever need to come back and be seen by me in person.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana